Castle v. United States

17 F. Supp. 515, 84 Ct. Cl. 300
CourtUnited States Court of Claims
DecidedJanuary 11, 1937
DocketNo. 42041
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 17 F. Supp. 515 (Castle v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Castle v. United States, 17 F. Supp. 515, 84 Ct. Cl. 300 (cc 1937).

Opinion

GREEN, Judge.

There is no dispute as to the facts. The plaintiff failed to file income tax returns for the years 1917 to 1922, inclusive. In June, 1923, plaintiff filed delinquent tax returns upon which taxes and penalties were assessed. Plaintiff paid these taxes and settled the penalties pursuant to an offer of compromise accepted by defendant. Later, and on March 3, 1924, the Commissioner assessed additional taxes and penalties against plaintiff in the total amount of $440,276.45. In the same year he was indicted for violation of the statute with reference to making income tax returns for the years 1921 and 1922. The indictment was in two counts, and on June 15, 1925, he withdrew his plea of “not guilty” and entered a plea of “guilty.” On September 15, 1925, he was sentenced on each count to one year in the workhouse and fined $10,-000. After some proceedings with reference to the taxes and penalties last imposed upon him, plaintiff took an appeal to the Board of Tax Appeals. On June 29, 1927, pursuant to a stipulation- of the parties, the Board entered an order fixing the amount of taxes and penalties against plaintiff for the years 1917- to 1922, inclusive, in the total sum of $122,467.95. Subsequently an agreement for compromise and settlement of the civil and criminal [518]*518liabilities of plaintiff to the government was entered into between the parties under which the President made an order remitting the $10,000 fine under the second count of the indictment and further criminal proceedings against him were dismissed. The plaintiff complied with his part of the agreement by paying on September 12, 1928, all taxes and penalties assessed against him and the fine of $10,000 imposed under the first count of the indictment and making a settlement of the interest claimed by the government. Later, on September 4, 1930, plaintiff filed claims for refund of taxes and penalties for the years 1917 to 1921, inclusive, aggregating $83,854.89. These claims were rejected by the Commissioner on the ground that the taxes and penalties for these years had been closed by a stipulation and order entered by the Board of Tax Appeals, and p'laintiif now brings this suit to recover the amount paid. The argument on behalf of plaintiff, however, concedes that the plaintiff has no valid claim for a refund of the taxes paid and proceeds with the action only so far as it may relate to the recovery of, penalties.

The contention of the plaintiff is that_ the penalties imposed for the years 1921 and 1922 were for the same offense for which he had previously been fined and imprisoned and consequently were collected in violation of the provision of the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution providing: “Nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb.”

With reference to the years 1917 to 1920, inclusive, the plaintiff claims that in June, 1923, defendant assessed and plaintiff paid income taxes. and penalties for violation of the statutes with reference to making returns; that plaintiff made an offer to compromise the liability so created, which offer was accepted by the defendant and the amount so assessed was accordingly paid. The plaintiff also alleges that on September 12, 1928, further penalties for negligent failure to file returns were assessed against him for the years 1917 to 1920 in the total amount of $16,668.06, which sum was subsequently collected. Plaintiff contends as to these years 1917 to 1920, inclusive, that defendant having imposed penalties for failure to make a return of the taxes first assessed was prohibited from collecting further penalties on a later assessment for failure to file returns by reason of the inhibition of the Fifth Amendment as to double jeopardy and also because the plaintiff had made a compromise settlement of the taxes and penalties first imposed.

It is not necessary, however, to consider whether the claim of the plaintiff last stated with reference to penalties being twice assessed and collected is based on any legal foundation as the defense set up by the defendant applies to this claim equally with the claim of double jeopardy first made. But it may be said in this connection that the Commissioner doubtless acted upon the theory that as the penalties imposed were a certain percentage of the taxes assessed, the assessment of additional taxes warranted the assessment of additional penalties.

It will be observed that if the contention of plaintiff as to double jeopardy is sustained it would be impossible to enforce against a violator of the law a sentence for a criminal offense and also a penalty in a civil case for the same violation. The decisions of the courts upon the question so raised do not seem to be entirely harmonious, at least in the language used, but we think the cases cited in behalf of plaintiff involved a different question than is now before the court. Ex parte Lange, 18 Wall. 163, 21 L.Ed. 872, was not a case where a civil penalty and a criminal punishment were imposed for the same offense, but one in which the accused was tried twice on the same criminal charge. In Coffey v. United States, 116 U.S. 436, 6 S.Ct. 437, 29 L.Ed. 684, the criminal offense involved the forfeiture of the property used in its commission and, unless a criminal offense had been committed, the property could not be forfeited. In the case at bar the penalty could be imposed without a criminal prosecution. In United States v. Chouteau, 102 U.S. 603, 26 L.Ed. 246, it was held that a compromise entered into with the government released the defendant from liability for the offenses charged and further punishment for them. In United States v. La Franca, 282 U.S. 568, 51 S.Ct. 278, 75 L.Ed. 551, the decision seems to have been based largely on the special provisions of the act declaring that a conviction under the National Prohibition Act (27 U.S. C.A.) should be a bar to prosecution under other acts, and it was finally concluded by the court to so construe the law that there would be no question about its constitutionality.

[519]*519On the other hand, in Hanby v. Commissioner, 67 F.(2d) 125, the Circuit Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit sustained the position of the defendant in the case at bar, which is, as stated in People v. Stevens, 13 Wend. (N.Y.) 341, 342, that: “It is undoubtedly competent for the legislature to subject any particular offense both to a penalty and a criminal prosecution; it is not punishing the same offence twice. They are but parts of one punishment; they both constitute the punishment which the law inflicts upon the offence. That they are enforced in different modes of proceeding, and at different times, does not affect the principle. It might as well be contended that a man was punished twice, when he was both fined and imprisoned, which he may be in most misdemeanors.(Italics ours.)

The Board of Tax Appeals has had before it two cases. which involved the same question which is now raised in the case at bar. These cases were Scharton v. Commissioner, 32 B.T.A. 459, and Mitchell v. Commissioner, 32 B.T.A. 1093. In the last-named case, the authorities were considered and reviewed at length and the Board held adversely to the contention now made by plaintiff. Two members dissented; one on the ground that the judgment rendered in the criminal prosecution against Mitchell was res adjudicata as to the civil case; the other member held that it was an absolute bar.

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Bluebook (online)
17 F. Supp. 515, 84 Ct. Cl. 300, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/castle-v-united-states-cc-1937.