Free Joint Status Report - District Court of Federal Claims - federal

Case 1:99-cv-00053-GWM

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Filed 02/12/2007

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IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS (Judge George W. Miller) _____________________________________________ No. 99-37 T BURLINGTON RESOURCES, INC. Plaintiff v. THE UNITED STATES Defendant ______________________________________________ No. 99-53 T BURLINGTON NORTHERN SANTA FE CORPORATION Plaintiff v. THE UNITED STATES Defendant ______________________________________________ JOINT STATUS REPORT ______________________________________________

In accordance with the Court's order entered November 19, 2003, the parties submit this joint status report regarding settlement activities.

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Case 1:99-cv-00053-GWM

Document 11

Filed 02/12/2007

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As detailed in previous status reports, the parties completed their negotiations of revisions to the settlement terms by January 28, 2005. Thereafter, on March 15, 2005, the Department of Justice received the recommendation of the Internal Revenue Service with respect to the offers, as revised and clarified. The Chief of the Court of Federal Claims Section made her recommendation on the offers and forwarded the recommendations and files to the Office of Review of the Tax Division on March 31, 2005. A computation specialist with the Office of Review raised questions with respect to the computation of plaintiffs' interest netting claim and plaintiffs' counsel responded to the questions. After the questions were resolved, the Office of Review and plaintiffs' counsel reached an agreement on the principal tax computations and interest netting computations. On October 20, 2006, plaintiffs' counsel delivered revised settlement offers to the Government reflecting the agreed computations. The Chief of the Office of Review made her recommendation on the revised offers and forwarded the recommendation and files to the office of the Deputy Assistant Attorney General on November 2, 2006. The revised offers were approved by the Deputy Assistant Attorney General on November 27, 2006, and were sent to the offices of the Joint Committee on Taxation for congressional review. On December 28, 2006, the Chief of the Office of Review was advised that the Joint Committee on Taxation had no adverse criticism on the settlement offers. Accordingly, on December 28, 2006, the Office of Review sent a letter to plaintiff's counsel accepting the offer, and instructions were sent to the Internal Revenue Service to process the refund. Unless instructed otherwise, the parties will file their next status report by May 13, 2007, if they have not filed a stipulation of dismissal prior to that date.

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Respectfully submitted,

February 12, 2007

s/ Jeffrey R. Malo JEFFREY R. MALO Attorney of Record United States Department of Justice Tax Division Court of Federal Claims Section Post Office Box 26 Ben Franklin Post Office Washington, D.C. 20044 Voice: (202) 305-7539 Fax: (202) 514-9440 Email: [email protected] EILEEN J. O'CONNOR
Assistant Attorney General

DAVID D. GUSTAFSON
Acting Chief, Court of Federal Claims Section

STEVEN FRAHM
Assistant Chief, Court of Federal Claims Section

February 12, 2007

s/ Steven Frahm Of Counsel

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