United States v. Levoy (In Re Levoy)

182 B.R. 827, 95 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 4744, 33 Collier Bankr. Cas. 2d 1405, 95 Daily Journal DAR 11505, 1995 Bankr. LEXIS 783, 1995 WL 349110
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedMay 17, 1995
DocketBAP No. CC-93-2301-OJV. Bankruptcy No. LA 85-08769-SB
StatusPublished
Cited by45 cases

This text of 182 B.R. 827 (United States v. Levoy (In Re Levoy)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Appellate Panel 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. Levoy (In Re Levoy), 182 B.R. 827, 95 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 4744, 33 Collier Bankr. Cas. 2d 1405, 95 Daily Journal DAR 11505, 1995 Bankr. LEXIS 783, 1995 WL 349110 (bap9 1995).

Opinion

OPINION

OLLASON, Bankruptcy Judge:

The United States of America (“the United States”) appeals the bankruptcy court’s order of October 22, 1993, which denied its motion to vacate the order disallowing claims of the Internal Revenue Service (“the IRS”). The United States contends that notice of the debtors’ objections to the proofs of claim was insufficient, pursuant to Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 7004 1 and that the bankruptcy court’s order was void for lack of personal jurisdiction. Alternatively, the United States contends that the bankruptcy court improperly entered a default judgment against it without satisfactory evidence as to the merits of the debtors’ objections. Fed. R.Civ.P. 55(e) (made applicable by Fed. R.Bankr.P. 7055). We AFFIRM.

STATEMENT OF FACTS

Patricia Levoy and Daniel Aikens (“Debtors”) filed voluntary petitions under Chapter 11, on June 24, 1985. Their cases were consolidated in bankruptcy court, and their joint plan of reorganization was confirmed on April 5, 1994. Treatment of the general unsecured creditor class under the plan has been stayed pending the outcome of this appeal.

Debtors were officers, directors and majority shareholders in a California corporation known as All Seasons Air Pacific (“ASAP”), which also filed for bankruptcy protection.

The IRS timely filed priority tax claims in Debtors’ bankruptcy case as well as in the ASAP case for the 100% penalty assessment imposed pursuant to Section 6672 of the Internal Revenue Code. 2

*830 The IRS’s opening brief stated that this appeal concerned two of those proofs of claim 3 : (1) claim no. 49, filed May 6, 1988 against Patricia Levoy, in the amount of $84,497.11; and (2) claim no. 55, filed October 14,1988 against Daniel Aikens, in the amount of $63,982.41. However, at oral argument, the United States stated that the amount at issue was approximately $84,000, as reflected in claim no. 49. 4

On or about February 10, 1992, Debtors filed a comprehensive “Notice of Objection to Claim and Objection to Creditor’s Claims,” consisting of objections to claims of several creditors, including those of the IRS, and providing notice of a hearing on the objection on March 31, 1992. The Debtors stated the following objection to IRS claims no. 49 and no. 55:

Those claims were satisfied to the best of Debtors [sic] knowledge in the ASAP case. Additionally, those claims constitute claims that were erroneously assessed to the Debtor who was not a responsible party as that term is defined in the Internal Revenue Code.... Additionally, such claims constitute duplicate claims that must be denied to the extent that they constitute duplicate claims. The duplicate claims constitute the claim against Daniel R. Aikens and Patricia Levoy, which claims are based on the identical trust fund portion of taxes that purportedly were not paid. Finally, all trust fund portion of taxes were paid prior to the filing of [our] Chapter 11 case and the IRS has erroneously failed to properly credit such payments.

Pamela Moore, a secretary for Debtors’ attorney, signed a proof of service on February 10, 1992, stating that on January 10, 1992, she caused the notice of objection to be mailed to the following parties on the attached mailing list:

SPS — IRS
P.O. Box 1431
Room 4062
Los Angeles, CA 90053-1431
Attorney General of the United States of America
Washington, D.C.
United States Attorney
312 North Spring Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012

No appearance was made on behalf of the United States at the March 31,1992 hearing. Based on Debtors’ objection, the bankruptcy court denied the IRS claims in its order entered on May 11, 1992.

On April 14,1992, Moore signed a proof of service, indicating that she mailed a copy of the order on April 14, 1992, to the IRS, the United States Attorney, and the Attorney General of the United States, at the addresses as listed above.

On August 24, 1993, more than one year later, the United States filed a motion to vacate the bankruptcy court’s allegedly void order on the grounds that the bankruptcy court lacked jurisdiction over it due to improper service of Debtors’ objection. The motion also alleged that Debtors failed to establish their right to relief based on satisfactory evidence, as required, before a default judgment may be entered against the United States. Fed.R.Bankr.P. 7055/ Fed.R.Civ.P. 55(e). It also contended that its claims were meritorious.

The United States filed the declaration of Richard Stack, Assistant United States Attorney for the Central District of California. Stack stated that neither his office, nor the Attorney General’s office in Washington, D.C., had received Debtors’ notice of objection. He did not know about the objection, he stated, until June 4, 1992, when his office received a facsimile of the May 11, 1992 *831 order denying the IRS’s claims. The facsimile was sent by the Department of Justice’s Civil Trial Section, in Washington, D.C. (Therefore, that office had received a copy of the order.) Subsequently, Stack’s office obtained Debtors’ file, including a copy of the objection, from the local IRS office.

The United States also filed the declaration of Nenita Villanueva, a legal clerk in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, whose duties included routing mail and filing information on tax cases. She stated that their office had no record of ever having received the notice of objection from Debtors. She further stated that their office did not open a file on Debtors until August 26, 1992, one day after they received correspondence regarding the case (and a copy of the objection) from the local IRS office.

Debtors responded to the United States’ motion, and filed Pamela Moore’s declaration, wherein Moore confirmed that she had duly mailed the notice of the objection and order according to her proofs of service, and had not been told to do otherwise by her employer, Debtors’ attorney. She stated that “in the ease of the IRS I make sure that all required parties are served,” and that she had “no record of any documents served on the IRS being returned by the postal service.”

A hearing on the United States’ motion was held on September 28, 1993.

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182 B.R. 827, 95 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 4744, 33 Collier Bankr. Cas. 2d 1405, 95 Daily Journal DAR 11505, 1995 Bankr. LEXIS 783, 1995 WL 349110, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-levoy-in-re-levoy-bap9-1995.