United States v. Ford
| Decision Date | 28 September 2018 |
| Docket Number | No. 1:17-cv-00187-DAD-EPG,1:17-cv-00187-DAD-EPG |
| Parties | UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff, v. MELBA L. FORD, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of California |
ORDER GRANTING GOVERNMENT'S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND DENYING DEFENDANT'S REMAINING MOTIONS AS MOOT
This matter came before the court on March 20, 2018 for hearing on plaintiff United States of America's ("plaintiff" or "the United States") motion for summary judgment. (Doc. No. 35.) Attorney Jonathan Hauck of the U.S. Department of Justice Tax Division appeared on behalf of the United States, and defendant Melba Ford appeared at the hearing representing herself pro se. Following oral argument, plaintiff's motion was taken under submission. Having considered the parties' briefs and oral arguments, and for the reasons stated below, the court will grant plaintiff's motion for summary judgment and deny defendant's remaining motions as moot. The court will enter judgment against defendant Ford for $190,854.91, which represents her 2003 federal income tax liability, including interest and penalties assessed pursuant to 26 U.S.C. § 6702 for the years of 1993, 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2005.
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The United States filed this action to reduce a federal tax assessment for the income tax year of 2003 to judgment against defendant. Defendant Ford, despite being born and raised in the United States, does not believe herself to be a federal citizen of the United States and believes that the Bill of Rights guarantees her the right to earn a living without taxation.1 (See Doc. No. 35-1 at 2.) Apparently based upon this belief, defendant has not filed a tax return with the Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") for at least nineteen years prior to 2009. (Id.)
The facts underlying this case are largely undisputed.2 In 2009, defendant submitted a signed Form 1040, the U.S. individual income tax return, to the IRS for her 1993 income tax year. (See Doc. No. 35-2 at ¶¶ 9-10.) Additionally, defendant submitted a corrected Form 1099, which documents miscellaneous income, stating that she had not earned any federal income. (Id. at ¶¶ 11-13.) Defendant's Form 1040 for 1993 was deemed to contain at least one frivolous position pursuant to 26 U.S.C. § 6702(c). (See id. at ¶ 14.) As a result, the IRS assessed a $5,000 frivolous filing penalty against defendant pursuant to 26 U.S.C. § 6702(a). (Id.) The IRS
/////prepared a Form 8278 to demonstrate written supervisory approval of the frivolous filing penalty assessed against defendant with respect to her Form 1040 for the 1993 tax year. (Id. at ¶ 15.)
In 2010, defendant submitted a signed Form 1040 to the IRS for her 2001 income tax year. (Doc. No. 35-2 at ¶¶ 16-17.) In 2014, she again provided a copy of the 2001 Form 1040 to the IRS. (Id.) Defendant also submitted a corrected Form 1099 regarding her income from Hakkoh Development ("Hakkoh") and a disclosure statement. (Id. at ¶¶ 17-18.) Defendant's Form 1040 for 2001 was also deemed to be frivolous by the IRS, and the IRS prepared a Form 8278 to demonstrate written supervisory approval. (Id. at ¶¶ 20-21.)
In 2010, defendant submitted a signed Form 1040 to the IRS for her 2002 income tax year. (Id. at ¶¶ 22-23.) Defendant also submitted a corrected Form 1099 regarding her income from Hakkoh. (Id. at ¶ 24.) Defendant's Form 1040 for 2002 was also deemed to be frivolous by the IRS, and the IRS prepared a Form 8278 to demonstrate written supervisory approval. (Id. at ¶¶ 25-26.)
In 2010, defendant submitted a signed form 1040 to the IRS for her 2003 income tax year. (Id. at ¶¶ 27-28.) Defendant also submitted a corrected 1099 regarding her income from Hakkoh. (Id. at ¶ 29.) Defendant's Form 1040 for 2003 was also deemed to be frivolous by the IRS, and the IRS prepared a Form 8278 to demonstrate written supervisory approval. (Id. at ¶¶ 30-31.)
In 2010, defendant submitted a signed Form 1040 to the IRS for her 2005 income tax year. (Id. at ¶¶ 32-33.) Defendant also submitted a corrected Form 1099. (Id. at ¶ 34.) Defendant's Form 1040 for 2005 was also deemed to be frivolous by the IRS, and the IRS prepared a Form 8278 to demonstrate written supervisory approval. (Id. at ¶¶ 35-36.)
The IRS received information return processing ("IRP") information from several parties indicating that defendant in fact had taxable income during the 2003 tax year. (Id. at ¶ 37.) IRP information is maintained by the IRS and reflects data reported by third parties on various IRS forms. (Id. at ¶ 38.) The IRS can obtain IRP transcripts for individuals by running searches for an individual's social security number. (Id.) Because defendant had not timely filed a Form 1040, in 2006 the IRS computed her federal income tax liability for the 2003 tax year using IRP information. (Id. at ¶ 43.)
In July 2006, the IRS sent defendant a Letter 2566, stating that the IRS had not received her Form 1040 for 2003, the IRS's calculation of her taxes owed based on IRP information, and a request that she respond to the letter within thirty days. (Id. at ¶ 44.) The IRS did not receive a response from defendant to the Letter 2566. (Id. at ¶ 45.) On September 11, 2006, the IRS sent defendant a statutory notice of deficiency by certified mail, to which she also did not respond. (Id. at ¶ 46.) Further, IRS records do not reflect that defendant filed a petition with the United States Tax Court within ninety days of the letter being sent. (Id. at ¶ 47.) As a result, the IRS made an assessment of defendant's tax liability for 2003 of $58,485.00 based on the amount reflected in the deficiency letter. (Id.) The following assessments against defendant were made by an authorized delegate of the Secretary of the Treasury, representing individual federal income taxes, penalties, interest, and other statutory additions for each of the tax years below. (Id. at ¶ 48.)
Plaintiff filed a motion for summary judgment in this action on February 16, 2018, seeking to reduce its tax assessments to judgment for defendant's 2003 income tax liability, which totals $159,625.66 as of February 22, 2018, and for frivolous tax return penalties pursuant to 26 U.S.C. § 6702(a) for defendant's Form 1040 for tax years 1993, 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2005, which total $31,229.25 as of February 22, 2018. (Doc. No. 35 at 2.) The total judgment requested by plaintiff against defendant Ford is $190,854.91. (Id.) Defendant filed a motion to recuse the undersigned and to stay determination of the summary judgment motion on February 20, 2018. (Doc. No. 36.) On March 2, 2018, the court denied defendant's motions. (Doc. No. 42.) Defendant filed an opposition to the motion for summary judgment on March 5, 2018. (Doc. No. 44.) Plaintiff filed a reply on March 13, 2018. (Doc. No. 46.)
On March 14, 2018, defendant filed an 83-page addendum to her opposition to the motion for summary judgment without seeking the leave of the court. (Doc. No. 47.) On March 27, 2018, defendant filed a submission styled as a "motion to clarify facts precluding summary judgment." (Doc. Nos 53, 54.) Additionally, on April 25, 2018, defendant filed a renewed motion to dismiss and a motion to sanction plaintiff's counsel. (Doc. No. 55.) On May 15, 2018, defendant filed a motion to judicially notice the filing of a petition for writ of mandamus filed with the Supreme Court. (Doc. No. 57.)4
Summary judgment is appropriate when the moving party "shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a).
///// In summary judgment practice, the moving party "initially bears the burden of proving the absence of a genuine issue of material fact." In re Oracle Corp. Sec. Litig., 627 F.3d 376, 387 (9th Cir. 2010) (citing Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323 (1986)). The moving party may accomplish this by "citing to particular parts of materials in the record, including depositions, documents, electronically stored information, affidavits or declarations, stipulations (including those made for purposes of the motion only), admissions, interrogatory answers, or other materials" or by showing that such materials "do not establish the absence or presence of a genuine dispute, or that the adverse party cannot produce admissible evidence to support the fact." Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c)(1)(A), (B). If the moving party meets its initial responsibility, the burden then shifts to the opposing party to establish that a genuine issue as to any material fact actually does exist. See Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 586 (1986). In attempting to establish the existence of this factual dispute, the opposing party may not rely upon the allegations or denials of its pleadings but is required to tender evidence of specific facts in the form of affidavits, and/or admissible discovery material, in support of its contention that the dispute exists. See Fed. R....
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