Opinion ID: 614361
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Post-suppression Motion Litigation

Text: In the same 1976 decision in which the district court denied the renewed motion to suppress, the district court ruled against Taxpayers on a series of substantive tax arguments. Stonehill III, 420 F.Supp. at 54-64. The court ruled against Taxpayers in several more orders concerning substantive tax law in 1980. See United States v. Stonehill, No. 65-127-GJS, 1980 WL 1757, 1980 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16574 (C.D.Cal. April 19, 1980). We affirmed those rulings in 1983. United States v. Stonehill, 702 F.2d 1288 (9th Cir.1983). In 1984, Stonehill (without Brooks) attempted to relitigate many of these substantive tax issues in Tax Court, but that court held that the district court's order, affirmed on appeal, was res judicata. Stonehill v. Comm'r of Internal Revenue, No. 1574-65, 1984 WL 14983, 1984 Tax Ct. Memo LEXIS 339 (U.S.Tax Ct. June 28, 1984). In 1991, Taxpayers filed a Rule 60(b)(5) motion, seeking a declaration that the United States' judgment for income taxes had been satisfied. United States v. Stonehill, No. 91-35049, 1992 WL 68261, 1992 U.S.App. LEXIS 6498 (9th Cir. April 7, 1992). Taxpayers did not seek a modification of the district court's prior determination of liability. Id. at , 1992 U.S.App. LEXIS 6498, at . But they contended that the district court had improperly prevented them from proving that the 1980 judgment was erroneous as to the amount owed. Id. at , 1992 U.S.App. LEXIS 6498, at -3. We wrote in an unpublished memorandum disposition that we are unwilling to permit taxpayers to go behind [the 1980] judgment to argue satisfaction of the judgment on the basis of a Rule 60(b)(5) motion filed ten years after entry of that judgment. Id. at -2, 1992 U.S.App. LEXIS 6498, at . Taxpayers also objected to the government's attempts to sell some of the property subject to tax liens, but we affirmed the sale of the last property subject to tax lien in 1996. United States v. Stonehill, 83 F.3d 1156 (9th Cir.1996). In 1998, Stonehill filed the first of many FOIA requests, seeking government documents relating to the raid. See Stonehill v. IRS (Stonehill IV), 534 F.Supp.2d 1, 2 (D.D.C.2008). Shortly thereafter, on August 20, 2000, Taxpayers began the current incarnation of this case by filing a motion in district court under Rule 60(b)(6) to vacate the original 1967 judgment, alleging that the government had committed fraud on the court. The district court denied the motion and Taxpayers appealed. In the meantime, the FOIA proceedings continued. They were long and contentious. Taxpayers accused the government of losing documents, intentionally releasing documents slowly, and over-redacting the documents it did release. The government repeatedly emphasized that Taxpayers' current attorney, Robert Heggestad, had not received many of the files previously assembled by Taxpayers' prior attorney and was thus making duplicative FOIA requests. We heard Taxpayers' appeal of the district court's denial of the motion to vacate in 2002. In December 2002, we concluded in an unpublished memorandum disposition that the district court had abused its discretion when it ruled on the motion to vacate while Stonehill and Brooks were still seeking potentially relevant evidence. United States v. Stonehill, 53 Fed.Appx. 470, 471 (9th Cir.2002). We noted that even in the time since the district court's ruling, Taxpayers had obtained more documents that could bolster their case, and that they still had FOIA requests pending. Id. We concluded that [o]n remand, the district court should ensure that [Taxpayers] have a fair opportunity to present their argument to the court. It should assist them in obtaining relevant evidence and should not rule on their motion to vacate until it has received and considered all evidence that Stonehill and Brooks may obtain within a reasonable time. Id. After nearly ten years of correspondence and litigation, the District Court for the District of Columbia ruled on all outstanding FOIA issues, mainly relating to redactions, on January 10, 2008. Stonehill IV, 534 F.Supp.2d 1.