Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-caed-1_07-cv-01900/USCOURTS-caed-1_07-cv-01900-0/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 290
Nature of Suit: Other Real Property Actions
Cause of Action: 28:1444 Petition for Removal- Foreclosure

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STIPULATION AND ORDER CONCERNING UNITED STATES OF AMERICA’S

INTEREST IN LAWSUIT AND FOR REMAND

McGREGOR W. SCOTT

United States Attorney

BENJAMIN E. HALL

Assistant United States Attorney

United States Courthouse

2500 Tulare Street, Suite 4401

Fresno, California 93721

Telephone: (559) 497-4000

Facsimile: (559) 497-4099

Attorneys for Defendant United States of America

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

THOMAS M. HOCKING; HENRY P. )

LEAL AND LETA LEAL AS CO- )

TRUSTEES OF THE HENRY AND LETA)

LEAL REVOCABLE TRUST DATED )

APRIL 9, 2007, )

 )

Plaintiffs, )

)

v. )

)

COUNTY OF KERN, D.M. STEELE, )

JR., AN UNMARRIED MAN; UNITED )

STATES OF AMERICA AND DOES 1 )

through 50, inclusive, )

)

)

Defendants. )

 )

Case No. 1:07-cv-01900-OWW-DLB

STIPULATION AND ORDER

CONCERNING UNITED STATES OF

AMERICA’S INTEREST IN LAWSUIT

AND FOR REMAND

Plaintiffs, Thomas M. Hocking, Henry P. Leal and Leta

Leal as Co-Trustees of the Henry and Leta Leal Revocable Trust

Dated April 9, 2007 (“Plaintiffs”) and Defendants County of Kern

(“Kern County”), D.M. Steele, Jr. (“Steele”), and United States

of America (“United States”), hereby stipulate, subject to the

approval of the Court as provided for hereon, as follows:

1. Plaintiffs commenced this lawsuit, seeking

partition of real property, in the Superior Court of California,

County of Kern. The United States, sued here under 28 U.S.C. §

Case 1:07-cv-01900-OWW -DLB Document 9 Filed 03/25/08 Page 1 of 4
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STIPULATION AND ORDER CONCERNING UNITED STATES OF AMERICA’S

INTEREST IN LAWSUIT AND FOR REMAND

2410(a), removed the case to this Court.

2. The United States claims certain federal tax liens

for unpaid income taxes and trust fund recovery penalties

assessed against Steele by the District Director of Internal

Revenue. The United States recorded a Notice of Federal Tax Lien

Refiling with the Kern County Recorder’s Office on September 30,

2003, as Document No. 0203210851.

3. The United States takes the position (with or

without the other parties’ concurrence) that, as a matter of law,

the parties in an action such as this one under 28 U.S.C. §

2410(a) cannot contest the merits of federal tax assessments. 

See Powelson v. United States (9th Cir. 1992) 979 F.2d 141, 145,

cert. denied (1993) 507 U.S. 1029.

4. Internal Revenue Code Section 6321 provides that

federal tax liens are “upon all property and rights to property,

whether real or personal, belonging to” the taxpayer. To the

extent that Steele has interests in the real property described

in paragraph I of the Complaint for Partition of Real Property

filed September 27, 2007 (the “Subject Property”), the

abovementioned federal tax liens attach to those interests,

before and after any partition.

5. The federal tax liens are prior in time and prior

in right to all other liens asserted in this case against

Steele’s interest in the Property, except that certain local

property taxes can be prior in right even when not prior in time

under 26 U.S.C. § 6323(b)(6). The United States does not assert

priority over that lien for unsecured property taxes in the

amount of $996.95, recorded by Kern County on October 16, 2006,

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STIPULATION AND ORDER CONCERNING UNITED STATES OF AMERICA’S

INTEREST IN LAWSUIT AND FOR REMAND

as instrument Number 020625635.

6. This action shall be REMANDED to the Superior

Court of California, County of Kern.

7. Defendant United States shall not be required to

participate further in this action except by order of the Court. 

Papers in this action should not be served upon defendant United

States or its counsel except as provided below.

8. The Court’s Clerk, or, if the Court does not mail

it, Plaintiffs’ counsel, shall mail to the United States

Attorney’s Office a copy of any final order or judgment that

decides or resolves any property interests or lien priorities in

the Property.

9. This stipulation may be signed in counterparts.

Respectfully submitted,

Dated: February 29 2008. McGREGOR W. SCOTT

United States Attorney

By: /s/Benjamin E. Hall 

BENJAMIN E. HALL

Assistant U.S. Attorney

Attorneys for Defendant

United States of America

Dated: February 27, 2008. /s/ Gerald M. Leverett 

GERALD M. LEVERETT

Attorney for Plaintiffs, Thomas M.

Hocking, Henry P. Leal and Leta

Leal as Co-Trustees of the Henry

and Leta Leal Revocable Trust

///

///

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STIPULATION AND ORDER CONCERNING UNITED STATES OF AMERICA’S

INTEREST IN LAWSUIT AND FOR REMAND

Dated: February 22, 2008. B.C. BARMANN, SR., COUNTY COUNSEL

By: /s/ Jerri S. Bradley 

JERRI S. BRADLEY

Attorneys for Defendant County

of Kern

Dated: March 19, 2008. BORTON PETRINI, LLP

By: /s/ Robert A. Baggs 

ROBERT A. BAGGS

Attorneys for Defendant D.M.

Steele, Jr.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

Dated: March 25, 2008 /s/ Oliver W. Wanger 

emm0d6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

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