Alpha I, L.P. ex rel. Sands v. United States

86 Fed. Cl. 126, 103 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 1198, 2009 U.S. Claims LEXIS 50, 2009 WL 565214
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedMarch 3, 2009
DocketNos. 06-07 T to 06-411 T, 06-810 T, 06-811 T
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 86 Fed. Cl. 126 (Alpha I, L.P. ex rel. Sands v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Federal Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Alpha I, L.P. ex rel. Sands v. United States, 86 Fed. Cl. 126, 103 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 1198, 2009 U.S. Claims LEXIS 50, 2009 WL 565214 (uscfc 2009).

Opinion

OPINION

HEWITT, Judge.

Before the court are the United States’ Motion to Reconsider Order Regarding Plaintiffs’ Motion to Substitute Certain Parties and to Dismiss Certain Causes of Action (defendant’s Motion for Reconsideration or Def.’s Mot. for Recons.), filed October 24, 2008, and Plaintiffs’ Response in Opposition to Defendant’s Motion to Reconsider Order [128]*128Regarding Plaintiffs’ Motion to Substitute Certain Parties and to Dismiss Certain Causes of Action (plaintiffs’ Response or Pis.’ Resp.), filed December 3, 2008. Defendant moves the court for reconsideration, Def.’s Mot. for Recons. 1, of the court’s Opinion and Order of October 9, 2008, granting in part and denying in part Plaintiffs’ Motion to Substitute Certain Parties and to Dismiss Certain Causes of Action for Lack of Jurisdiction (plaintiffs’ Motion or Pis.’ Mot.), Alpha I, L.P., v. United States (Alpha I), 84 Fed.Cl. 209, 225 (2008).

I. Background

The relevant facts of the case, as pertain to plaintiffs’ Motion, are set forth in detail in the court’s Opinion and Order of October 9, 2008. See Alpha I, 84 Fed.Cl. at 210-11. For convenient reference, the facts are discussed briefly here. “R, R, M & C Group, L.P. (Group) was a limited partnership with four equal limited partners: Robert Sands, Richard Sands, Marilyn Sands, and CWC Partnership I(CWC) (collectively, the Sands).” Id., at 210. The Sands transferred their interests in Group to four charitable remainder unitrusts (CRUTs) on September 21, 2001. Id. In a Final Partnership Administrative Adjustment (FPAA) defendant stated, among other things, that the transfers to the CRUTs were sham transactions. Id. at 211. The Sands “move[d] this Court to invalidate that portion of defendant’s [FPAA] that it issued to [Group] wherein defendant determined that the Sands’ transfers of their partnership interests in Group to several [CRUTs] were shams.” Pis.’ Mot. 2-3. The court granted plaintiffs’ Motion in part and denied it in part, summarizing its findings as follows:

Because the court finds the identity of a partner to be a non-partnership item that cannot be contested in an FPAA, the court GRANTS plaintiffs’ Motion insofar as it requests the court to invalidate the portion of the FPAA issued to Group that determined that the transfers of partnership interests in Group were shams. Because the court finds that the [Internal Revenue Service (IRS) ] lacked jurisdiction to determine the identity of Group’s partners in an FPAA, the court GRANTS plaintiffs’ Motion insofar as it seeks to dismiss Robert Sands, Richard Sands, Marilyn Sands, and CWC from these proceedings. The court also GRANTS plaintiffs’ Motion insofar as it seeks to substitute the Robert Sands Charitable Remainder Unitrust-2001 as the partner filing suit on behalf of Group. The court DENIES plaintiffs’ request that the deposit made by Robert Sands be returned.

Alpha I, 84 Fed.Cl. at 225.

Defendant argues that “the [c]ourt erroneously held that, under the facts presented, the transfers by the Sands of the Group partnership interests is not a partnership item.” Def.’s Mot. for Recons. 1. According to defendant, the court’s ruling “effectively precludes any challenge regarding the purported transfers to the CRUTs as they relate to the 2001 tax year.” Id. at 2. Additionally, defendant requests that the court withdraw that portion of its Opinion discussing whether the identity of Group’s partners is an affected item because “this issue was beyond the [c]ourt’s jurisdiction.” Id. at 1. Plaintiffs argue that “[defendant does not raise any new or previously unavailable arguments to support its first contention,” that the court erred in holding that the transfers of the Group partnership interests to the CRUTs are not partnership items. Pis.’ Resp. 1. Plaintiffs also point out that “defendant raised for the first time in its [M]otion for [Reconsideration its second contention [that the court did not have jurisdiction to determine whether the identity of Group’s partners is an affected item].” Id. Plaintiffs request that the court deny defendant’s Motion for Reconsideration because:

(1) defendant’s Motion for Reconsideration does not meet the [Rule 59(a) of the Rules of the United States Court of Federal Claims (RCFC)] standard for granting motions for reconsideration; (2) the [c]ourt concluded that the identity of the partners of Group is not a partnership item to be determined in this proceeding; and (3) the [c]ourt correctly concluded that the identity of Group’s partners is not an affected item.

Id. at 2.

For the following reasons, defendant’s Motion is DENIED. Pursuant to RCFC 54(b) [129]*129the court AMENDS its Opinion and Order of October 9, 2008 in accordance with this Opinion. See RCFC 54(b) (“[A]ny order or other decision, however designated, ... may be revised at any time before the entry of a judgment adjudicating all the claims and all the parties’ rights and liabilities.”).

II. Standard of Review

The standards applicable to reconsideration of non-final decisions are set forth in RCFC 54(b) and RCFC 59(a). RCFC 54(b) provides that “any order or other decision, however designated, that adjudicates fewer than all the claims or the rights and liabilities of fewer than all the parties does not end the action as to any of the claims or parties and may be revised at any time before the entry of a judgment adjudicating all the claims and all the parties’ rights and liabilities.” RCFC 54(b). RCFC 59(a) provides that rehearing or reconsideration may be granted as follows: “(A) for any of reason for which a new trial has heretofore been granted in an action at law in federal court; (B) for any reason for which a rehearing has heretofore been granted in a suit in equity in federal court; or (C) upon the showing of satisfactory evidence, cumulative or otherwise, that any fraud, wrong, or injustice has been done to the United States.” RCFC 59(a)(1).

“The decision whether to grant reconsideration lies largely -within the discretion of the [trial] court.” Yuba Natural Res., Inc. v. United States, 904 F.2d 1577, 1583 (Fed.Cir.1990). “The court must consider such motion with ‘exceptional care.’ ” Henderson County Drainage Dist. No. 3 v. United States, 55 Fed.Cl. 334, 337 (2003) (quoting Fru-Con Constr. Corp. v. United States (Fru-Con), 44 Fed.Cl. 298, 300 (1999), aff'd, 250 F.3d 762, 2000 WL 973619 (Fed.Cir.2000) (table)). “A motion for reconsideration is not intended, however, to give an ‘unhappy litigant an additional chance to sway5 the court.” Matthews v. United States (Matthews), 73 Fed.Cl. 524, 525 (2006) (quoting Froudi v. United States (Froudi), 22 Cl.Ct. 290, 300 (1991)). A party may not prevail on a motion for reconsideration “by raising an issue for the first time on reconsideration when the issue was available to be litigated at the time the complaint was filed.” Id. at 526 (citing Lamle v. Mattel, Inc. (Lamle), 394 F.3d 1355, 1359 n. 1 (Fed.Cir.2005); Abbott Labs. v. Syntron Bioresearch, Inc. (Abbott Labs.), 334 F.3d 1343, 1355 (Fed.Cir.2003); Corrigan v.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
86 Fed. Cl. 126, 103 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 1198, 2009 U.S. Claims LEXIS 50, 2009 WL 565214, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/alpha-i-lp-ex-rel-sands-v-united-states-uscfc-2009.