United States v. John James Badger, Capital Tracing, Inc., Real Party in Interest

930 F.2d 754, 91 Daily Journal DAR 4284, 91 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 2645, 67 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 853, 1991 U.S. App. LEXIS 6014, 1991 WL 54114
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedApril 16, 1991
Docket89-50251
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 930 F.2d 754 (United States v. John James Badger, Capital Tracing, Inc., Real Party in Interest) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. John James Badger, Capital Tracing, Inc., Real Party in Interest, 930 F.2d 754, 91 Daily Journal DAR 4284, 91 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 2645, 67 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 853, 1991 U.S. App. LEXIS 6014, 1991 WL 54114 (9th Cir. 1991).

Opinions

BRUNETTI, Circuit Judge:

Appellee John James Badger (“Badger”) was indicted on criminal charges and ordered to post a $100,000.00 bail bond. The bond was posted by third parties. After Badger was convicted, the IRS attempted to levy on the bond for unpaid taxes owed by Badger. The district court ordered the IRS to show cause why the bond should not be exonerated and paid over to those who had posted it. After a hearing, the district court concluded that allowing the IRS to levy on bail bonds would impermissibly interfere with the integrity of the judicial [755]*755branch and ordered the bond exonerated. We reverse and remand.

FACTS

The facts of this case are, for the most part, undisputed. Badger was indicted on six fraud-related offenses and was ordered to post a $100,000.00 cash bond. On July 29, 1985, Capital Tracing, Inc., (“Capital”) posted the $100,000.00 bond with approximately $73,000 of its own funds and approximately $27,000 loaned to Badger by other people or entities for the purpose of posting bond.

Capital is a publicly held corporation. In 1985, Badger owned 34,000 shares of Capital, which then had approximately 10,310,-000 shares outstanding.

On August 22, 1985, the IRS served a notice of levy upon the Clerk of the District Court for the Central District of California. The notice of levy stated that its purpose was “to attach to the $100,000 cash bond” posted for Badger. The IRS claims that Badger owes more than $180,582 in taxes assessed on or before July 13, 1982.

Badger was found guilty. The Ninth Circuit affirmed his conviction in United States v. Badger, 849 F.2d 1476 (9th Cir.1988). Thereafter, Badger surrendered himself for incarceration. The district court then ordered that the cash bond be exonerated.

Upon being apprised of the IRS’s notice of levy, the district court ordered the IRS to show cause why the $100,000 cash bond should not be exonerated and paid over to Capital. The IRS cited Internal Revenue Code (“I.R.C.”) § 6331, which allows the IRS to levy upon nearly all property in which a delinquent taxpayer has an interest. The IRS contended that the property belonged in part to Badger and, in any event, it would be inappropriate to determine ownership in such a proceeding; any party claiming an interest in the property could seek a refund under I.R.C. § 6343(b) or § 7426(a)(1). Badger filed a response to the show cause order stating that he did “not own [or] possess any interest in the cash posted for his bond.”

On May 8, 1989, the district court held a hearing on the show cause order. On May 11, 1989, the district court ordered that the bond proceeds be paid over to Capital on May 18, 1989. 711 F.Supp. 1008. In its memorandum order, the district court did not decide whether Badger had any interest in the disputed bond. Instead, the district court held that I.R.C. § 6331 does not allow the IRS to levy upon bail bonds, reasoning that such a levy would impermis-sibly threaten the institutional integrity of the judicial branch. See Mistretta v. United States, 488 U.S. 361, 109 S.Ct. 647, 102 L.Ed.2d 714 (1989).

On May 15, 1989, the United States appealed the district court’s order and filed an emergency motion for a stay of the district court’s order pending appeal. On May 17, 1989, this court granted the stay.

On December 26, 1989, this court issued a request for supplemental briefing on:

(1) whether the IRS has standing to appeal the order exonerating the bond in a criminal proceeding;
(2) whether the district court’s order exonerating the bond is appealable; and
(3) whether this action is more appropriately treated as a writ of mandamus.

Appellant filed its supplemental brief on January 16, 1990. Appellee did not file a supplemental brief.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

The material facts are not in dispute. This appeal involves only questions of law, which are reviewed de novo. United States v. McConney, 728 F.2d 1195, 1201 (9th Cir.) (en banc), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 824, 105 S.Ct. 101, 83 L.Ed.2d 46 (1984).

DISCUSSION

In the bail exoneration proceedings held below, the district court held that the IRS could not levy on the bail bond posted on behalf of Badger because such a levy would violate the constitutional principle of separation of powers. We reverse because the district court had no jurisdiction to address the validity of the IRS’s levy under separation of powers principles in a bail [756]*756exoneration proceeding. We remand for the district court to comply with the levy.

I. Standing and Appealability of Order

An order exonerating a bail bond and providing for distribution of the funds is directly appealable as a “collateral order.” United States v. Arnaiz, 842 F.2d 217, n. 2 (9th Cir.1988); Cohen v. Beneficial Industrial Loan Corp., 337 U.S. 541, 546, 69 S.Ct. 1221, 1225, 93 L.Ed. 1528 (1949). Thus, the district court’s order in this case was appealable.

The IRS had standing to appeal the district court’s order. Nonparties may appeal a district court order where: (1) the appellant participated in the district court proceedings even though not a party, and; (2) the equities of the case weigh in favor of hearing the appeal. Id. The IRS participated in the proceeding by responding to the show cause order and “vigorously disputing” the extent to which Badger had an interest in the bail bond. The equities weigh in favor of hearing this appeal. An appeal is the most expeditious way to address the IRS’s claim and, if the IRS prevails, to allow it to collect a major portion of Badger’s unpaid taxes. Moreover, it would be unjust to prevent the IRS from seeking appellate review to contest the power of the district court to enter an order which directly addresses the validity of the IRS’s levy upon a bail bond. Additionally, the district court ordered the IRS to show cause why the cash bond should not be exonerated, thereby drawing the IRS into the litigation.

II. Jurisdiction

The IRS’s attempted levy is based on I.R.C. § 6331, which provides:

If any person liable to pay any tax neglects or refuses to pay the same within 10 days after notice and demand, it shall be lawful for the Secretary to collect such tax (and such further sum as shall be sufficient to cover the expenses of the levy) by levy upon all property and rights to property (except such property as is exempt under section 6334) belonging to such person or on which there is a lien provided in this chapter for the payment of such tax.

I.R.C. § 6331 provides for a lien on “all property and rights to property” belonging to the delinquent taxpayer. There is no exception for bail bonds.

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41 Fed. Cl. 596 (Federal Claims, 1998)
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63 F.3d 859 (Ninth Circuit, 1995)
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930 F.2d 754, 91 Daily Journal DAR 4284, 91 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 2645, 67 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 853, 1991 U.S. App. LEXIS 6014, 1991 WL 54114, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-john-james-badger-capital-tracing-inc-real-party-in-ca9-1991.