Kaul v. Stephan

828 F. Supp. 1504, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11014, 1993 WL 294452
CourtDistrict Court, D. Kansas
DecidedJuly 20, 1993
Docket91-4118-R
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 828 F. Supp. 1504 (Kaul v. Stephan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kaul v. Stephan, 828 F. Supp. 1504, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11014, 1993 WL 294452 (D. Kan. 1993).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

ROGERS, District Judge.

This is a § 1983 action arising from the execution of two search warrants upon plaintiffs place of business. The case is now before the court upon defendant’s motion to dismiss or, in the alternative, for summary judgment. As explained below, the court believes that defendant’s motion has some merit but that plaintiff should be permitted an opportunity to file a second amended complaint.

*1507 Procedural history

Plaintiff filed this case on June 21, 1991 in response to a criminal action filed against plaintiff in the state district court for Jackson County, Kansas. The complaint sought only declaratory and injunctive relief. On the same day, this court denied plaintiffs motion for a temporary restraining order against the criminal action, citing Younger v. Harris, 401 U.S. 37, 91 S.Ct. 746, 27 L.Ed.2d 669 (1971). On January 9,1992, this court granted defendant’s motion to dismiss again on Younger grounds. However, the court noted that plaintiff had filed a motion to amend to add a claim of damages against defendant in his personal capacity. The court permitted the U.S. Magistrate Judge to decide whether the motion to amend should be granted. Plaintiff was permitted to proceed with an amended complaint which added a damages claim against defendant in his personal capacity on February 13, 1992. .This was after the State dismissed one of the two criminal counts against plaintiff and plaintiff was acquitted of the other count.

The amended complaint alleges the following. Plaintiff is a Citizen Band Potawatomie Indian who owned the Indian Country General Store located on the Potawatomie Indian Reservation in Jackson County, Kansas. Defendant is the Attorney General of Kansas. Plaintiffs store opened on November 1,1990. Prior to the store opening, plaintiff submitted a business tax application to the State of Kansas Department of Revenue. In the application, plaintiff alleged that she was exempt from sales tax because she was going to operate her business on an Indian reservation. The application was denied. ■ The complaint further alleges that defendant secured two search warrants which were executed upon plaintiffs business on June 18, 1991. Approximately 7,000 cartons of cigarettes were seized along with business records of plaintiff. The amended complaint asserts:

11. The search warrants were issued under the guise of enforcing an alleged willful “failure to make retail • sales tax returns a violation of K.S.A. 79-3615(g)” and possessing “more than 200 cigarettes without required tax indicia affixed thereto in violation of 79-3221(a).”

The complaint also alleges that plaintiffs business loan was called by a bank because of defendant’s actions and that defendant told bank representatives at the store that he had “shut her down for good and locked her doors and she would be arrested by the end of the week.” Finally, the amended complaint asserts that defendant has attempted and continues to attempt to collect taxes upon goods sold by plaintiff. Plaintiff claims that such efforts are unlawful and in violation of plaintiffs rights under the laws and Constitution of the United States because the United States has not authorized tax collection upon sales by Indians on the Potawatomie Indian Reservation.

' Defendant filed the instant motion to dismiss of; in the alternative, for summary judgment on April 30, 1992. Considerable time passed while it was determined whether plaintiff could conduct discovery before responding to the defendant’s motion. Finally, on September 1, 1992, the U.S. Magistrate Judge denied discovery and directed plaintiff to respond to the motion to dismiss within twenty days. Plaintiff received four extensions of time to respond to the motion before filing a response on December- 11, 1992. Then, on January 5, 1993, plaintiff filed a second motion to amend the complaint. The motion, which would have permitted plaintiff to add a party defendant and to elaborate upon and specify plaintiffs claims for relief, was denied without prejudice to its reassertion pending a decision upon the instant motion to dismiss.

Legal standards

A court should dismiss a complaint for failure to state a claim under Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure only if it appears beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts supporting its claim that entitles it to relief. H.J. Inc. v. Northwestern Bell Tel. Co., 492 U.S. 229, 249-50, 109 S.Ct. 2893, 2905-06, 106 L.Ed.2d 195 (1989); Hishon v. King & Spalding, 467 U.S. 69, 73, 104 S.Ct. 2229, 2232, 81 L.Ed.2d 59 (1984). The complaint’s allegations must be construed in the light most favorable to the plaintiff and the plaintiffs allegations accepted as true. Scheuer v. Rhodes, 416 *1508 U.S. 232, 236, 94 S.Ct. 1683, 1686, 40 L.Ed.2d 90 (1974).

In considering a motion for summary judgment, the court must examine all the evidence in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. Barber v. General Electric Co., 648 F.2d 1272, 1276 n. 1 (10th Cir.1981). Summary judgment is proper only when “there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and ... the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). Under this rule, the initial burden is on the moving party to show the court “that there is an absence of evidence to support the nonmoving party’s case.” Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 325, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2553, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). The moving party’s burden may be met when that party identifies those portions of the record which demonstrate the absence of a genuine issue of material fact. Id. at 323, 106 S.Ct. at 2552.

Once the moving party has met these requirements, the burden shifts to the party resisting the motion. The non-moving party must “make a showing sufficient to establish the existence of an element essential to that party’s case, and on which that party will bear the burden of proof at trial.” Id. at 322, 106 S.Ct. at 2552. The party resisting the motion “may not rest upon the mere allegations or denials of his pleadings ...” to avoid summary judgment. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2510, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). The mere existence of a scintilla of evidence will not avoid summary judgment; there must be sufficient evidence on which a jury could reasonably find for the nonmoving party. Id. at 251, 106 S.Ct. at 2511 (quoting Improvement Co. v. Munson,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
828 F. Supp. 1504, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11014, 1993 WL 294452, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kaul-v-stephan-ksd-1993.