Opinion ID: 4019312
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Motion to Dismiss for Res Judicata

Text: Wanland filed for bankruptcy in 2007, and listed the IRS as his biggest creditor. The IRS eventually received limited proceeds from the liquidation of Wanland’s assets. In June 2011, Wanland obtained his discharge under 11 U.S.C. § 727. The attached “Explanation Of Bankruptcy Discharge In A Chapter 7 Case,” however, stated that “[d]ebts for most UNITED STATES V. WANLAND 9 taxes” are one of the “common types of debts” that are “not discharged.” After the return of the superseding indictment, Wanland moved to dismiss the charges on res judicata grounds. He argued that “because the Government failed to raise the claims in the indictment during the bankruptcy proceeding to prevent nondischargeability, and failed to stay the bankruptcy proceedings pending the outcome of the current criminal matter,” res judicata prevented the government from “pursuing a criminal action concerning the assets and tax liabilities the bankruptcy court already discharged.” The district court rejected that argument, explaining that res judicata “does not apply where the claim in question could not have been brought in the prior proceeding due to limitations on the prior court’s jurisdiction.”