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Commissioner. He was also led to believe that he had to sign the
stipulation of facts immediately or he would not be able to do so
later. It was only when Commissioner’s counsel informed
Lovenguth in a later telephone conversation that he would “eat
[him] up in court” that Lovenguth realized he was mistaken.
Much of the resulting stipulation of facts is in the form
that our Court sees in nearly every case--a list describing
attached documents, noting that the “truth of assertions in
stipulated exhibits is not necessarily agreed to and may be
rebutted or corroborated by additional evidence.” Such
stipulations of routine evidence are essential to orderly
procedure in a high-volume court like ours.
But these stipulations also include a number of paragraphs
aimed at stating what Lovenguth’s testimony would be--not its
truthfulness, simply what it would be. Even Lovenguth’s
documents that were attached to the stipulation were included not
for the truth of any statements they contained but as
“indicating” that those statements were made in the documents
themselves.
A motion to submit the case as fully stipulated under Rule
122 was filed at the same time as the stipulation of facts.
However, the stipulations do little to prove Lovenguth’s case--
they actually prohibit Lovenguth from pointing to any useful
evidence--and if the order granting the Rule 122 motion were not
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