Opinion ID: 502693
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Whether an Extension Was Granted

Text: 31 The party seeking summary judgment bears the burden of establishing that no genuine issue of material fact exists. Adickes v. S.H. Kress & Co., 398 U.S. 144, 157, 90 S.Ct. 1598, 1608, 26 L.Ed.2d 142 (1970). The function of the district court in considering the motion for summary judgment is not to resolve disputed issues of fact but only to determine whether there is a genuine issue to be tried. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2509-11, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986); Knight v. U.S. Fire Insurance Co., 804 F.2d 9, 11 (2d Cir.1986), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 107 S.Ct. 1570, 94 L.Ed.2d 762 (1987). The fact that both sides move for summary judgment does not guarantee that there is no material issue of fact to be tried. See Schwabenbauer v. Board of Education, 667 F.2d 305, 313-14 (2d Cir.1981). In determining whether there is a genuine issue of fact, the court is required to assess each motion on its own merits and to view the evidence in the light most favorable to the party opposing the motion, drawing all reasonable inferences in favor of that party. United States v. Diebold, Inc., 369 U.S. 654, 655, 82 S.Ct. 993, 994, 8 L.Ed.2d 176 (1962) (per curiam). If the presentation by the nonmoving party in support of its version of the facts is such that the court could not properly direct a verdict against it in a jury trial, or enter a judgment in favor of the moving party notwithstanding a verdict favorable to the nonmoving party, the motion for summary judgment may not properly be granted. See Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 106 S.Ct. at 2511 (summary judgment standard mirrors the standard for a directed verdict under [Fed.R.Civ.P. 50(a) ]); 9 C. Wright & A. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure Sec. 2524, at 541-42 (1971) (standard for assessing sufficiency of evidence to create an issue of fact for jury is the same whether it arises in the procedural context of a motion for directed verdict or of a motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict). 32 In the present case, we conclude that Eastman's factual presentation in the district court was sufficient to warrant denial of the government's motion for summary judgment. Taken in the light most favorable to Eastman, that evidence showed that on April 12, Eastman hand-delivered its request for an extension to IRS representative Migliore; Migliore's response was not that the request was untimely or that it was denied; he inquired as to how long an extension would be needed. On April 27, Eastman delivered the return and a renewed request for penalty waiver and the extension; Migliore stated that he would forward the file to Andover with a favorable recommendation. At no point did the IRS advise Eastman that its request for an extension was denied. On no document produced in this action did the IRS make any notation that the request for an extension was denied. A document on which the IRS might have noted the granting of the extension, i.e., the original request for extension, apparently has been lost by the IRS and has not been produced. 33 To be sure, the revenue officer's notation on the back of Eastman's Form 4571, opining that any penalty should be waived because reasonable cause had been shown, is consistent with the possibility that the extension had been denied and that the return was therefore not timely filed. See 26 U.S.C. Sec. 6651(a) (1976). Nonetheless, the record as a whole contains evidence from which a factfinder, drawing all permissible inferences in favor of Eastman, might reasonably conclude that the IRS implicitly granted Eastman's request for an extension and that the return was thus timely filed. Such a conclusion would be neither reversible as a matter of law under Fed.R.Civ.P. 50 nor clearly erroneous within the meaning of Fed.R.Civ.P. 52(a). 34 In sum, we conclude that the IRS had the power to grant the extension requested by Eastman and that the district court could not properly determine as a matter of law that the IRS did not grant the request.