Barry v. United States

103 Fed. Cl. 425, 2012 U.S. Claims LEXIS 63, 109 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 1044, 2012 WL 506866
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedFebruary 15, 2012
DocketNo. 03-200T
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 103 Fed. Cl. 425 (Barry 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
Barry v. United States, 103 Fed. Cl. 425, 2012 U.S. Claims LEXIS 63, 109 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 1044, 2012 WL 506866 (uscfc 2012).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

BRUGGINK, Judge.

This action is one of a number of related proceedings brought pursuant to the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982, 26 U.S.C. §§ 6221-6234 (2006) (“TEFRA”), by investors in a series of limited partnerships organized by American Agri-Corp., Inc. (“AMCOR”). These actions are brought by individual investing partners who are challenging assessments by the IRS flowing from an adjustment at the partnership level. The AMCOR partners assert three common claims for refund: (1) that the tax assessments were untimely due to the passage of the limitations period, (2) that tax-motivated interest penalties were improper, (3) and that interest should have been abated. These common claims were decided by representative cases, which were eventually dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. A dismissal order was entered in this case, but plaintiffs later asserted that they alleged facts different from the common claims, and thus complete dismissal was inappropriate. Accordingly, this court vacated the dismissal in this case in part, allowing plaintiffs to pursue unique claims not addressed by the AMCOR representative cases.

Before the court is plaintiffs’ motion for reconsideration of two interim orders entered in this docket. The first order, dated April 18, 2008, dismissed the common AMCOR claims. The second order, dated March 29, 2011, confirmed the dismissal of the common AMCOR claims, but vacated the first order in part to allow plaintiffs to pursue only their unique individual claims. The case thus remains pending, and the motion is therefore brought under Rule 54(b) of the Rules of the United States Court of Federal Claims (“RCFC”), which deals with reconsideration of interim orders.

Plaintiffs contend that the orders, insofar as they call for dismissal of the common claims, are incorrect and can and should be reconsidered on the merits. Defendant contends that the first order, which was appealed to the Federal Circuit and affirmed, was not vacated with respect to dismissing the common claims. The rulings on the common claims, it contends, are therefore not open to review. Defendant further argues that plaintiffs have not met their burden to demonstrate that reconsideration is warranted. [427]*427The matter is fully briefed and oral argument is deemed unnecessary. For the reasons explained below, we deny plaintiffs’ motion for reconsideration.

BACKGROUND1

In the 1980s, AMCOR, acting as general partner, organized a series of limited partnerships to serve as investment vehicles marketed to high-income professionals. The announced goal of these partnerships was to buy farmland and grow crops. AMCOR raised $206 million dollars from 3,000 investors. Due to the structure of the partnerships, the front-loading of expenses, and corresponding deductions, investors were saving as much in taxes as they were investing, and sometimes even more. By the late 1980s, however, the AMCOR partnerships were the target of an IRS audit and investigation. The IRS believed that the AMCOR partnerships were illegal tax shelters.

The IRS examined the AMCOR partnerships and issued a final partnership administrative adjustment (“FPAA”) to the tax matters partner of the AMCOR partnerships, adjusting the partnerships’ deductions. Representatives of the AMCOR partnerships challenged the FPAAs in partnership-level proceedings before the United States Tax Court. One of the issues in that partnership-level proceeding was whether the adjustments were untimely based on the statute of limitations created by I.R.C. § 6229.2 The AMCOR tax matters partner in the Tax Court proceeding executed a “Stipulation to be Bound,” in which the AMCOR partnerships agreed to be bound consistent with the Tax Court’s findings of fact and law relating to the statute of limitations issue in an AM-COR test case. In that test case, Agri-Cal Venture Associates v. Commissioner, 80 T.C.M. (CCH) 295 (2000), the Tax Court rejected the statute of limitations defense.

While the partnership-level proceedings were pending at the Tax Court, some AM-COR partners, including plaintiffs in this ease, chose to settle their partnership items with the IRS. The settlement was effectuated in 1999 by execution of Form 870-P(AD). The partners who settled at this stage in the AMCOR litigation were known as “settled partners.” Other AMCOR partners did not settle with the IRS and were referred to as “non-settling partners.”

In 2001, the IRS moved under Tax Court Rule 248(b)3 for entry of decision in the non-settled partnership cases. The IRS represented that it and the tax matters partner for the AMCOR partnerships had reached a contingent agreement with respect to the disputed partnership items. Accordingly, the Tax Court entered stipulated decisions on July 19, 2001.

The IRS subsequently assessed additional interest against settling and non-settling partners under I.R.C. § 6621(e), which, at that time, provided for a special interest penalty for substantial underpayments of income tax attributable to tax motivated transactions. AMCOR partners then filed administrative refund claims with the IRS, which were denied. Thereafter, many individual AMCOR partners filed tax refund suits in this court. In total, 129 AMCOR-partnership refund suits were filed here; 77 of those cases, including the instant case, were deemed by the parties to be legally and factually similar.

On March 28, 2003, the parties filed a joint motion to stay the instant ease. The joint motion noted that, because the instant case “presents the same issues of fact and law as the [other AMCOR cases], the parties request that proceedings be suspended pending a final decision in the representative cases.” Joint Mot. to Stay 3-4. Judge Yock, to whom the case was then assigned, granted the motion to stay and observed that, “The [428]*428parties have selected three representative cases in which proceedings will go forward: [Isler v. United States, No. 01-344]; [Scuteri v. United States, No. 01-358]; and [Prati v. United States, No. 02-60].” Barry v. United States, No. 03-200 (Fed.Cl. Apr. 2, 2003) (order granting stay). The parties later added additional representative cases: Hinck v. United States, No. 03-865, Keener v. United States, No. 03-2028, and Smith v. United States, No. 04-907.

In February 2005, Judge Allegra, to whom AMCOR cases had also been assigned, decided Hinck v. United States, 64 Fed.Cl. 71 (2005). In Hinck, Judge Allegra held that we lack jurisdiction to consider plaintiffs’ interest abatement claims under I.R.C. § 6404 because such authority rests within the discretion of the Secretary and is not subject to judicial review in this court. Id. at 84. The AMCOR plaintiffs appealed to the Federal Circuit, which affirmed, holding that the Tax Court is the exclusive forum for interest abatement claims under I.R.C. § 6404. 446 F.3d 1307 (Fed.Cir.2006). The Supreme Court granted certiorari, 549 U.S. 1162, 127 S.Ct. 1055, 166 L.Ed.2d 797, and affirmed the Federal Circuit. 550 U.S. 501, 127 S.Ct. 2011, 167 L.Ed.2d 888 (2007). Thus, after Hinck, the remaining common AMCOR claims related to untimely assessment under I.R.C.

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103 Fed. Cl. 425, 2012 U.S. Claims LEXIS 63, 109 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 1044, 2012 WL 506866, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/barry-v-united-states-uscfc-2012.