Court Opinion

ID: 9456357
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 19:50:33.540123+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:34:56.938288
License: Public Domain

DYER, Circuit Judge
(concurring in part and dissenting in part):
I agree that because of the misleading information given to appellant by the Board Clerk, appellant was denied the right to explain two of his claims for exemption during a personal appearance before the Board. This deprivation calls for reversal.
However, I do not agree that the Clerk’s failure to arrange an appointment for appellant with a Government Appeals Agent constituted reversible error. On the bare record before us, I am unwilling to assume, as the majority does, what the Agent would have done in this case. To say that failure to arrange an appointment, without more, was prejudicial establishes a precedent which is neither sound nor required and which likely will return to haunt us. I respectfully dissent.