United States v. Grimm

865 F. Supp. 1303, 74 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 7011, 1994 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15404
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Indiana
DecidedOctober 26, 1994
Docket1:94-cv-00095
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 865 F. Supp. 1303 (United States v. Grimm) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Indiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Grimm, 865 F. Supp. 1303, 74 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 7011, 1994 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15404 (N.D. Ind. 1994).

Opinion

ORDER

WILLIAM C. LEE, District Judge.

This matter is before the court on Defendant Russell Kruse’s (hereinafter: “Kruse”) Motion for Certification of Question of State Law to Supreme Court of Indiana filed on July 26, 1994, and the United States of America’s Motion for Summary Judgment against defendants filed on July 11, 1994. The United States of America filed its Response to Motion for Certification of Question of State Law to Supreme Court of Indiana filed on August 5, 1994, and supplemented that Response by Order of this court on August 17, 1994. Both defendant Kruse and defendant Howard S. Grimm, Jr. (hereinafter: “Grimm”) filed Responses to the United States of America’s Motion for Summary Judgment on July 26, 1994, and July 26, 1994, respectively. The United States of America filed its Reply to Kruse’s Response on August 10, 1994, and filed its Reply to Grimm’s Response on August 5, 1994. The court conducted a hearing in this matter on October 25, 1994.

Therefore, the matter is fully briefed and is ripe for decision. For the following reasons, defendant Kruse’s Motion for Certification of Question of State Law to Supreme Court of Indiana is denied, and the United States of America’s Motion for Summary Judgment is granted.

FACTUAL & PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On July 1, 1991, a delegate of the Secretary of the Treasury made an assessment totalling $74,080.99 against Howard S. Grimm, Jr., for unpaid federal income tax, interest, and penalties for the year 1987. Notice of the assessment and demand for payment were then made upon Grimm. On July 29, 1991, a delegate of the Secretary of the Treasury made assessments totalling $103,272.53 against Grimm for unpaid federal income tax, interest, and penalties for the years 1988, 1989 and 1990. The assessment for the year 1988 totalled $42,118.99, the assessment for the year 1989 totalled $22,-938.51 and the assessment for the year 1990 totalled $38,215.03. Notice of the assessments and demand for their payment were then made upon Grimm.

Howard S. Grimm Sr. died testate in De-Kalb County, Indiana on March 4,1991. His probated will makes provision for the distribution of his estate. The administration of the estate is pending and final distribution has not yet occurred.

The United States of America initiated this lawsuit on April 1, 1994, claiming Grimm owes the government the amounts assessed above. The government states the will of Howard S. Grimm, Sr., provided at Item V that Grimm was “given, devised, willed and bequeathed” an interest in the estate of Howard S. Grimm, Sr., including certain real property. The government further asserts that the amount of the assessments set forth above are continuing liens as of the dates of assessment upon all property and rights to property of Grimm, including his rights as beneficiary under the will of his father and any real property which passed to Grimm by reason of the death of his father.

The government states that subsequent to July 29, 1991, Russell Kruse, as Personal Administrator of the estate of Howard S. Grimm, Sr., sold certain real estate, an interest in which had passed to Grimm and which was subject to the hens described above. The government asserts the hens attached to the proceeds of the sale of the real property *1307 as the liens had previously attached to the real property itself.

Kruse argues that Grimm has no interest in his father’s estate at this time, and therefore, no government lien can attach. Kruse asserts Grimm must survive until the final distribution of the assets of the will before he is entitled to an interest under his father’s will. Kruse also maintains that Howard S. Grimm, Sr.’s will automatically provides for the establishment of a discretionary spendthrift trust naming Grimm as beneficiary if Grimm’s interest under the will is threatened by any diversion. Therefore, Kruse concludes, Grimm has no property interest in the corpus of the trust to which the government’s lien can attach.

Grimm concedes that he is liable to the government for back taxes, interest and penalties, but asserts the amount of the assessments are incorrect in that he should be given credit for payments he allegedly made to the Internal Revenue. Service.

The court shall first address Kruse’s Motion for Certification, and shall then address the government’s Motion for Summary Judgment and the arguments raised by defendants in opposition to that Motion.

MOTION FOR CERTIFICATION

Kruse moves this court to certify the following state-law question to the Indiana Supreme Court:

Whether and to what extent Howard S. Grimm, Jr. has an interest in property in the estate of his father, Howard S. Grimm to which a federal tax lien can attach?

Kruse asserts that the determination of whether a taxpayer has property or rights to property to which a tax lien can attach is a question of state law, citing Aquilino v. United States, 363 U.S. 509, 80 S.Ct. 1277, 4 L.Ed.2d 1365 (1960). The court agrees with the assertion that the determination of property rights to which a federal tax lien can attach is a matter of State law, but disagrees with Kruse’s suggestion that the law is unclear in the State of Indiana as to when Howard S. Grimm, Jr. took an interest in his father’s estate, thereby allowing a federal tax lien to attach. It is clear that Grimm received an immediate present fixed right of future enjoyment of a one-sixth interest in his father’s estate. Accordingly, the court denies Kruse’s Motion for Certification of Question of State Law to Supreme Court of Indiana.

SUMMARY JUDGMENT

Summary judgment is proper “if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(e). However, Rule 56(c) is not a requirement that the moving party negate his opponent’s claim. Fitzpatrick v. Catholic Bishop of Chicago, 916 F.2d 1254, 1256 (7th Cir.1990). Rule 56(c) mandates the entry of summary judgment, after adequate time for discovery, against a party “who fails to make a showing sufficient to establish the existence of an element essential to that party’s case, and in which that party will bear the burden of proof at trial.” Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2552-53, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). The standard for granting summary judgment mirrors the directed verdict standard under Rule 50(a), which requires the court to grant a directed verdict where there can be but one reasonable conclusion. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 250, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2511, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986).

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865 F. Supp. 1303, 74 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 7011, 1994 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15404, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-grimm-innd-1994.