Free Declaration in Support - District Court of California - California

Case 3:O7—cv-02552-I\/IJJ Document 34 Filed O7/23/2007 Page 1 of 2
1 DRATH, CLIFFORD, MURPHY & HAGEN, LLP
JOHN M. DRATH (State Bar N0. 045031)
2 1999 Harrison Street, Suite 700
Oakland, California 94612-3517
3 Telephone: (510) 287-4000 (
4 Facsimile: (510) 287-4050
Attomeys for Defendants
5 HANDLER, THAYER & DUGGAN, LLC and
THOMAS J. HANDLER, J .D., P.C. (erroneously sued
6 herein as THOMAS J. HANDLER, individually) I
`
8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
9 FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
10
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12 GREGORY R. RAIFMAN, individually and as ) No. C07-2552 MJ J
Trustee of the RAIFMAN FAMILY REVOCABLE )
13 TRUST DATED 7/2/03; SUSAN RAIFMAN, )
individually and as Trustee of the RAIFMAN )
14 FAMILY REVOCABLE TRUST DATED 7/2/03; )
and GEKKO HOLDINGS, LLC, an Alaskan limited)
15 liability company, dba GEKKO BREEDING AND )
RACING, )
16 )
Plaintiffs, ) DECLARATION OF JAMES
17 ) DUGGAN IN SUPPORT OF
vs. ) MOTION TO SET ASIDE
18 ) DEFAULT
CLASSICSTAR, LLC, a Utah limited liability )
19 company; CLASSICSTAR FARMS, LLC, a )
Kentucky limited liability company; BUFFALO )
20 RANCH, a business entity form unknown; )
GEOSTAR CORPORATION, a Delaware )
21 corporation; S. DAVID PLUMMER; SPENCER D. )
PLUMMER, III; TONY FERGUSON; THOMAS )
22 ROBINSON/ JOHN PARROT; HANDLER, )
THAYER & DUGGAN, LLC, an Illinois limited )
23 liability company; THOMAS J. HANDLER; )
KARREN, HENDRIX, STAGG, ALLEN & )
24 COMPANY, P.C., a Utah professional corporation, )
f/k/a/ KARREN, HENDRIX & )
25 ASSOCIATES, P.C., a Utah professional )
corporation; TERRY L. GREEN; and DOES )
26 1-1000, inclusive, )
) DATE : 08/28/07
27 Defendants. ) TIME : 9:30 a.m.
) COURTROOM : 11
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M 23 07 091198 oagégdidr-cv-02552-MJJ Document 34 Fuee 07i32gZ2i>E6i093 Page 2 of 2 P`3
1 I, JAMES DUGGAN, declare and state as follows:
2 1. I am an attorney authorized to practice before the courts ofthe State of Illinois,
3 and I am a named partner in the iirm of HANDLER, THAYER & DUGGAN, LLC ("HTD").
4 2. Our firm began representing CLASSICSTAR in 2001, and I have primary
5 responsibility for that client. My areas of practice include providing tax advice to clients. At the
6 request of CLASSICSTAR, HTD prepared a tax opinion which was provided to plaintiff GEKKO
7 in February 2004. This opinion related to the tax treatment available as a result of participation in
8 the CLASSICSTAR Mare Lease Program for the year 2003, and we understood that the plaintiff was
9 already an investor in that program at the time we wrote that opinion.
10 3. H'I`D stands by the accuracy ofthe tax opinion. It is very detailed, and it
1 1 explains precisely what must be done by both the investor and CLASSICSTAR in order to receive
12 the tax treatment outlined. A copy of that opinion is attached hereto as EXHIBIT A.
13 4. If favorable tax treatment is not provided to plaintiffs as participants in the
14 Mare Lease Program, that can only occur if either the plaintiffs or CLASSIICSTAR failed to follow
15 the advice set forth in our opinion.
16 I declare under penalty of perjury, under the laws of the State of California, that the
17 foregoing is true and correct. Executed this day of July, 200 ·_ at Chicago, Illinois.
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Case 3:07-cv-02552-MJJ

Document 34

Filed 07/23/2007

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Case 3:07-cv-02552-MJJ

Document 34

Filed 07/23/2007

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