Taxpayer's Refund Claim Survives Despite Lost Documents

In one of my favorite legal movies, A Few Good Men, the lack of evidence on a particular point is brought up when Demi Moore's character says to Tom Cruise's character that he knows that something is true. Tom Cruise's character then exclaims "it doesn't matter what I believe, it only matters what I can prove. So don't tell me what I know, or don't know. I know the law."

Unfortunately, in practice, litigators are often faced with clients who ask their lawyers to believe what they are saying as true without anything more than their testimony. This can be particularly troublesome in document intensive cases such as tax cases or other financial transaction litigation. In these types of cases, documentation is usually king. However, a lack of documents doesn't doom your case. It just makes it harder to prove your point.