And Then There Are Motions

IRS can dream up some good motions, but here’s one that really sets a high bar. It involves an old acquaintance, Marvel Thompson.

Remember Marv? Well, if not, check out my blogpost “Holding?”, 12/8/14. Now you remember Marv was fighting a levy for interest IRS claims he owed, but he claims he couldn’t pay the underlying tax timely because the US Marshals Service grabbed all his cash.

Marv was serving a 45-year stretch in the Fed pen. And he’s still there, and likely to be going no place soon.

Well, IRS, denying that the US Marshals’ grab in any way causes an abatement of interest, has a new twist, and it’s a beauty. The case is on for trial later this month.

I’ll let that Obliging Jurist, Judge David Gustafson, tell the story.

“…respondent (the IRS) filed a pretrial memorandum that states, ‘Respondent plans to file a Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Prosecution in the event that petitioner or his representative fail to appear at the trial calendar’, but that also states, ‘Petitioner is currently incarcerated in Federal Prison and is carrying out a 45 year sentence.’ The Court assumes that Mr. Thompson will not appear…; but without prejudging a motion not yet filed and explained, the Court considers it unlikely that it would dismiss this case on a motion filed by the Federal Government complaining that petitioner failed to appear before the Tax Court because the Federal Government is holding him in prison. It is therefore

“ORDERED that respondent consider using the available time to prepare not a motion to dismiss for failure to prosecute but rather a motion for summary judgment, since it may be that some or all of the issues in this case involve no genuine disputes of material fact and could be addressed by the parties filings, without requiring Mr. Thompson’s appearance in person.” Order, at p. 1.

Judge Gustafson is clearly a gentle human being. If I were the Judge…but no, that’s why I could never be a judge.

I almost forgot, because it’s nearly 2 a.m. here in Berlin. The order is Marvel Thompson, Docket No. 29498-12, filed 10/2/15.