Opinion ID: 764674
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: 3 Cody describes itself as a religious corporation organized under the laws of New York. As such, it claims to be entitled to tax-exempt status under state and local law. The defendants refused to grant Cody that status. On November 19, 1997, Cody filed suit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleging that the defendants' failure to exempt Cody from taxation violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments. The district court dismissed the complaint primarily under the Tax Injunction Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1341, which limits the power of the federal district courts to enjoin the collection of state taxes. Judgment was entered on June 12, 1998. Cody did not file a timely notice of appeal. 4 On July 13, 1998, Cody filed a Rule 60(b) motion for relief from the judgment. Four weeks later, on August 7, Cody wrote to the district court suggesting that, if the 60(b) relief were denied, the court might vacate its original judgment and issue a new one to the same effect, thus restarting the clock on Cody's time for filing an appeal. The district court accepted this somewhat unorthodox proposal. In an opinion denying the 60(b) motion, Judge Brieant wrote that appeal of this case may raise important substantive issues that should be presented for appellate review despite Cody's failure to appeal during the normal time allotted. He therefore vacated the judgment of June 12 and, on August 20, 1998, entered a new judgment dismissing Cody's complaint. 5 Nineteen days later, on September 8, Cody filed a notice of appeal seeking review of the entire amended judgment, i.e., of the denial of the 60(b) motion as well as of the portion of the judgment dismissing the underlying complaint. The Town of Woodbury and defendants Taylor and Ruscher filed their cross-appeal six days later.