Hanhauser v. United States

85 F.R.D. 89, 45 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 471, 1979 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7886
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedDecember 19, 1979
DocketCiv. A. Nos. 79-716, 79-717
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 85 F.R.D. 89 (Hanhauser v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hanhauser v. United States, 85 F.R.D. 89, 45 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 471, 1979 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7886 (M.D. Pa. 1979).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

CONABOY, District Judge.

The District Director of the Internal Revenue assessed a penalty against Marjorie M. Hanhauser and George J. Hanhauser in the total amount of $83,082.24, representing withholding taxes allegedly unpaid by Fab-Weld Corporation with respect to wages paid during the fourth quarter of 1972, all quarters in 1973 and the first quarter in 1974. Plaintiffs paid the sum of $1,144.00, representing the amount due for one employee, and filed this lawsuit seeking a refund of that payment. Plaintiffs contend that they were not persons responsible for the withholding and paying over of these taxes, and therefore neither of them is a “responsible person” for the purposes of § 6672 of the Internal Revenue Code. The government filed an answer and counterclaim, contending that the payment already made was proper because the assessment is valid, and seeking to obtain payment of the balance of the penalty assessed. Plaintiffs now seek to join the First National Bank of Carbondale, Pennsylvania, as Third-Party Defendant to the Counterclaim brought by the Defendant against the Plaintiff. Plaintiffs allege that the Bank exercised absolute authority and control over all the monies that were handled by the Corporation at this time, and would only authorize transfer of funds representing net salaries into Fab-Weld’s payroll account, preventing the Corporation from paying income and social security taxes to the federal government. Plaintiffs therefore aver that if the government recovers judgment against the Plaintiffs on their counterclaim, then the Plaintiffs have a right of contribution against the proposed Third-Party Defendant, the First National Bank of Carbondale.

Rule 14 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure governs third-party practice. Rule 14(b) provides that when a counterclaim is brought against a Plaintiff, he may cause a third-party to be brought in under circumstances which under this rule would entitle a Defendant to do so. A Defendant may cause a summons and complaint to be served upon a person not a party to the action who is or may be liable to him for all or part of the Plaintiff’s claim against him. Since the Plaintiffs did not seek to file this counterclaim until after the original ten-day period during which one may be filed under the rule, they had to seek leave to do so upon motion to this court. In order to maintain this counterclaim, the Plaintiffs must be able to show that if the government is successful in obtaining judgment against the Plaintiffs for the entire penalty still due, then the Bank will be liable to the Plaintiffs for all or part of that claim. Because we find the cases which clearly hold that there is no right of contribution among parties who may each or all be liable for a penalty under § 6672 to be controlling in this case, we must deny the Plaintiffs’ motion to join the First National Bank of Carbondale as a Third-Party Defendant.

A Third-Party claim may be asserted under Rule 14 only if the third party’s liability is in some way dependent on an outcome of the main claim or when the third party is secondarily liable to the Defendant. The secondary or derivative liability notion is central and it is irrelevant whether the basis of the Third-Party claim is indemnity, subrogation, contribution, express or implied warranty or some other theory. 6 Wright & Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure, § 1446 at 246 (1971). The original Defendant’s claim against the Third-Party Defendant cannot simply be an independent or related claim but must be based upon the Plaintiffs’ claim against the original Defendant. Wright & Miller, supra, § 1447 at 257. The crucial characteristic of a Rule 14 claim is that the original [91]*91Defendant is attempting to transfer to the Third-Party Defendant the liability asserted against him by the original Plaintiff. As the rule is designed to reduce multiplicity of litigation and therefore is remedial in character, it should be construed liberally. Tower Manufacturing Corp. v. Reynolds, 81 F.R.D. 560, 561 (W.D.Okla.1978).

In order to maintain this claim then, the Plaintiffs must show that the Bank is liable over to them for any liability which may be found to be owed by them to the government.

The government’s claim against the Plaintiffs is based on § 6672 of the Internal Revenue Code, which reads in relevant part:

Any person required to collect, truthfully account for, and pay over any tax imposed by this title who willfully fails to collect such tax, or truthfully account for and pay over such tax, or willfully attempts in any manner to evade or defeat any such tax or the payment thereof, shall, in addition to other penalties provided by law, be liable to a penalty equal to the total amount of the tax evaded, or not collected, or not accounted for and paid over. No penalty shall be imposed under Section 6653 for any offense to which this section is applicable. 26 U.S.C. § 6672.

It is contended that the Plaintiffs were required to collect, truthfully account for and pay over the income and social security taxes withheld from wages of Fab-Weld Corporation employees, and that they failed to do so, so that they are liable for the penalty imposed by the terms of that section.

They seek to bring this third-party claim on the grounds that the First National Bank of Carbondale, by the amount of control that it assumed over Fab-Weld’s business activities, and the fact that it had the final say in which creditors were to be paid became a “responsible person”, within the meaning of that term under § 6672, and is therefore liable to them for any penalty assessed against them under § 6672.

The Plaintiffs rely on Dunham v. United States, 301 F.Supp. 700 (D.Conn.1969) in support of this position. That case was also before the Court on a determination of liability for a § 6672 penalty. Plaintiffs sued for a refund of a § 6672 penalty, the United States brought a counterclaim for the balance and brought a third-party complaint against the Second National Bank of New Haven to collect the same assessment. The Bank moved for summary judgment which was denied. The Court found that there were material issues of fact present concerning whether the Bank assumed such control over the business involved that it became the “person” exercising final discretion as to which creditors were to be paid and when. If the Bank was found to have assumed this amount of responsibility, it could be found liable.

We agree with the Plaintiffs that this case does support the proposition that the First National Bank of Carbondale may be found to be a person responsible for payment of withholding taxes under § 6672. However, that issue is not currently before us.

More than one party may be found to be a “responsible person” for payment of tax penalties under § 6672. Braden v. United States, 442 F.2d 342 (6th Cir.) cert. denied 404 U.S. 912, 92 S.Ct. 229, 30 L.Ed.2d 185. The issue before us is whether one party found to be so liable has a right of contribution as against another responsible party.

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Bluebook (online)
85 F.R.D. 89, 45 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 471, 1979 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7886, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hanhauser-v-united-states-pamd-1979.