Johnson v. Sawyer

Elvis Johnson (plaintiff) was a vice president and director of the American National Insurance Company (ANICO). On April 10, Johnson pleaded guilty to a criminal information for underpaying his 1975 taxes. Per Johnson, ANICO’s president, Orson Clay, said that Johnson could keep his ANICO positions if ANICO was not embarrassed by publicity about Johnson’s plea. Assistant United States Attorney James Powers worked with Johnson’s attorney to minimize publicity by providing a fictitious home address for Johnson on a court document. The plea documents filed with the court did not mention Johnson’s ANICO employment, but the judge referred to ANICO at the plea hearing. On April 13, Sally Sassen (defendant), an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) employee, prepared and issued a press release regarding Johnson’s plea; the release included Johnson’s age, middle initial, home address, and his position as ANICO’s vice president. Sassen prepared the relevant portion of the release solely from information she received from IRS agent Robert Stone (defendant). Stone, who did not attend Johnson’s plea hearing or review the relevant court filings or docket, learned about the case from Powers. Upon receiving a complaint from Johnson’s attorney, the IRS engaged in internal discussions involving supervisors Dale Braun and Robert Sawyer (defendants), leading to an April 16 revised release that also mentioned Johnson’s age, middle initial, home address, and ANICO affiliation and position. Soon thereafter, at Clay’s request, Johnson resigned his executive and board positions. Johnson sued Sawyer, Braun, Sassen, and other IRS employees (collectively, IRS employees) (defendants) for disclosing his tax-return information in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 6103. The jury awarded Johnson approximately $9 million in damages. The IRS employees appealed, arguing that § 6103 protected only confidential information and that Johnson’s ANICO employment was not confidential because the judge mentioned it at the plea hearing. The IRA employees also argued that Johnson’s middle initial was not confidential because it appeared on the court’s docket. However, the IRS employees conceded that Johnson’s age, home address, and his vice president position were not in the court record and thus were wrongfully disclosed.