United States Eleventh Circuit

In a tax case concerning a taxpayer's alleged fraudulent failure to report and pay taxes for income earned through a kickback scheme, a tax court's decision rejecting the findings of a special trial judge is reversed and remanded where: 1) the special trial judge's finding of fact and credibility determinations were supported by the record and his conclusions in favor of taxpayers were not manifestly unreasonable; and 2) in finding otherwise, the tax court did not give the special trial judge due deference under Tax Court Rule 183.

Appellate Information

• Decided 04/07/2008
• Published 04/07/2008

Judges

• FAY, Circuit Judge:, Before HULL, FAY and GIBSON, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Eleventh Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Danny S. Ashby, Robert Edwin Davis, Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates, Ellis, Vester T. Hughes, Jr., Hughes & Luce, L.L.P., David J. Schenck, Jones Day, Dallas, TX, Steven Spencer Brown, Royal B. Martin, Jr., Martin, Brown & Sullivan, Ltd., Chicago, IL, for Petitioners-Appellants.


• For Appellees:
  
• Joan I. Oppenheimer, Steven W. Parks, Kenneth L. Greene, U.S. Dept. of Justice, App. Tax Div., Washington, DC, for Respondent-Appellee.