Statland v. U.S., 95-3025

• Decision Date: 01 July 1999
• Docket Number: No. 95-3025,95-3025
• Citation: 178 F.3d 465
• Parties: -2425 Donald A. STATLAND and Iris R. Statland, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. UNITED STATES of America, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

178 F.3d 465

83 A.F.T.R.2d 99-2425

Donald A. STATLAND and Iris R. Statland, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. UNITED STATES of America, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 95-3025.

United States Court of Appeals Seventh Circuit.

Argued Sept. 25, 1998.

Decided May 7, 1999.

Rehearing and Suggestion for Rehearing En Banc Denied July 1, 1999.

Donald A. Statland (argued), Chicago, IL, for Plaintiffs-Appellants.

Gary R. Allen, Gilbert S. Rothenberg, Frank P. Cihlar, Alice L. Ronk (argued), Department of Justice, Washington, DC; David S. Newman, Department of Justice, Tax Division, Washington, DC; Thomas P. Walsh, Office of the United States Attorney, Civil Division, Chicago, IL, for Defendant-Appellee.

Before CUDAHY, COFFEY and KANNE, Circuit Judges.

COFFEY, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiffs-Appellants Donald and Iris Statland ("the Statlands") allege that they overpaid their federal income tax for the tax year of 1976, and are entitled to be reimbursed for the overpayment in the amount of $8,929. In December, 1991, the Plaintiffs filed a "taxpayer's refund suit" against the government in the United States District Court. Thereafter, the IRS issued a Notice of Deficiency to the Statlands, alleging that they had actually underpaid their 1976 income tax and owed a total of $4,023 as a result of the underpayment. The Plaintiffs-Appellants responded with the filing of a petition in the United States Tax Court asking for a redetermination of their 1976 tax liability.

After the Statlands filed their petition in the tax court requesting a redetermination of the IRS's assessment, the government filed a motion to dismiss the case (the taxpayer's refund suit) for lack of jurisdiction pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(1). Magistrate Judge Ronald A. Guzman granted the motion and dismissed the case for lack of jurisdiction pursuant to 26 U.S.C. § 7422(e). The magistrate found that under the statute, the district court lost jurisdiction once the Statlands filed a petition with the tax court requesting a redetermination of the IRS's assessment. The Plaintiffs appeal. We AFFIRM.

BACKGROUND

On December 1, 1992, Donald and Iris Statland filed a complaint in the United States District Court alleging that they overpaid their federal income taxes for tax year 1976 and thus were entitled to be reimbursed as a result of their overpayment of $8,929.26. The alleged overpayment resulted from two adjustments that the Statlands contend should be made to their 1976 income tax return: lessening their share of income from a business in which the Statlands possessed a partnership interest; and the Statlands' entitlement to an additional exemption for a dependant that they had originally been unable to claim. ¹

Three months after the Statlands filed suit, on February 12, 1993, the district judge held the first of three status hearings. Over the course of these three meetings, the parties entered their initial appearances, consented to have Magistrate Judge Ronald A. Guzman preside over the case, discussed the potential avenues of appeal for the Statlands if they lost their case before the magistrate judge, and set dates for the end of discovery. The substantive issues in the Statlands' taxpayer relief suit were not discussed in any of these status conferences, though at one point during the third meeting the parties did briefly refer to a separate proceeding involving the Statlands in the tax court.

On June 4, 1993, the IRS mailed a Notice of Deficiency to the Statlands which explained that, according to the IRS's determination, there existed a $4,023 deficiency in their 1976 federal tax payment. According to the Internal Revenue Service, the Statlands' district court complaint, alleging that the government owed them $8,929.26 for tax year 1976, was in error. Rather, the IRS had determined that the Statlands actually owed the government $4,023 as a result of miscalculations in the Statlands' 1976 tax return documents. ² The IRS notice alleged that an adjustment was required to be made to the Statlands' 1979 tax return, and the change reduced a net operating loss that the Statlands had attempted to claim as investment credit and carry back to their 1976 return. According to the IRS, as a result of the adjustment there was in fact no investment credit available to be carried back to 1976, thus the Statlands erroneously carried back credit to their 1976 tax return that never existed. The IRS made the proper adjustments necessary to compensate for this oversight, and determined that the Statlands' tax liability for 1976 increased by $4,023, the amount of the alleged deficiency. ³

On June 7, 1993, the IRS sent a letter to the Statlands which referenced the Internal Revenue Code, 26 U.S.C. § 7421 et seq., and stated that proceedings in the Statlands' court case before Magistrate Judge Guzman would be effectively stayed pursuant to 26 U.S.C. § 7422(e), since the IRS mailed the Notice of Deficiency to the Statlands on June 4, 1993. The IRS specifically cited to § 7422(e) which provides, in relevant part, the following:

If the Secretary prior to the hearing of a suit brought by a taxpayer in a district court ... for the recovery of any income tax, ... mails to the taxpayer a notice that a deficiency has been determined in respect of the tax which is the subject matter of taxpayer's suit, the proceedings in taxpayer's suit shall be stayed during the period of time in which the taxpayer may file a petition with the Tax Court for the redetermination of the asserted deficiency, and for 60 days thereafter. If the taxpayer files a petition with the Tax Court, the district court ... shall lose jurisdiction of taxpayer's suit to whatever extent jurisdiction is acquired by the Tax Court of the subject matter of taxpayer's suit for refund. If the taxpayer does not file a petition with the Tax Court for a redetermination of the asserted deficiency, the United States may counterclaim in the taxpayer's suit ... within the period of the stay of proceedings....

(Emphasis supplied.)

On June 22, 1993, the government filed a motion to stay the proceedings in the district court pursuant to § 7422(e). The Statlands argued that § 7422 did not require the district court to stay proceedings and noted that the initial sentence of § 7422(e) requires the IRS to mail the Notice of Deficiency "prior to the hearing of [the taxpayer suit]." They proceeded to argue that the term "hearing" should be broadly construed, and that the three status conferences constituted "hearings" of their taxpayer suit. The Statlands concluded that since the "hearings" occurred before the IRS mailed the Notice of Deficiency on June 4, 1993, § 7422(e) was inapplicable and did not require the district court to stay proceedings.

On August 23, 1993, before the magistrate judge had ruled upon the government's motion to stay proceedings, the Statlands also filed a petition in the tax court pursuant to § 7422(e). In the petition, they requested a redetermination of the IRS's conclusion that the Statlands owed $4,023 to the IRS for tax year 1976.

On September 13, 1993, the district judge issued a memorandum and order in which he rejected the Statlands' argument that § 7422(e) did not apply, and proceeded to grant the government's motion to stay proceedings pursuant to § 7422(e). The magistrate judge found that "the hearing of the [taxpayer's suit]" had not yet occurred, specifically noting that "in the instant case it cannot be concluded that any type of substantive hearing has taken place with respect to the merits of the Statlands' case.... None of the [three status conferences] could be argued to have substantively determined any of the issues in the pending litigation or raised any arguments as to res judicata. Thus I have concluded that a hearing has not taken place for purposes of [§ 7422(e) ]." Pursuant to the magistrate judge's order, the stay remained in effect until November 1, 1993.

On June 27, 1994, before the tax court had ruled on the Statlands' petition for a redetermination of the IRS assessment, the government moved to dismiss the Statlands' district court case for lack of jurisdiction, and the Statlands opposed the motion. Both parties relied upon the language of § 7422(e), and in particular both parties relied on the provision (cited earlier) which states as follows:

[i]f the taxpayer files a petition with the Tax Court, the district court ... shall lose jurisdiction of taxpayer's suit to whatever extent jurisdiction is acquired by the Tax Court of the subject matter of taxpayer's suit for refund.

In support of their request for dismissal, the government alleged that because the Statlands filed their August 23, 1993, petition in the tax court (requesting a redetermination of the IRS's asserted deficiency in the 1976 tax payment), the Statlands had chosen to litigate in the tax court, and § 7422(e) mandated that the district court had lost jurisdiction over the Statlands' lawsuit.

The Statlands argued that the district court lost jurisdiction over their suit only to the extent jurisdiction was acquired by the tax court over the subject matter of the district court case. Specifically, the Statlands claimed that they petitioned the tax court to determine issues relating solely to the IRS's adjustment reducing the 1979 investment tax credit which the Statlands had credited toward the 1976 tax year. Their district court case, on the other hand, contemplated an entirely different subject matter; namely, the adjustment to the Statlands' share of partnership income as well as their entitlement to an additional exemption for a dependant. The Statlands claimed that the tax court case and the district court case were separate and distinct and dealt with a different "subject matter" under § 7422(e), thus the district court was not divested of jurisdiction over their district court case.

The magistrate judge disagreed with the Statlands' attempt to distinguish the cases and granted the government's motion to...