First National Bank v. Brook (In re Morgan)

213 B.R. 609, 11 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. B 96, 1997 Bankr. LEXIS 937, 80 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5275
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, M.D. Florida
DecidedJune 6, 1997
DocketBankruptcy No. 95-4824-8P7; Adversary No. 95-469
StatusPublished

This text of 213 B.R. 609 (First National Bank v. Brook (In re Morgan)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, M.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
First National Bank v. Brook (In re Morgan), 213 B.R. 609, 11 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. B 96, 1997 Bankr. LEXIS 937, 80 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5275 (Fla. 1997).

Opinion

ORDER ON MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

ALEXANDER L. PASKAY, Chief Judge.

THIS IS a Chapter 7 liquidation case and the matters under consideration are three Motions for Summary Judgment filed by the United States of America (Government); V. John Brook (Trustee); and Richard E. Morgan and Mary A. Morgan (Debtors), respectively. In order to place the Motions in their proper perspective, it is helpful to briefly recap the procedural background of this adversary proceeding, originally styled, The First National Bank of Mt. Dora, Florida (Bank) v. V. John Brook, Jr., Chapter 7 Trustee, Richard E. Morgan, Mary A. Morgan, and Joseph Morgan, Defendants. On July 6,1995, the Bank filed its Complaint for Interpleader. On August 9, 1996, this Court entered an Order granting leave to the Government to intervene. The Order was entered on October 16, 1996, after this Court overruled the Debtor’s objection to the intervention by the Government. The Order also granted thirty days to the Government to file cross-claims against the Debtors and the Trustee, and thirty days to the Debtors to file a cross-claim against the Trustee and the Government.

On October 30, 1996, the Debtors filed their Cross-Claim against the Government. On November 13, 1996, the Government filed its Cross-Claim against the Trustee and the Debtors. On November 15, 1996, the Trustee filed his Cross-Claim against the Debtors. On November 30, 1996, the Bank deposited the funds in controversy in the Registry of this Court pursuant to an Order entered by this Court on July 31, 1995, granting partial summary judgment of interpleader in favor of the Bank. Thus, left for consideration are the competing claims to the funds in the Registry by the Government, the Trustee, and the Debtors.

The controversy presented for this Court’s consideration is the three Motions for Summary Judgment described earlier, in which each of the Movants contend that there are no genuine issues of material fact and that each is entitled to a judgment in their respective favors as a .matter of law. In its Motion, the Government contends that the Debtors are indebted to the Government for unpaid, assessed income tax liabilities for the years 1992 up to and including 1995; that as a matter of law, the Government has a lien on all assets of the Debtors, including the funds held by them in the Bank which are now deposited in the Registry; and that the controlling facts are not in dispute. Therefore, the Government contends that its Motion should be granted as a matter of law. In his Motion, the Trustee contends that he and his wife obtained a judgment against the Debtor, Richard Morgan, for slander of title; that in aid of execution of this judgment he garnished the funds which are in the Registry; that he has an agreement with the Government as to the respective priorities of the Trustee and the Government; and that based on the undisputed facts he acquired a valid lien on the funds vis-a-vis the Debtors. Therefore, the Trustee contends that his Motion for Summary Judgment should be granted.

[611]*611Finally, the Debtors, in their Motion consisting of fifteen separate paragraphs, contend inter alia that this Court erred in permitting the Government to intervene due to “lack of knowledge”; that there is no such entity as the “Internal Revenue Service” set forth in the Constitution nor in any law written by Congress; that the assessment was improper because it was not signed by an “assessment officer”; that the Government lost all of its immunity (or sovereignty) when it filed a claim in the Bankruptcy Court; that the Proof of Claim filed contains an illegible signature; that the Proof of Claim is not supported by any documents; that the “United States of America nor the Internal Revenue Service” addressed the proof to a Table of Authorities provided by the Debtor; and that the Government successfully convinced the Court that it acquired a new client, the Southern Bank, even though “the Southern Bank sent no representative to a hearing.” In addition to the foregoing, the Debtors also set forth various and sundry statements, none of which are remotely relevant to their Motion for Summary Judgment. Therefore, it is unnecessary to either recite or paraphrase them.

The Debtors in the Wherefore Clause of their Motion request the following relief:

1. Order the monies in the Registry to be paid over to the Debtors.
2. Order any monies held in the estate to be paid over to the Debtors.
3. Order the sanction of the United States of America for representing the Southern Bank of Central Florida.
4. Order the non-existent “Internal Revenue Service” sanctioned for its entry of a non-perfect document described as “Form 10.”
5. Order an award of justieable (sic) money to the Debtors for the Department of the Treasury/Internal Revenue Service; as described by Title 18 United States Code; Sections 152 and 3571; for the violation in not submitting assessment forms signed by an “assessment officer” with properly delegated (published in the Federal Register) authority to sign such a documents.
6.Issue any other orders deemed justica-ble (sic).

In addition, the Debtors also filed a document entitled, “Objections to the Government’s and Brook’s Motions for Summary Judgment.” Neither the Rules which govern adversary proceedings nor any other rule of procedure provide for an “objection to summary judgment.” Nevertheless, this Court considers the same as a response and written argument against the Motions filed by the Government and the Trustee. Stripping the document of largely meaningless and irrelevant rhetoric, the Debtors’ argument presents nothing new and is, in essence, a rehash of the matter set forth in their Motion for Summary Judgment, reiterating a twenty-five page document with some reprint from the Internal Revenue manual and citations which are claimed to support the proposition urged by the Debtors. -It shall suffice to note that the foregoing contentions of the Debtors are merely restatements of the old refrain that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) does not exist; that there is no obligation to pay income tax; that the system is voluntary; that there is nothing in the Internal Revenue Code providing that any part of earnings known as wages and commissions is regulated; that no one has an obligation to file Form 1040; and that there was no valid assessment of unpaid taxes against the Debtors.

The-one and only issue involves the validity, vel non, of -the tax and the garnishment hens claimed by the Government and the Trustee respectively. The facts relevant to this issue as they appear from the record can be summarized as follows.

It is without dispute that the Debtors did not file an income tax return (Form 1040) for the tax years of 1993, 1994, and 1995. On April 10, 1995, the IRS addressed a request to Richard Morgan urging him to file his tax return for the tax year ending December 31, 1993. On March 18, 1996, the IRS informed Mary E. Morgan that she failed to file her tax returns for 1993, 1994, and 1995, and urged her to file her tax returns. On June 3, 1996, the IRS requested that both Debtors contact the IRS within ten days and stated that if they failed to do so, the IRS would [612]*612proceed with other action to bring them into compliance with the tax laws. (Govt. Exh. 7).

On June 10, 1996, Richard Morgan wrote to N. Kenyon, Tax Auditor, an employee of the IRS, and informed Mr.

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213 B.R. 609, 11 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. B 96, 1997 Bankr. LEXIS 937, 80 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5275, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/first-national-bank-v-brook-in-re-morgan-flmb-1997.