Source: http://dc.findacase.com/research/wfrmDocViewer.aspx/xq/fac.20080805_0000726.DDC.htm/qx
Timestamp: 2017-08-18 08:44:49
Document Index: 655362386

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 7609', '§ 7609', '§ 7609', '§ 7609', '§ 7609', '§ 7609', '§ 7609', '§ 7609']

Petitioner Julie K. McCammon brought the above-captioned miscellaneous action as a Petition to Quash an Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") summons issued to a third-party recordkeeper for information related to her financial activities. The United States, a Respondent to the Petition, has filed a motion to dismiss Petitioner's Petition to Quash, in which it argues that this Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction because petitions to quash summonses issued to third-party recordkeepers must be filed in the judicial districts in which the summoned parties are located, and the third-party recordkeeper in this instance is not located in the District of Columbia. Petitioner opposes the United States' Motion to Dismiss. Upon a searching review of the parties' briefing in connection with the United States' Motion to Dismiss, the relevant statutes and case law, and the entire record herein, the Court shall GRANT the United States' [3] Motion to Dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. The Court agrees with the United States that it lacks subject matter jurisdiction over the instant Petition, and that it must therefore dismiss the instant miscellaneous case in its entirety.
The instant case involves a third-party IRS summons issued to Chase Bank NA (the "Subpoena"), seeking Petitioner's financial records. See Attachment to Petition. On May 29, 2008, Petitioner filed a Petition to Quash the Subpoena. See generally Petition to Quash. Petitioner had previously commenced a separate miscellaneous action by filing another petition to quash five summons issued to third-party recordkeepers, McCammon v. United States, Misc. Action No. 08-298. In a Memorandum Opinion and Order issued on August 4, 2008, the Court granted the United States' motion to dismiss that petition and dismissed that case in its entirety because the third-party recordkeepers are not located in the District of Columbia.
On June 24, 2008, the United States moved to dismiss the Petition to Quash in this case for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, arguing that petitions to quash must be filed in the judicial districts in which the summoned parties are located, and that the relevant third-party recordkeeper in this case resides outside of the District of Columbia. Resp.'s MTD at 1-2. Petitioner filed an Opposition to the United States' Motion to Dismiss, and the United States filed a Reply in support of its Motion to Dismiss. Accordingly, the United States' Motion to Dismiss is now ripe for review.
Based upon the plain language of 26 U.S.C. § 7609(h), the United States moves to dismiss the Petition to Quash, on the grounds that the subpoenaed third-party recordkeeper is not located in this judicial district, such that this Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction over the Petition. Resp.'s MTD at 1-2. As evidenced by the Subpoena itself and by the caption Petitioner placed on her Petition, the United States is correct that Chase Bank NA is located in Indianapolis, Indiana. See id.; Pet., Caption and Attachments. In response to the United States' Motion, Petitioner argues: (1) that 26 U.S.C. § 7609(h) should be read disjunctively and that the term "resides or is found" should be taken to refer to the Court's personal jurisdiction; (2) that this Court has personal jurisdiction over the subpoenaed third-party recordkeeper; and (3) that even if the Court concludes that 26 U.S.C. § 7609(h) refers to subject matter jurisdiction, Chase Bank NA is "found" in the District of Columbia as a result of the activities Petitioner supposes it conducts in the District or its internet activity. None of Petitioner's arguments are availing.
Nor does Petitioner offer any legal support for her claim that the term "resides or is found" should be read as referring to the Court's personal jurisdiction over the subpoenaed recordkeepers. See Pet.'s Opp'n at 2. Rather, "[v]arious courts have found that the [] 'resides' or 'found' provisions in § 7609(h) go to a court's subject matter jurisdiction." Cayman Nat'l Bank, 2007 WL 641176, at *2. In light of the clear precedent confirming that 26 U.S.C. § 7609(h) involves the Court's subject matter jurisdiction over a petition to quash rather than personal jurisdiction over the summoned party, Petitioner's repeated analysis of the Court's purported personal jurisdiction over Chase Bank NA is entirely irrelevant. The Court therefore does not consider it herein, because "[t]he personal jurisdiction cases cited and discussed by Petitioner are inapposite to the Court's analysis of subject matter jurisdiction pursuant to 26 U.S.C. § 7609(h)(1)." Cook v. United States, No. CV 01-951-BR, 2002 WL 221084, * 2 (D.Or. Jan. 8, 2002).
In a final attempt to prevent the dismissal of her Petition, Petitioner argues that, even if this Court concludes that 26 U.S.C. § 7609(h) defines the Court's subject matter jurisdiction, the Court should find that Chase Bank NA is "found" in the District of Columbia by virtue of internet activity and unspecified "affiliations with local businesses or provi[sion] of services to residents of the District of Columbia." Pet.'s Opp'n at 3-6. Petitioner also suggests that she should be allowed to conduct discovery in order to determine the extent of Chase Bank NA's contacts with the District of Columbia. Petitioner's suggestions are unavailing for a number of reasons. As an initial matter, it is undisputed that Chase Bank NA does not "reside" in the District of Columbia. Further, while the handful of courts that have interpreted the phrase "is found" in 26 U.S.C. § 7609(h)have concluded that it "contemplates subject matter jurisdiction based on something other than residence," Williams v. United States, No. 1:05-mc-6, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 25673, * 5-6 (E.D.Tenn. Jul. 29, 2005), those courts have uniformly "required the actual physical presence of the summoned party within the district in order for the summoned party to be considered 'found' within the district," Cayman Nat'l Bank, 2007 WL 641176 at *3. Petitioner has offered no evidence to that effect, nor does she maintain that the subpoenaed records are located in the District of Columbia. See also ...