Henderson v. United States (In re Guardian Trust Co.)

242 B.R. 608, 45 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 344, 1999 Bankr. LEXIS 1227, 84 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5940
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, S.D. Mississippi
DecidedAugust 12, 1999
DocketBankruptcy No. 93-01033JC; Adversary No. 98-00152JEE
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 242 B.R. 608 (Henderson v. United States (In re Guardian Trust Co.)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, S.D. Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Henderson v. United States (In re Guardian Trust Co.), 242 B.R. 608, 45 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 344, 1999 Bankr. LEXIS 1227, 84 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5940 (Miss. 1999).

Opinion

FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW ON MOTION TO WITHDRAW DEFENDANT’S ADMISSIONS TO THE MATTERS CONTAINED IN PLAINTIFF’S REQUESTS FOR ADMISSION, AND FOR AN EXTENSION OF TIME BY WHICH DEFENDANT CAN RESPOND TO PLAINTIFF’S DISCOVERY UNTIL MAY 1, 1999, AND ON PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

EDWARD ELLINGTON, Chief Judge.

This matter came on for trial on June 11, 1999, at 9:30 a.m. on the Motion to Withdraw Defendant’s Admissions to the Matters Contained in Plaintiff’s Requests for Admission, and for an Extension of Time by which Defendant can Respond to Plaintiff’s Discovery until May 1, 1999, filed by Defendants, the United States of America and the Commissioner of Internal Revenue (collectively, the IRS), and on the Response thereto filed by Derek A. Henderson, Chapter 7 Trustee for the Debtor, Guardian Trust Company, and on Plaintiff’s Motion for Summary Judgment filed by the Chapter 7 Trustee. The Trustee, his counsel, and counsel for the IRS appeared at the trial. Having considered the record, as well as the oral arguments presented by counsel at the trial, the Court concludes for the reasons that follow that the Motion to Withdraw the Defendant’s Admissions to the Matters Contained in the Plaintiff’s Requests for Admissions should be denied, and that the Plaintiff’s Motion for Summary Judgment should be granted.

FINDINGS OF FACT

On March 29, 1993, Guardian Trust Company filed bankruptcy pursuant to Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code.1 Prior to the bankruptcy filing, the IRS had undertaken an audit of Guardian’s 1988,1989, 1990 and 1991 consolidated federal income tax returns. Therefore, upon Guardian’s bankruptcy filing, the Trustee requested in writing that the IRS state the amount of Guardian’s tax liability. In response, the IRS mailed a statutory Notice of Deficiency to Guardian on November 15, 1993, wherein it claimed that Guardian owed $5,638,695 in unpaid taxes and penalties for its 1988, 1989 and 1991 tax years. On November 22, 1993, the IRS filed an amended proof of claim in Guardian’s bankruptcy case seeking to collect an alleged $6,247,647 in unpaid federal income taxes and penalties, and on August 8, 1995, filed a second amended proof of claim seeking $6,249,290.

Prior to the filing of this adversary proceeding, the IRS sent a list of questions to the Trustee regarding Guardian’s income tax liability for 1988, 1989, and 1991. The Trustee and his counsel met with the IRS in October 1997 to provide responses to the IRS’s questions. In addition, the Trustee provided the IRS with documentation in support of his position that the Notice of Deficiency was erroneous and that Guardian is actually entitled to a refund for overpayment of taxes in the amount of $2,144,826. When the parties were unable to reach a resolution of their dispute over the amount of tax owed by or refund due to Guardian, the Chapter 7 Trustee filed his Complaint initiating this adversary proceeding on June 23, 1998, seeking to conclusively determine Guardian’s tax liability.

On August 7, 1998, the IRS filed a motion for an extension of time to respond to [611]*611the Trustee’s Com/plaint, maintaining that it needed additional time to obtain and review the pertinent administrative files. The Court entered an Order granting the IRS’s request, and the IRS filed its Answer on September 25, 1998. Thereafter, the Court entered a Scheduling Order, setting the discovery deadline date as November 30,1998.

In compliance with the Scheduling Order, on October 14, 1998, the Trustee served upon the IRS the Trustee’s First Set of Requests for Admissions, First Set of Interrogatories, and First Set of Requests for Production of Documents. Immediately thereafter, the Trustee also noticed the depositions of the two IRS agents principally responsible for the Guardian case and of a designated representative of the IRS. The IRS then moved for another extension of time to review its files and to respond to the discovery requests, and on November 17, 1998, the Court granted the IRS until December 1, 1998, to respond to the Trustee’s First Set of Requests for Admissions, First Set of Interrogatories, and First Set of Request for Production of Documents. The Court also instructed the parties to decide upon new discovery deadlines and to that end, counsel for the IRS subsequently drafted a second Scheduling Order which was entered by the Court. The second Scheduling Order extended the IRS’s response deadline on the Trustee’s First Set of Requests for Admissions, First Set of Interrogatories, and First Set of Requests for Production of Documents until March 1, 1999, extended the Trustee’s time to respond to the IRS’s Motion for Partial Summary Judgment until May 1, 1999, and extended the deadline for completion of discovery until May 1, 1999. In contemplation of receiving the IRS’s discovery responses by March 1, 1999, the Trustee postponed the depositions of the two IRS agents and the IRS’s designated representative. Notwithstanding the new Scheduling Order, which had been drafted by counsel for the IRS, the IRS failed to serve its responses to the Trustee’s requests by March 1,1999.

Therefore, on April 15, 1999, six weeks after the IRS’s March 1, 1999, response due date and two weeks prior to the discovery deadline, the Trustee filed his Motion for Summary Judgment based on the IRS’s deemed admissions. On April 23, 1999, the IRS filed its Motion to Withdraw Defendant’s Admissions to the Matters Contained in Plaintiffs Requests for Admission, and for an Extension of Time by which Defendant can Respond to Plaintiffs Discovery until May 1, 1999. On April 30, 1999, the IRS filed its Responses to the Trustee’s First Set of Requests for Admissions and First Set of Interrogatories although it did not respond to the Trustee’s First Set of Requests for Production of Documents.

In its motion to withdraw the deemed admissions, counsel for the IRS argues that he mistakenly drafted the due date for the IRS’s admissions, interrogatories and document production responses as March 1, 1999, because his true understanding was that all of the discovery deadlines were to have been extended until May 1, 1999. The IRS thus petitions the Court to grant withdrawal of the deemed admissions and to consider instead the IRS’s Responses to the Trustee’s First Set of Requests for Admissions and First Set of Interrogatories which were filed on April 30, 1999. The IRS offers no explanation regarding its failure to respond to the Trustee’s First Set of Requests for Production of Documents. The Trustee vehemently opposes the IRS’s motion to withdraw the deemed admissions, asserting that the IRS’s counsel did understand that the due date set for the discovery responses was March 1, 1999, and further arguing that because the IRS has deemed admitted every material fact in issue, the Trustee is entitled to summary judgment.

CONCLUSIONS OF LAW ON THE MOTION TO WITHDRAW ADMISSIONS

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure [612]*61236 provides in pertinent part:2

(a) Each matter of which an admission is requested shall be separately set forth. The matter is admitted unless, within 30 days after service of the request ...

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Bluebook (online)
242 B.R. 608, 45 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 344, 1999 Bankr. LEXIS 1227, 84 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5940, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/henderson-v-united-states-in-re-guardian-trust-co-mssb-1999.