Macklin v. U.S.

• Decision Date: 13 August 2002
• Docket Number: No. 01-3489.,01-3489.
• Citation: 300 F.3d 814
• Parties: Orville MACKLIN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

300 F.3d 814

Orville MACKLIN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 01-3489.

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.

Argued June 3, 2002.

Decided August 13, 2002.

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Michael P. Stupar (argued), Stupar & Schuster, Milwaukee, WI, Susan R. Tyndall, CMT Legal Group, Ltd., Waukesha, WI, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Regina S. Moriarty (argued), DOJ, Tax Div., App. Sec., Washington, DC, for Defendant-Appellee.

Before BAUER, RIPPLE and KANNE, Circuit Judges.

RIPPLE, Circuit Judge.

On November 16, 1999, Orville Macklin ("Mr. Macklin") filed this quiet title action against the United States. Mr. Macklin challenged the validity of a federal tax lien that the Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") had recorded against his property during August 1993. The United States moved to dismiss the action, submitting that Mr. Macklin had failed to file his claim within the applicable statute of limitations period. The district court agreed and granted the Government's motion. For the reasons set forth in the following opinion, we affirm the judgment of the district court.

I BACKGROUND

In July 1991, the IRS imposed a sizable tax assessment against Mr. Macklin's son, Gerald Macklin ("Gerald"). When the taxes remained unpaid in 1993, the IRS proceeded to federal court and obtained a ruling that reduced the assessment to judgment. Soon after, the IRS concluded that Gerald held a property interest in a parcel of land located in Waukesha County, Wisconsin ("Waukesha property").¹ Notably, Mr. Macklin, Gerald's father, purported to be the sole owner of the Waukesha property.

On August 6, 1993, the IRS filed a notice of a nominee tax lien² against the Waukesha property in the Register of Deeds' Office for Waukesha County, Wisconsin. Filed on IRS Form 668, the notice not only identified the taxpayer as "Orville Macklin, nominee of Gerald Macklin" but also set forth the street address of the Waukesha property. In a letter dated August 16, 1993, the IRS informed Mr. Macklin of this action. A copy of the nominee lien was enclosed with the letter. In the years that followed, Mr. Macklin demanded on several occasions that the IRS remove the tax lien. The IRS denied his requests.

On November 16, 1999, over six years after the IRS recorded the lien, Mr. Macklin filed this action against the United States. The complaint, which contained no jurisdictional statement, alleged that the tax lien against the Waukesha property was invalid.³ As such, Mr. Macklin requested that the lien be stricken from the records of the Register of Deeds' Office.

Construing Mr. Macklin's claim as an action pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2410—a provision waiving the Government's sovereign immunity to certain quiet title actions—the United States moved to dismiss the complaint. According to the Government, Mr. Macklin had failed to bring his action within what it deemed the applicable six-year statute of limitations period, 28 U.S.C. § 2401(a). The Government emphasized that this latter provision conditioned the waiver of sovereign immunity found in § 2410 and barred all civil actions against the United States "unless the complaint is filed within six years after the right of action first accrues." 28 U.S.C. § 2401(a). In the Government's estimation, Mr. Macklin had failed to comply with this requirement, thereby barring his action against the United States.⁴

After considering the parties' submissions, the district court dismissed Mr Macklin's action. According to the district court, the Government correctly asserted that 28 U.S.C. § 2401(a) conditioned the waiver of sovereign immunity found in 28 U.S.C. § 2410. Given this conclusion, Mr. Macklin's action against the Government could proceed no further. In particular, the district court noted that Mr. Macklin's claim accrued on August 6, 1993, the date on which the IRS filed the nominee lien on the Waukesha property. Having filed his complaint six years after this event, November 16, 1999, Mr. Macklin brought his claim outside the applicable statute of limitations period, rendering his action time-barred.

II DISCUSSION

Mr. Macklin submits that he properly invoked the waiver of sovereign immunity embodied in 28 U.S.C. § 2410, thereby allowing his quiet title action against the United States to proceed. To maintain a viable claim against the United States in federal court, a party must satisfy two requirements. In particular, the plaintiff not only must identify a statute that confers subject matter jurisdiction on the district court but also a federal law that waives the sovereign immunity of the United States to the cause of action. See Harrell v. United States, 13 F.3d 232, 234 (7th Cir.1993); Arford v. United States, 934 F.2d 229, 231 (9th Cir.1991). Failure to satisfy either requirement mandates the dismissal of the plaintiff's claim.

A.

Because the parties' jurisdictional statements to this court prove problematic, we must consider whether Mr. Macklin has satisfied his initial obligation: identifying a federal statute that conferred subject matter jurisdiction on the district court over this type of action.⁵ The parties operate on the premise that 28 U.S.C. § 2410 serves not only as a waiver of sovereign immunity but also as a grant of subject matter jurisdiction on the district courts.⁶ This provision does not serve this dual purpose. "All [§ 2410] does is waive sovereign immunity. It does not authorize quiet title suits; it does not confer federal jurisdiction over them; it merely clears away the obstacle that sovereign immunity would otherwise place in the path of such a suit." Harrell, 13 F.3d at 234. Simply put, the parties, particularly the plaintiff, have failed to identify in their pleadings or briefs to this court a federal statute that conferred subject matter jurisdiction on the district court over this quiet title action.

We have noted, however, that "[a] court's discretion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction when the plaintiff could have pleaded the existence of jurisdiction and when in fact such jurisdiction exists, should be exercised sparingly." Hoefferle Truck Sales, Inc. v. Divco-Wayne Corp., 523 F.2d 543, 549 (7th Cir.1975). In this case, the contents of Mr. Macklin's complaint indicate that jurisdiction was proper under 28 U.S.C. § 1340—a statute conferring original jurisdiction on the district courts in any action arising under the internal revenue laws of the United States. See 28 U.S.C. § 1340. In particular, through his complaint, Mr. Macklin alleged that "numerous defects in the lien and lien filing procedures" rendered the tax lien on the Waukesha property invalid. R.13. Federal law, specifically provisions of the federal Internal Revenue Code and its accompanying regulations, dictates the form and content of a federal tax lien. See United States v. Union Cent. Life Ins. Co., 368 U.S. 291, 294-95, 82 S.Ct. 349, 7 L.Ed.2d 294 (1961); Griswold v. United States, 59 F.3d 1571, 1578 n. 15 (11th Cir.1995); TKB Int'l, Inc. v. United States, 995 F.2d 1460, 1464 (9th Cir.1993); see also infra footnote 8. Consequently, despite the defects in the parties' jurisdictional statements, Mr. Macklin's claim satisfies the requirements of 28 U.S.C. § 1340.

B.

Turning to the second requirement, the district court concluded that, because Mr. Macklin filed an untimely complaint, he failed to invoke properly the waiver of sovereign immunity contained in 28 U.S.C. § 2410. Mr. Macklin contests this conclusion. In particular, he emphasizes that the text of § 2410 neither references nor contains a statute of limitations period. Based on this omission, he theorizes that quiet title actions may be brought against the United States at any time. In response, the Government asserts that 28 U.S.C. § 2401(a), a catch-all statute of limitations provision, conditions 28 U.S.C. § 2410's waiver of sovereign immunity.

1.

It is axiomatic that the United States as sovereign cannot be sued without its consent. See United States v. Dalm, 494 U.S. 596, 608, 110 S.Ct. 1361, 108 L.Ed.2d 548 (1990). If the Government does waive its sovereign immunity, it alone dictates the terms and conditions on which it may be sued. Consequently, depending upon the statute at issue, a plaintiff may have to satisfy certain technical pleading requirements, see 28 U.S.C. § 2410(b), to waive his right to a jury trial, see 28 U.S.C. § 2402, or to file his claim within an applicable statute of limitations period, see 28 U.S.C. § 2409a(g), to invoke properly the United States' waiver of sovereign immunity.

Under 28 U.S.C. § 2410, Congress has waived the Government's sovereign immunity to a limited class of civil actions. In particular, § 2410 provides in part: "[T]he United States may be named a party in any civil action or suit in any district court, or in any State court having jurisdiction of the subject matter to quiet title to ... real or personal property on which the United States has or claims a mortgage or other lien." 28 U.S.C. § 2410(a)(1). As with other statutory waivers of sovereign immunity, § 2410 places certain conditions on the Government's consent to suit. For instance, if the quiet title action involves a federal tax lien, "the complaint or pleading shall include the name and address of the taxpayer whose liability created the lien and, if a notice of the tax lien was filed, the identity of the internal revenue office which filed the notice, and the date and place such notice of lien was filed."⁷ 28 U.S.C. § 2410(b). As Mr. Macklin notes, the text of § 2410 does not contain one common condition to a waiver of sovereign immunity, a statute of limitations period.

However, within the chapter containing § 2410, Congress created a general statute of limitations provision that governs civil actions filed against the United States. Often termed a catch-all statute of limitations provision, 28 U.S.C. § 2401(a) provides: "Except as...