- 3 -
The parties settled the disputed deficiency by stipulating that
there is an overpayment of $2,890 for 2002.
Petitioner asks us to award reasonable litigation costs3 of
$45,225 (based on statutory rates for legal fees) or $75,000
(based on “market rate” for legal fees).4
The issues for decision are:
(1) Whether petitioner is entitled to an award of reasonable
litigation costs; and
(2) if the answer to the first issue is “yes”, then what is
the amount of the awardable costs.
Neither petitioner’s motion for award of litigation costs
nor respondent’s response to the motion requested a hearing on
the motion. Rules 231(b)(8) and 232(b) (final flush language).
In his memoranda of law petitioner states that he has been
handicapped by the Court’s indication that it would not authorize
depositions of certain of respondent’s employees. We have
3 Petitioner has requested only litigation costs in the
instant case, so we do not consider the statutory or regulatory
provisions that apply only to administrative costs.
4 These amounts are stated in petitioner’s opening legal
memorandum on the litigation costs motion. Petitioner’s
answering legal memorandum on this motion asserts that, “H.
Preparing this Brief has taken another 30 hours of time, which
Petitioner’s counsel requests to be compensated for.”
Petitioner’s motion for litigation costs, received 16 days after
the Court had entered the parties’ stipulated decision, included
an estimate that litigation costs up to that point would amount
to $19,100 (based on statutory rates for legal fees) or $27,000
(based on “market rate” for legal fees).
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Last modified: May 25, 2011