Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks Lodge 615 v. United States

352 F. Supp. 142, 1972 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10949
CourtDistrict Court, D. Minnesota
DecidedNovember 28, 1972
DocketNos. 5-71 Civ. 13, 5-71 Civ. 14 and 5-71 Civ. 17
StatusPublished

This text of 352 F. Supp. 142 (Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks Lodge 615 v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks Lodge 615 v. United States, 352 F. Supp. 142, 1972 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10949 (mnd 1972).

Opinion

NEVILLE, District Judge.

These actions are brought under 28 U.S.C. § 1346(a)(1) for the refund of Federal gambling taxes for the fiscal years ended June 30, 1962, through June 30, 1967, by the above three plaintiffs. Since they involve the same legal issues they were consolidated by this court’s order of September 13, 1971.

Each of the plaintiffs, non profit organizations, over the years maintained for use a pin ball machine or machines. It is not contested that in the method of their operation with cash payoffs, these machines constituted gaming devices within the meaning of 26 U.S.C. § 4462. The government contended the plaintiffs were subject to the gambling tax imposed by 26 U.S.C. § 4461 of $250 per year per device and accordingly assessments were levied against all three plaintiffs for the tax for the several years involved plus a 50% penalty and plus interest. Claims for refund were duly filed by plaintiffs and allowed to the extent that in each case the 50% penalties and interest thereon were abated and refunded. The claims were denied however as to the amount of tax paid and interest and the Elks now seek a judgment in this action for $1,894.30, the Legion for $1,774.05 and the Moose for $1,457.55 in each instance plus interest and costs. Meantime the gaming devices which, according to the affidavit of plaintiffs’ counsel on file, were not owned by plaintiffs were seized by the government and apparently declared forfeited. No claim is made in the present suits concerning this aspect in any event.

Plaintiffs have moved for summary judgment pursuant to Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and defendants have moved to dismiss under Federal Rule 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. A 12(b) (6) motion may be treated as the equivalent of one for summary judgment where, as in the instant case, matters outside the pleadings are submitted to the court. While normally the court is reluctant to grant a motion for summary judgment, there are no genuine issues of fact in this case but only questions of law, the plaintiffs having agreed on oral argument to the government’s statement of the facts contained in its brief and pleadings.1 No criminal prosecution has been undertaken against the plaintiffs or any of them.

Plaintiffs’ contention is bottomed primarily on two companion criminal cases decided by the Supreme Court, Marchetti v. United States, 390 U.S. 39, 88 S.Ct. 697, 19 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968), and Grosso v. United States, 390 U.S. 62, 88 S.Ct. 709, 19 L.Ed.2d 906 (1968). Marchetti and Grosso involved the registration provision relating to wagering,2 and the Court found that a proper assertion of the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination is a bar to a federal criminal prosecution for failure to comply with the registration provisions of the statutes in question. Plaintiffs assert that thereby the entire statutory scheme embracing these registration provisions and the taxing of the use of gaming devices was declared unconstitutional and that the Internal Revenue Code sections relating to gaming devices are indistinguishable in purpose and effect from those involved in Marchetti and Grosso. Plaintiffs’ second contention appears to be that the government’s “failure to give the warnings in Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 [86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694] (1966), to the managers of the plaintiffs’ club rooms in light of the Marchetti principle has made the statements upon which the [144]*144tax was based illegal.”3 The government maintains in response that Marchetti and Grosso carefully were limited to criminal prosecutions involving the danger of self-incrimination and therefore are not applicable to the instant proceedings. Not only are these proceedings of a civil nature, but the government further argues that there is no self-incrimination issue because by a long line of authority a corporate entity, such as these fraternal organizations, cannot invoke the Fifth Amendment privilege. As to plaintiffs’ second contention, the government asserts that Miranda warnings are not necessary in that the club managers were interviewed on the plaintiffs’ premises and Miranda does not apply to such noncustodial investigations and interrogation.

The outcome of this case quite clearly turns on this court’s interpretation of Marchetti and Grosso. The court finds little in these two cases which augurs for their application to the case at bar. As noted above, the Supreme Court determined in Marchetti and Grosso that a proper assertion of the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination constituted a bar to a federal criminal prosecution for failure to comply with the registration provision of the federal wagering tax. The Court was careful to limit its holding to the self-incrimination issue and did not declare all gambling taxes unconstitutional. In its concluding paragraph in Marchetti at page 61 of 390 U.S., at page 709 of 88 S.Ct., the Court summarized its holding:

“We emphasize that we do not hold that these wagering tax provisions are as such constitutionally impermissible ; we hold only that those who properly assert the constitutional privilege as to these provisions may not be criminally punished for failure to comply with their requirements. If, in different circumstances, a taxpayer is not confronted by substantial hazards of self-incrimination, or if he is otherwise outside the privilege’s protection, nothing we decide today would shield him from the various penalties prescribed by the wagering tax statutes.”

The express language of the Supreme Court in Grosso similarly suggests that the civil liability section of wagering taxes still has vitality. The Court was categorically clear that that tax liability withstood the assertion of the Fifth Amendment privilege, and also recognized that collection, though limited as to means, was still workable. The Court stated at page 69, fn. 7 of 390 U.S., at page 714 of 88 S.Ct.:

“We do not hold today either that the excise tax is as such constitutionally impermissible, or that a proper claim of privilege extinguishes liability for taxation; we hold only that such a claim of privilege precludes a criminal conviction premised on failure to pay the tax.”

Furthermore, the validity and utility of the gambling taxes has been reaffirmed by the appellate and district courts which have considered the matter subsequent to Marchetti and Grosso.4 Again, and more recently in United States v. United States Coin and Currency, 393 F.2d 499 (7th Cir.

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352 F. Supp. 142, 1972 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10949, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/benevolent-protective-order-of-elks-lodge-615-v-united-states-mnd-1972.