I’m going back a couple days (hi, Judge Holmes) for a designated hitter from that Obliging Jurist, Judge David Gustafson, Trilogy, Inc. & Subsidiaries, Docket No. 12097-16, filed 5/31/18. But it’s a good brush-up for you stipulationists, a how-to when you get it wrong. And a warning: if you blow an admission or a stip, fix it quick.

I love requests for admissions. You can often get good stuff therefrom, and Trilogy’s lawyers struck gold. At first.

DE’s Supreme Court decided a while back that Trilogy wasn’t trying a hostile takeover of Selectica, but rather trying to “intentionally impair corporate assets, or else coerce Selectica into meeting certain business demands under the threat of such impairment.” Order, at p. 1. (Citation omitted).

Trilogy was in Tax Court trying to deduct some legal fees, which they claimed was for a hostile takeover, notwithstanding the DE judgment that Trilogy wasn’t doing no such thing.

IRS first admitted, and then stiped, that Trilogy was trying a hostile takeover; maybe they didn’t know about the DE judgment.

Whatever, IRS asks to be let out of the admission and the stip.

Trilogy claims they’re unfairly prejudiced, but they knew about the DE judgment for seven (count ‘em, seven) years. Still, IRS waited two months to try to bail.

Well, obliging as ever, Judge Gustafson lets IRS out of the blunders.

Judge Gustafson: “However, we do not condone the Commissioner’s inefficient handling of this issue. Absent truly extraordinary circumstances, we do not expect to allow the Commissioner to make any further correction of his admissions or stipulations in this case.” Order, at p. 4.

If you want to bail, bail early, bail often. The Judge you get may not be as douce as Judge David Gustafson.