Opinion ID: 32181
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: jurisdiction

Text: 3 We have jurisdiction over this appeal pursuant to 26 U.S.C. § 7482(a)(1). The Commissioner contends, however, that we have no jurisdiction over Mrs. Griffin's appeal because she filed notice of that appeal 92 days after the Tax Court entered its decision in her case. 4 The Commissioner argues that TECO and Mr. Griffin's timely appeal does not function to give Mrs. Griffin an extra thirty days in which to file her appeal, as the second sentence of 26 U.S.C. § 7483 seems to suggest. This is so, according to the Commissioner, because Mrs. Griffin was not a party to the decisions binding TECO and Mr. Griffin, even though her case was consolidated with theirs for trial, briefing, and opinion. The Commissioner cites Twenty Mile Joint Venture, PND, Ltd. v. Commissioner, 5 and Davies v. Commissioner, 6 to support his argument. 4 In each of those cases, the situation was similar to the instant situation: Several actions had been consolidated in the Tax Court; one appellant timely appealed; and another appealed during § 7483's 90 to 120-day window following the decision. In Twenty Mile Joint Venture, the Tenth Circuit reasoned that the second (untimely) filer could not take advantage of the extra thirty days allowed by § 7483 because the second filer was not a party to the decision that bound the timely filer, even though both appellants' cases had been consolidated for purposes of trial and opinion. Because the two cases had not lost their individual identities, and the timely filing appellant was appealing a separate decision, the Tenth Circuit held that the timely appeal did not extend the time for filing under § 7483. 7 The Davies court relied on similar reasoning to reach the same result, explaining that the appropriate inquiry is solely whether the late filer was a party to the same decision as the timely filer[,] ... not to his participation in the same proceeding or to his inclusion in the same opinion.  8 As the cases currently before us were consolidated only for purposes of trial, briefing, and opinion, and separate decisions were entered in each case, reasons the Commissioner, TECO and Mr. Griffin's timely appeal does not garner Mrs. Griffin any additional time within which to file her own appeal. 5 In the instant case, however, none of the taxpayers appeal decisions of the Tax Court, as its decisions discuss only the merits of the underlying civil tax fraud case, and were favorable to Petitioners. Rather, Petitioners appeal only the Tax Court's Order dated August 27th, 2002, which denies all of them an award of fees and costs. In other words, as regards the denial of fees and costs, there is no decision to appeal, only the lone August 27th Order, which covers all Petitioners and was timely appealed by TECO and Mr. Griffin. This case is therefore distinguishable from Twenty Mile Joint Venture and Davies. As the Order being appealed affected all Petitioners, and TECO and Mr. Griffin's appeal was a timely notice of appeal ... filed by one party as described by § 7483, Mrs. Griffin was entitled to 120 days within which to file her own appeal. She filed her notice of appeal within that extended period, so we have jurisdiction over her appeal.