Barse v. United States

374 F. Supp. 3d 823
CourtUnited States District Court
DecidedFebruary 12, 2019
Docket4:17-CV-04178-KES
StatusPublished

This text of 374 F. Supp. 3d 823 (Barse v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States District Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Barse v. United States, 374 F. Supp. 3d 823 (usdistct 2019).

Opinion

KAREN E. SCHREIER, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

Plaintiff, Warren Barse, filed a complaint against defendant, the United States of America, seeking a tax refund under 26 U.S.C. § 7422. Docket 1 at 1. The United States moves to dismiss the complaint under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6) for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and failure to state a claim. Docket 7. Barse opposes the motion. Docket 9. For the following reasons, the court grants the United States's motion to dismiss.

*826BACKGROUND

The facts alleged in the complaint, accepted as true, are as follows:

Barse is the owner of C & W Enterprises, Inc., (C & W) a South Dakota corporation. Docket 1 ¶ 7. In 2004, C & W entered into separate contracts with the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the South Dakota Department of Transportation (DOT). Id. ¶¶ 8, 11. At some point a dispute arose between the Tribe and C & W and the Tribe stopped making payment on its contract. Id. ¶ 9. Following this dispute, C & W failed to pay its payroll taxes on both contracts. Id. ¶¶ 10-11. On or about July 6, 2006, and August 16, 2006, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) filed a notice of levy for funds owed to C & W on the DOT contract. Id. ¶ 13. On August 31, 2006 and September 6, 2006, additional funds owed to C & W on the DOT contract were levied and forwarded to the IRS. Id. ¶¶ 15-16.

Barse alleges that the IRS then allocated these levied funds to the outstanding tax debt due on the Oglala Sioux Tribe contract. Id. ¶ 17. Barse alleges that this was a misallocation because the levied funds were applied to tax liability on the tribal contract and not the DOT contract. Id. ¶¶ 17-19. Barse alleges he is now wrongfully subject to a tax debt that should have been satisfied by the levy had the IRS not misallocated the funds. Id. ¶ 19.

Barse objected to the application of levied funds in June of 2015. Id. ¶ 20. On December 29, 2015, the IRS disallowed Barse's objection to the IRS levies. Id. ¶ 21. Barse then filed this complaint in federal district court on December 29, 2017. Docket 1. Barse alleges that because of misallocated funds he has a tax liability of $ 186,381.01. Id. ¶ 24. Barse seeks "a declaratory order ... canceling the applicable levy" or other relief under 26 U.S.C. § 7422(a). Id. ¶ 25. The United States moves to dismiss under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6). Docket 7.

LEGAL STANDARD

A. Subject Matter Jurisdiction

The United States moves to dismiss Barse's complaint under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1), arguing that this court lacks subject matter jurisdiction because the United States has not waived its sovereign immunity. Docket 7-1 at 4. Sovereign immunity issues concern a court's subject matter jurisdiction, which must be addressed before reaching the merits of a claim. See FDIC v. Meyer , 510 U.S. 471, 475, 114 S.Ct. 996, 127 L.Ed.2d 308 (1994). This court must accept any well-pleaded factual allegations concerning subject matter jurisdiction as true, just as a court would under a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim. Titus v. Sullivan , 4 F.3d 590, 593 (8th Cir. 1993). "Absent a waiver, sovereign immunity shields the [f]ederal [g]overnment and its agencies from suit." Meyer

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Bluebook (online)
374 F. Supp. 3d 823, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/barse-v-united-states-usdistct-2019.