Opinion ID: 186432
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Standing of Challenged Appellants

Text: 9 Before addressing the substantive merits of Appellants' claims, we must determine the proper parties to this case. The IRS has moved to dismiss two groups of individuals as Appellants. The first group consists of nineteen Appellants 1 who allegedly were not parties to the District Court case because they did not sign the original complaint or either amended complaint. Under Fed.R.Civ.P. 11(a), all pleadings by a pro se plaintiff must be signed by the party and, if not, must be stricken unless corrected promptly after being notified of the omission. The IRS moved to dismiss claiming that in this case notification at an earlier time was essentially impossible because of the large number of plaintiffs and the disorganized presentation of names and signatures in the complaint. Appellants did not make a timely response and failed to address the issue in their merits brief although instructed to do so. We therefore will consider this issue conceded for lack of response by Appellants, and dismiss the nineteen challenged Appellants for lack of standing because they were not parties to the appealed proceeding. 10 The second set of Appellants that the government has moved to dismiss are two individuals, Runar Dean Johnson and Lavina Rae Johnson, who have outstanding sanctions against them in the Ninth Circuit for filing a frivolous appeal on the grounds that the IRS does not legally exist. The sanctions were affirmed by the Ninth Circuit in June of 2003, but the Johnsons have failed to pay them despite repeated requests. Other circuits have dismissed actions and refused to entertain future litigation if sanctions or costs incurred in an earlier proceeding, or in prior actions involving the same parties and the same or similar subject matter, remain unpaid. See, e.g., Hymes v. United States, 993 F.2d 701, 702 (9th Cir.1993); Christensen v. Ward, 916 F.2d 1485 (10th Cir.1990); Zerman v. Jacobs, 814 F.2d 107, 109 (2d Cir.1987); Stelly v. Commissioner, 804 F.2d 868, 871-72 (5th Cir.1986). This rule provides for sanctions against frivolous appeals under FED. R. App. P. 38 to be made effective and helps protect the courts from abuse. It is uncontested that the Johnsons have incurred and failed to pay these sanctions, and the subject matter of their sanctioned appeal is similar to the claims in this case. We therefore dismiss Runar Dean Johnson and Lavinia Rae Johnson's appeal because of their failure to pay sanctions for filing a frivolous appeal in a similar matter. 11