Martin v. CIR

Decision Date18 March 1966
Docket NumberNo. 15270-15272.,15270-15272.
PartiesEdward MARTIN and Patricia Martin, Petitioners, v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent. Peter S. PEDERSEN, Sr., and Marion D. Pedersen, Petitioners, v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent. Peter S. PEDERSEN, Sr., Petitioner, v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

John O'C. Fitzgerald, Chicago, Ill., for petitioners.

Richard M. Roberts, Asst. Atty. Gen., Tax Division, Joseph Kovner, Atty., Dept. of Justice, Lee A. Jackson, Harold C. Wilkenfeld, Howard J. Feldman, Attys., Dept. of Justice, Washington, D. C., for respondent.

Before HASTINGS, Chief Judge, and CASTLE and SWYGERT, Circuit Judges.

CASTLE, Circuit Judge.

The petitioners in these consolidated cases seek reversal of orders of the Tax Court which dismissed their respective petitions for redetermination of income tax deficiencies and penalties asserted by the respondent Commissioner of Internal Revenue. The notices of deficiencies embrace the calendar years 1957 to 1961 inclusive. The Tax Court granted motions to dismiss grounded on the petitioners' failure to properly prosecute. The Commissioner had filed such a motion in each of the cases under Rule 7(a) (2) of the Rules of Practice, Tax Court of the United States (26 U.S.C.A.). The motion asserted that the petitioners had failed to set forth a clear and concise statement of the facts upon which the petitioners relied to sustain the errors assigned, and therefore the petition failed to conform to the requirements of Rule 7(c) of said Rules of Practice. Prior to the entry of the orders of dismissal the petitioners had been afforded, during a six-month period, three extensions of time in which to file amended petitions, but no amendment was filed. The orders of dismissal sustain the deficiencies and penalties as determined by the Commissioner.

Petitioners' claim of error and consequent right to the relief they seek of this Court, on review, is grounded on their contentions that (1) the Tax Court of the United States is without valid authority or existence, but represents an unconstitutional attempt by Congress to interfere with, and infringe upon, the rights, duties and functions of the judicial branch of the government in violation of Sections 1 and 2 of Article III of the Constitution of the United States; (2) their petitions in the Tax Court assert that the facts upon which they rely as the basis for the errors claimed to exist in the Commissioner's determinations are impossible of presentation because, as petitioners are reliably informed and believe, certain of the books and records of the M.P.H. Manufacturing Corporation, which has been adjudged a bankrupt, have been lost, destroyed, or commingled with other records and are unavailable; and (3) in any event, their Tax Court petitions gave sufficient notice of the alleged errors claimed with respect to the deficiencies asserted.

The Tax Court of the United States, statutorily designated as "an independent agency in the Executive Branch of the Government" (26 U.S.C.A. § 7441) is created to provide an administrative forum in which a taxpayer may at his option secure a redetermination of his tax liability without prior payment of any deficiency...

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15 cases
  • Hartman v. Switzer, Civ. A. No. 73-788.
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania
    • May 21, 1974
    ...Internal Revenue, 358 F.2d 636 (5 Cir. 1966) cert. den. 385 U.S. 918, 87 S.Ct. 227, 17 L. Ed.2d 142 (1966); Martin v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 358 F.2d 63 (7 Cir. 1966) cert. den. 385 U.S. 920, 87 S.Ct. 231, 17 L.Ed.2d 144 (1966); Willmut Gas & Oil Co. v. Fly, 322 F.2d 301 (5 Cir. ......
  • Burns, Stix Friedman & Co. v. Comm'r of Internal Revenue
    • United States
    • U.S. Tax Court
    • December 16, 1971
    ...them by Congress. Nash Miami Motors, Inc. v. Commissioner, 358 F.2d 636 (C.A. 5, 1966), certiorari denied 385 U.S. 918; Martin v. Commissioner, 358 F.2d 63 (C.A. 7, 1966); Willmut Gas & Oil Co. v. Fly, 322 F.2d 301 (C.A. 5, 2963), certiorari denied 375 U.S. 984; Standard Hosiery Mills v. Co......
  • Rowlee v. Comm'r of Internal Revenue
    • United States
    • U.S. Tax Court
    • June 15, 1983
    ...Cir. 1972); Nash Miami Motors, Inc. v. Commissioner, 358 F.2d 636 (5th Cir. 1966), cert. denied 385 U.S. 918 (1966); Martin v. Commissioner, 358 F.2d 63 (7th Cir. 1966), cert. denied 385 U.S. 920 (1966); Jennemann v. Commissioner, 67 T.C. 906 (1977). Petitioner's reliance on Northern Pipeli......
  • Bowser v. Commissioner
    • United States
    • U.S. Tax Court
    • October 27, 1980
    ...Commissioner 66-1 USTC ¶ 9354, 358 F. 2d 636 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 385 U.S. 918 (1966); Martin v. Commissioner 66-1 USTC ¶ 9315, 358 F. 2d 63 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 385 U.S. 920 (1966); Willmut Gas & Oil Co. v. Fly 63-2 USTC ¶ 9694, 322 F. 2d 301 (5th Cir. 1963), cert. denied, 375 U.......
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