Conner v. United States

947 F. Supp. 1267, 78 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 6070, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11577, 1996 WL 571634
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Indiana
DecidedJuly 22, 1996
DocketCivil No. 1:95cv254
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 947 F. Supp. 1267 (Conner v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Indiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Conner v. United States, 947 F. Supp. 1267, 78 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 6070, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11577, 1996 WL 571634 (N.D. Ind. 1996).

Opinion

ORDER

WILLIAM C. LEE, District Judge.

This matter is before-the court on a “Motion for Leave to File”, and on a “Motion for Summary Denial of Petition to Quash and For Enforcement of Internal Revenue Service Summonses”. Both motions were filed by the government on June 5, 1996, and the parties completed briefing the motions on July 3, 1996. For the following reasons, the governments’ motions will be granted.

Discussion

On May 24, 1995, the petitioners filed a petition to quash Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) summonses. On July 27, 1995, the government filed a motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction. In an order dated December 21, 1995, this court granted in part and denied in part the government’s motion to dismiss. This court held that jurisdiction was lacking over two financial institutions located in Buffalo, New York and one financial institution located in Des Moines, Iowa. However, this court further held that, with respect [1269]*1269to three summonses directed to institutions and individuals located in Fort Wayne, Indiana, jurisdiction was proper in this court. Thus, the present order concerns only these three summonses.

In their petition to quash, the petitioners seek to quash summonses issued to Marcia Selking, Keeper of the Records of Norwest Legal Processing Department (“Norwest”), Garrett State Bank (“Garrett”), and Calvary Temple Church, Inc. (“Calvary”), relating to the tax liability of petitioners for the years 1991 through 1994, inclusive. .

The government first asserts that this court lacks subject matter jurisdiction over the summons issued to Calvary because the church is not a “third-party recordkeeper” as that term is defined by statute. The government has taken the position that since Calvary is not a third-party recordkeeper, the government has not waived its sovereign immunity with respect to a claim against the Calvary summons.

In order to maintain a suit against the United States, it is necessary that there be a waiver of sovereign immunity to allow such suit, because the United States, as sovereign, may only be sued to the extent that it has consented by statute to be sued. United States v. Testan, 424 U.S. 392, 96 S.Ct. 948, 47 L.Ed.2d 114 (1976); United States v. Sherwood, 312 U.S. 584, 586, 61 S.Ct. 767, 769, 85 L.Ed. 1058 (1941). A waiver of sovereign immunity cannot be implied, but must be explicit. Soriano v. United States, 352 U.S. 270, 276, 77 S.Ct. 269, 273, 1 L.Ed.2d 306 (1957); Honda v. Clark, 386 U.S. 484, 501, 87 S.Ct. 1188, 1197, 18 L.Ed.2d 244 (1967). Additionally, a statutory waiver of sovereign immunity must be narrowly construed requiring the plaintiff to precisely meet the terms for waiver. Sherwood, supra, 312 U.S. at 587, 61 S.Ct. at 770. Where there is no statute expressly waiving the sovereign immunity of the United States, dismissal of the action is required. Stout v. United States, 229 F.2d 918 (2d Cir.1956).

Any potential waiver of immunity for the petition to quash the IRS summons to Calvary is found in 26 U.S.C. § 7609, which permits challenges to IRS summonses under certain limited circumstances. Specifically, § 7609(b) provides:

(b) Right to Intervene; Right to Proceeding to Quash—
* * H* * * *
(2) Proceeding to Quash—
(A) In General—Notwithstanding any other law or rule of law, any person who is entitled to notice of a summons under subsection (a) shall have the right to begin a proceeding to quash such summons ....

26 U.S.C. § 7609(b)(2)(A) (emphasis added). In order to be considered a third-party re-cordkeeper, two conditions must be met: “(1) the person facially falls within one of the enumerated categories in Section 7609(a)(3); and (2) the summons requests records kept in the person’s role as a third-party record-keeper.” Davenport v. Bell, 600 F.Supp. 568, 571 (N.D.Ill.1984); Menendez v. United States, 872 F.Supp. 567, 570 (S.D.Ind.1994).

The government argues that a church, such as Calvary, does not fall within any of the categories defined as third-party record-keepers in § 7609(a)(3), and thus Calvary is not a third-party recordkeeper. A review of § 7609(a)(3) reveals that the term “third-party recordkeeper” only refers to entities such as banks, consumer reporting agencies, credit card issuers, brokers, attorneys, accountants, barter exchanges, and regulated investment companies. Clearly, a church is not a qualifying entity. Thus, the government argues that since Calvary is not a third-party recordkeeper, petitioners were not entitled to notice under the provisions of § 7609(a)(1). As § 7609(b)(2) only permits those entitled to notice to bring a suit to quash a summons, the government argues that the petitioners have not shown that they are entitled to bring such a suit. Thus, the government argues that since petitioners do not meet the statutory requirements for maintaining this action to the extent they seek to quash the summons to Calvary, the United States has not waived its sovereign immunity and this court lacks jurisdiction over- that portion of the petition to quash. This court agrees with the government on [1270]*1270this point and the petition to quash the summons to Calvary will be denied.

The government next argues that, with respect to the two remaining summonses, it has made a prima facie showing that the summonses are valid and enforceable. Section 7609 governs the enforceability of summonses issued to statutory third-party reeordkeepers, such as Norwest and Garrett. Pursuant to § 7609, the summoned third-party recordkeeper must comply with the administrative IRS summons unless a person entitled to notice of the summons begins a proceeding to quash the summons not later than the 20th day after such notice is given. 26 U.S.C. § 7609(b)(2)(A). Further, in any proceeding to quash a summons, the government may seek to compel compliance with the summons. Id.

To compel compliance with a summons, the government need only present a prima facie casé, as described by the Supreme Court in United States v. Powell, 379 U.S. 48, 57-58, 85 S.Ct. 248, 254-55, 13 L.Ed.2d 112 (1965). Once a prima facie ease is established the burden shifts to the petitioners to demonstrate that the enforcement of the summons would be an abuse of the court’s process or that a genuine issue exists as to any material defense to the enforcement of the summons. Powell, 379 U.S. at 58, 85 S.Ct. at 255; United States v. Kis, 658 F.2d 526, 535-37 (7th Cir.1981).

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947 F. Supp. 1267, 78 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 6070, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11577, 1996 WL 571634, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/conner-v-united-states-innd-1996.