Sokolow v. United States
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
169 F.3d 663 (1999)
- Written by Steven Pacht, JD
Facts
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) assessed a tax deficiency against Elliot Sokolow (plaintiff). Sokolow disagreed with the assessment, believing that he had a valid statute-of-limitations defense. Rather than pay the tax and sue for a refund, Sokolow sued the United States (defendant), seeking an injunction prohibiting the United States from collecting the assessed tax. The United States moved to dismiss Sokolow’s case on subject-matter-jurisdiction grounds, arguing that the tax Anti-injunction Act, 26 U.S.C. § 7421(a), generally prohibited suits to enjoin the assessment or collection of federal taxes. Sokolow responded that his suit qualified for an equitable exception to the act for cases in which a taxpayer had no remedy other than an injunction. Per Sokolow, this was because the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Lewis v. Reynolds precluded him from asserting his statute-of-limitations defense in a refund suit. The district court dismissed Sokolow’s suit for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction. Sokolow appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Leavy, J.)
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