Jeffrey A. Taylor, a loyal bushie appointed directly without Senate confirmation by Attorney General Gonzales, under a provision of the Patriot Act that congress recently rescinded, has cost the American taxpayers 100 million dollars because of what the judge called a poorly drafted plea agreement.

There were probably many attorneys involved in this case, but Taylor should have caught this mistake.

He has kept his job! He will probably be promoted.

Here

And Here

Oops!

Though not familar with your jurisdiction, I'm prepared to bet that the spokesman for the IRS (first link) is right. The incompetence ought not to prove fatal. The defendant can have no answer to a civil claim. It's the kind of case which, in England, would be subject to summary judgment i.e the claimant (plaintiff, as you still say) would file an affidavit stating that the defendant has no valid defence to the claim and asking that judgment be entered forthwith and then get judgment entered within a few days.

That said, it's still a cock-up (to use a decidedly unforensic term, familar to all British people) and the fact that the IRS may still get their money doesn't hide the fact that the prosecutor patently missed a trick which a competent man would not have. That it may not, in the end, prove fatal does not, and should not, avail him.

Aren't you lucky ! Over here we have institutionalised incompetence in big fraud trials. We have something called the Serious Fraud Office. It is known in the trade as the Serious Farce Office and is run by a load of, usually faceless, bureaucrats.They specialise in providing prosecuting counsel with ill-prepared cases but incompetently concealing the defects from the gaze of the most senior and able counsel instructed to prosecute. These only become apparent six weeks (or six months )into the trial,but always at a point at which it is too late to salvage the case