Jackson v. United States

• Decision Date: 22 August 2011
• Docket Number: No. 11-108T,11-108T
• Parties: CALVIN C. and EVANGELINE M. JACKSON, Plaintiffs, v. UNITED STATES, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. Claims Court

CALVIN C. and EVANGELINE M. JACKSON, Plaintiffs,

v.UNITED STATES, Defendant.

No. 11-108T

United States Court of Federal Claims

Filed: August 22, 2011

Federal Tax; Pro Se Plaintiffs;

Motion to Dismiss; Lack of

Subject Matter Jurisdiction

Calvin C. Jackson and Evangeline M. Jackson, League City, TX, pro se.

Carl D. Wasserman, Trial Attorney, Tax Division, United States Department of Justice, Washington, D.C. for the defendant. With him were G. Robson Stewart, Assistant Chief, Court of Federal Claims Section, Steven I. Frahm, Chief, Court of Federal Claims Section, and John A. DiCicco, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Tax Division.

OPINION

HORN, J.

FINDINGS OF FACT

Plaintiffs Calvin C. and Evangeline M. Jackson filed a pro se complaint in this court on February 18, 2011, accompanied by the $350.00 filing fee. Plaintiffs allege that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) owes them a refund of $7,920.47 for the 2002 tax year. The Jacksons paid $10,166.47 in federal income taxes through income tax withholding in 2002, which was deemed paid on April 15, 2003. See 26 U.S.C. § 6513(b) (2006). The plaintiffs did not sign and file a Form 1040 tax return for the 2002 tax year until July 8, 2006, which was received by the IRS on July 27, 2006. The 2002 Form 1040, filed in the names of Calvin C. and Evangeline M. Jackson, showed an overpayment. The IRS appears to agree that this constitutes an overpayment of $7,920.47, for the 2002 tax year which could have been due plaintiffs, if proper returns and claims for refund had been filed. On September 7, 2006, the IRS sent the plaintiffs a letter disallowing plaintiffs' assertion that they were due a refund. The IRS letter stated that the Jacksons had filed their "original tax return more than 3 years after the due date. Your tax return showed an overpayment. To claim that overpayment as acredit or to obtain a refund, you have to file your tax return within 3 years from its due date. Withheld tax and estimated tax are deemed to be paid on the last day prescribed (i.e., April 15) for filing your tax return. The excess of any amount allowable for the earned income credit over the actual income tax is treated in a similar manner to these prepaid credits." The letter also explained that the Jacksons had two options: submit an administrative appeal to the IRS Appeals Office, or file suit in a United States District Court or the United States Court of Federal Claims within two years from the date of the disallowance letter.

The Jacksons requested reconsideration of the decision and sent a letter, received by the IRS on October 31, 2006. In the letter, the Jacksons tried to explain the late filing of their 2002 tax return, and indicated that they were overwhelmed by the birth of triplets, one of whom sustained challenges following birth, and stated, "before we were able to file, Hurricane Katrina wiped out part of our house, and completely destroyed a rental property that we hoped would help to pay some of my son's medical expenses." On January 30, 2007, an IRS Appeals Officer sent a letter with the IRS initial findings on the case. The letter also indicated that the case was being forwarded to the Fresno, California, IRS Appeals Office for consideration. The IRS letter stated:

My review of your claim is deemed to be filed timely, since you filed your 2002 return on 07/27/06 it is also considered to be the filing date of your claim, which is within the 3 year rule. However, under the provisions of Section 6511(b)(2)(A) [sic] provides that only amounts paid within the immediate 3 years preceding the filing of the claim are entitled to be refunded.

In your case, your original tax return is your claim for refund. Since your 2002 tax liability of $2,246.00 was deemed paid through wage tax withholding of $10,166.47, your tax overpayment of $7,920.47 is deemed to have been paid on 4/15/03. Your claim for a refund is thus determined to be timely if you filed it on or before 4/15/06. Your claim did not meet this provision because you did not file it until 7/27/06.

The IRS letter invited the Jacksons to submit "any additional information for me to consider" before February 14, 2007, and indicated that if no additional response was received from the Jacksons, the IRS Appeals Officer's initial findings contained in the letter would become final.

The Jacksons sent another letter, received by the IRS on March 8, 2007, requesting "that the three year period to request a refund be tolled or extended for at least the six-month period following Hurricane Katrina which denied us not only access to our home, personal belongings, and basic necessities, but also records and information needed to file a return." The Jacksons' letter also referenced an extension offered to victims of Hurricane Katrina "to file our 2005 tax returns."¹ On March 16,2007, the IRS Appeals Office reaffirmed its denial of plaintiffs' claims, noting that the Jacksons had not provided documentation of financial disability from 2002 through 2005 or documentation that they were victims of Hurricane Katrina. The letter also explained that the Jacksons could file suit anytime "within 2 years from the mailing date" of the first denial, but emphasized that "[y]our two-year period has NOT been shortened or extended by our reconsideration of your claim." (emphasis in original).

Plaintiffs did not file suit within two years of the first denial by the IRS. Several years later, however, on March 10, 2010, the Jacksons sent another letter to the IRS, which was received by the IRS on March 17, 2010. In the March 10, 2010 letter, the Jacksons asserted that "Hurricane Katrina occurred during our 3 year period to claim our refund. Thus, our 3 year period should be extended to accommodate the relief afforded by the Emergency Tax Relief Act of 2005." On September 20, 2010, the IRS again denied the Jacksons' request, noting that the Jacksons could have filed suit in a United States District Court or the United States Court of Federal Claims ""within two-years from the date on the letter denying the claim, which the Austin IRS Campus mailed to you on September 7, 2006." The letter also stated: "Your original return was filed on 07-25-2006. IRS received it on 07-27-2006. You filed a timely claim but did not meet the provisions of Section 6511(b)(2)(A), which deems the overpayment of $7,920.47, was paid on 04-15-2003. No extensions were filed to extend the refund statute date."

The Jacksons filed suit in the United States Court of Federal Claims on February 18, 2011. On June 2, 2011, the defendant filed a motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction because the plaintiffs had failed to "file this suit within two years of the IRS's disallowance of their claim, as required by [26 U.S.C.] § 6532(a)." Plaintiffs did not file a response to defendant's motion before the July 5, 2011 due date and, to date, have not done so.

DISCUSSION

When determining whether a complaint filed by a pro se plaintiff is sufficient to invoke review by a court, pro se plaintiffs are entitled to liberal construction of their pleadings. See Haines v. Kerner, 404 U.S. 519, 520-21 (requiring that allegations contained in a pro se complaint be held to "less stringent standards than formal pleadings drafted by lawyers"), reh'g denied, 405 U.S. 948 (1972); see also Erickson v. Pardus, 551 U.S. 89, 94 (2007); Hughes v. Rowe, 449 U.S. 5, 9-10 (1980); Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97, 106 (1976), reh'g denied, 429 U.S. 1066 (1977). However, "there is no 'duty [on the part] of the trial court...to create a claim which [plaintiff] has not spelled out in his [or her] pleading....'" Scogin v. United States, 33 Fed. Cl. 285, 293 (1995) (quoting Clark v. Nat'l Travelers Life Ins. Co., 518 F.2d 1167, 1169 (6th Cir.1975)) (alterations in original); see also Bussie v. United States, 96 Fed. Cl. 89, 94 (2011); Minehan v. United States, 75 Fed. Cl. 249, 253 (2007). "While a pro se plaintiff is held to a less stringent standard than that of a plaintiff represented by an attorney, the pro se plaintiff, nevertheless, bears the burden of establishing the Court's jurisdiction by a preponderance of the evidence." Riles v. United States, 93 Fed. Cl. 163, 165 (2010) (citing Hughes v. Rowe, 449 U.S. at 9 and Taylor v. United States, 303 F.3d 1357, 1359 (Fed. Cir.) ("Plaintiff bears the burden of showing jurisdiction by a preponderance of the evidence."), reh'g and reh'g en banc denied (Fed. Cir. 2002)).

Although, ordinarily, the court allows pro se plaintiffs some flexibility in complying with procedural rules and filing deadlines. Mr. Calvin C. Jackson, however, appears to be a member of the Texas State Bar Association, with his own law practice in Houston, Texas. On the first page of the 2002 Form 1040 received in Austin, Texas by the IRS on July 27, 2006, plaintiffs' names appear as Calvin C. and Evangeline M. Jackson. On the signature page of the same Form 1040, signed on July 8, 2006, plaintiff Calvin C. Jackson lists his phone number as 832-474-6161. That phone number matches the phone number for Attorney Calvin C. Jackson at the Jackson Law Firm Office in Houston, Texas. See The Jackson Law Office, Attorney Profile, Available at http://calvinjackson.com/form02.html; State Bar of Texas, Available at http://www.texasbar.com. Consequently, plaintiffs failure to submit timely filings, including to defendant's motion to dismiss, is less explainable or excusable than if attributable to a typical, non-lawyer, pro se plaintiff.

"'[S]ubject-matter jurisdiction, because it involves a court's power to hear a case, can never be forfeited or waived.'" Arbaugh v. Y & H Corp., 546 U.S. 500, 514 (2006) (quoting United States v. Cotton, 535 U.S. 625, 630 (2002)). "[F]ederal courts have an independent obligation to ensure that they do not exceed the scope of their jurisdiction, and therefore they must raise and decide jurisdictional questions that the parties either overlook or elect not to press." Henderson ex...