Guancione v. Internal Revenue Service

Background

Rosalie Guancione filed five motions for declaratory judgment, identified as ECF Nos. 48, 49, 55, 59, and 65. The motions sought declarations that she had complied with the requirement to serve an administrative claim, that the Internal Revenue Service had filed erroneous federal tax liens and a lis pendens concerning real property, and that she had a particular form of standing. The fifth motion was titled a first amended motion for declaratory judgment and also concerned service of an administrative claim.

The Internal Revenue Service opposed the first four motions and argued that the motions were procedurally improper. The opinion does not state that the agency opposed the fifth motion.

Court’s Analysis

The court relied on Ninth Circuit precedent stating that a party may not make a motion for declaratory relief; instead, the party must bring an action for a declaratory judgment. The court explained that such a motion can be treated consistently with the Federal Rules only as a motion for summary judgment in an existing declaratory-judgment action. The court found that this case was not an action for a declaratory judgment.

Ruling

Judge Beth Labson Freeman denied Plaintiff’s five motions for declaratory judgment—ECF Nos. 48, 49, 55, 59, and 65—as inconsistent with the Federal Rules. The order addressed the procedural form of the requests and did not decide the merits of the asserted tax-lien, lis-pendens, administrative-claim, or standing issues.