Lesh v. United States

715 F. Supp. 1333, 64 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5312, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8259, 1989 WL 81357
District Court, E.D. Virginia·Decided July 7, 1989·No. Civ. A. No. 89-0502-A·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

ORDER

ELLIS, District Judge.

This matter arises out of an administrative summons served by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on third-party record-keeper, First American Bank in McLean, Virginia, in the course of the IRS’s investigation of possible tax fraud by plaintiff. Plaintiff is an attorney who maintains his client trust accounts at First American. The summons, issued on March 16, 1989, ordered the production by First American of all records concerning plaintiff’s banking transactions from January 1982 through January 1988. On April 4, 1989, plaintiff filed a Complaint to Quash that part of the summons requiring the production of trust account records that identified plaintiff’s clients and other allegedly confidential client information. On June 7, 1989, the government filed the motion at bar for summary dismissal of plaintiff’s Complaint to Quash and for summary enforcement of the summons.

Based on a review of the Complaint and the government’s pleadings and after hearing oral arguments, the Court hereby ORDERS:

(1) That First American Bank be DISMISSED as a defendant. Plaintiff has asserted no legal claim against First American and does not contest the dismissal; and

(2) That the government’s motions for summary dismissal of the Complaint and for summary enforcement of the summons are GRANTED. The government has established a prima facie case that enforcement of the summons is proper, and the plaintiff has failed to allege, by affidavits or other evidence, facts to rebut that showing. Moreover, plaintiff’s alleged attorney-client privilege is not a legal basis for suppressing the summons.

[1334] For enforcement of an IRS summons, the government must demonstrate that

(a) the summons was issued for a legitimate purpose;
(b) the information sought by the summons may be relevant to that purpose; (e) the government does not already have in its possession the information sought; and
(d) the statutory administrative steps have been followed.

United States v. Powell, 379 U.S. 48, 57-58, 85 S.Ct. 248, 254-55, 13 L.Ed.2d 112 (1964); Alphin v. United States, 809 F.2d 236, 238 (4th Cir.1987). The government has met its burden; it has made an adequate showing under each factor. First, the government avers, by affidavit of IRS Special Agent Brian Hegner, that the summons was issued as part of an ongoing investigation of plaintiff for suspected tax evasion and fraud. Second, the affidavit convincingly reflects that the information sought — plaintiffs bank records — will facilitate the IRS’s investigative efforts to trace the flow of funds into and out of plaintiffs bank accounts. Only by doing so can the IRS effectively ascertain whether plaintiffs client trust accounts are genuine and properly maintained. Without the compelled documents, the IRS cannot foreclose the possibility that one or more trust account pertains to a fictitious person or is being used to conceal funds. Third, as Special Agent Hegner confirms, this information is not currently in the government’s possession. And fourth, the affidavit makes clear that all the requisite administrative procedures have been carefully followed in the issuance of this summons. In sum, the government has amply demonstrated a prima facie case that enforcement of this summons is legally valid. Id.

The burden then shifts to plaintiff, the party seeking to quash or modify the summons, to demonstrate that there has been “an abuse of the court’s process.” Powell, 379 U.S. at 58, 85 S.Ct. at 255; see also Donaldson v. United States, 400 U.S. 517, 91 S.Ct. 534, 27 L.Ed.2d 580 (1971); Alphin v. United States, 809 F.2d at 238; Gannet v. First National State Bank of New Jersey, 546 F.2d 1072, 1077 n. 9 (3d Cir.1976), cert. denied, 431 U.S. 954, 97 S.Ct. 2674, 53 L.Ed.2d 270 (1977). Plaintiff has offered no evidence of any such abuse. None apparently exists. Although plaintiff contends that he seeks only to protect confidential client information in the face of an allegedly “overbroad” summons that is “disproportionate to the end sought,” see United States v. Theodore, 479 F.2d 749, 754 (4th Cir.1973), he has offered no evidence in support of his contention. This case is easily distinguishable from Theodore, the decision primarily relied on by plaintiff. There, the Fourth Circuit refused to enforce an IRS administrative summons requiring the vice president of an accountant firm to produce copies of all accounting records, correspondence, memo-randa, and the like used in the preparation of the firm’s clients’ income tax returns for three years, in addition to copies of the clients’actual tax returns. Mat 751. The summons was served after the IRS discovered evidence that the firm had incorrectly prepared those returns. Ostensibly, these materials were sought so that the IRS might “ ‘correct all tax returns which have been incorrectly prepared.’ ” Id. at 752. The Fourth Circuit rejected this argument, noting that the purpose of the summons was not specifically directed to the vice president’s own tax records or even to those of a specific taxpayer; rather, it was more akin to “ ‘a fishing expedition’ ” or “ ‘a rambling exploration’ of a third party’s files.” Id. at 754. Here, in sharp contrast, the summons was issued to examine records which were established by and under the direct control of a specific taxpayer, plaintiff, in the course of an investigation of that taxpayer’s own tax liabilities. It is not, therefore, overbroad or vague.

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Lesh v. United States, 715 F. Supp. 1333, 64 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 5312, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8259, 1989 WL 81357 (E.D. Va. 1989).

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