Time: Tue Jun 10 12:42:29 1997 by primenet.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id MAA15561; Tue, 10 Jun 1997 12:42:21 -0700 (MST) Date: Tue, 10 Jun 1997 12:41:27 -0700 To: (Recipient list suppressed) From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar] Subject: SLS: IRS Hit With $250,000 Punitive Damage Award (fwd) More signs they're breaking up. Glory Halleluia!! /s/ Paul Mitchell http://www.supremelaw.com <snip> > >IRS Hit With $250,000 Punitive Damage Award > >By DAVID CAY JOHNSTON > > >A federal judge in Denver has awarded $250,000 in punitive damages to a >woman whose family business was raided by armed Internal Revenue Service >agents four weeks after the woman insulted an IRS agent. > >The revenue agents padlocked all three Kids Avenue clothing stores in >Colorado Springs, and posted notices that some customers interpreted as >evidence that the woman, Carole Ward, 49, was a drug smuggler. > >In a harshly worded 17-page opinion, Judge William Downes of the U.S. >District Court in Denver found that one of the IRS agents, James Dolan, was >"grossly negligent" and acted with "reckless disregard" for the law, and >that >he made three false statements in a sworn declaration. > >The judge, who said the actions by the IRS agents violated Ms. Ward's >privacy rights, wrote that the punitive damages award "gives notice to the >IRS that reprehensible abuse of authority by one of its employees cannot >and >will not be tolerated." > >The judge also awarded Ms. Ward $75,000 in actual damages plus lawyers' >fees. > >Both the IRS and the Justice Department, which defended the lawsuit, >declined comment on the decision. During a nine-day trial the IRS denied >any wrongdoing. > >Don Roberts, an IRS spokesman, said that in the past five years about 30 >lawsuits a year had been filed claiming wrongful disclosure of confidential >information, but that the service had no data on the outcome of those cases. > >William Waller and Denis Mark, Ms. Ward's attorneys, said that their >research found only a handful of awards for IRS privacy violations, most of >them for nominal sums. A Missouri man, Elvis Johnson, has been awarded $15.8 >million in damages and interest, plus attorneys' fees, in a 1983 case, but it >is still in litigation and the award has not been paid. > >The Colorado case began in 1993 when agent Paula Dzierzanowski audited tax >returns filed by Tristan Ward, who was then 20. He listed himself as the >owner of Kids Avenue and his mother as a dependent. > >Mrs. Ward said she accompanied her son to one audit, a rancorous meeting >that ended, according to testimony, with Mrs. Ward telling Ms. Dzierzanowski: >"Honey, from what I can see of your accounting skills the country would be >better served if you were dishing up chicken-fried steak on some Interstate >in West Texas, with all the clunky jewelry and big hair." > >The raid, known as a jeopardy assessment, was made four weeks later after >Ms. Dzierzanowski asserted that the government was in danger of not >collecting $324,000 in income taxes. In court papers the agent said her >action stemmed largely from questions about whether the son really owned >the >business and concerns over Ms. Ward's travels to Ecuador, where her husband >lives. > >Three months after the raid, the government settled the tax dispute, >covering six years, for $3,485. > >Downes also criticized Gerald Swanson, an IRS district director, and an >aide, Patricia Callahan. As guests on a Colorado Springs radio talk show, >they said that Ms. Ward still owed $324,000 in taxes, even though they knew >that the bill had been settled the week before for little more than 1 percent >of that amount. > >Ms. Ward said her daughter, Kelly, had to quit high school because the IRS >statements posted on the stores led students to believe the family was >engaged in drug smuggling. She said the family had no debts at the time of >the raid but now owed $75,000. > >The family lost its lease on one store, she said, but has opened new ones >in the Denver area and in New Mexico. She said that only two-thirds of the >goods and equipment seized in the raid was returned, much of it badly damaged. > >"I never should have spoken condescendingly," Ms. Ward said Wednesday. >"That was wrong, but what they did to me for mouthing off was criminal." > > > >Copyright 1997 The New York Times > > >************************************************************************** >Subscribe to Freematt's Alerts: Pro-Individual Rights Issues >Send a blank message to: freematt@coil.com with the words subscribe FA >on the subject line. List is private and moderated (7-30 messages per week) >Matthew Gaylor,1933 E. Dublin-Granville Rd.,#176, Columbus, OH 43229 >Archived at http://www.reference.com/cgi-bin/pn/listarch?list=FA@coil.com >************************************************************************** > > > > Lynn True, Consultant & Project Manager > Editing and Publishing > 612/757-4315 fax 612/757-4792 > > > >----- End Included Message ----- > > > ======================================================================== Paul Andrew Mitchell : Counselor at Law, federal witness B.A., Political Science, UCLA; M.S., Public Administration, U.C. Irvine tel: (520) 320-1514: machine; fax: (520) 320-1256: 24-hour/day-night email: [address in tool bar] : using Eudora Pro 3.0.2 on 586 CPU website: http://www.supremelaw.com : visit the Supreme Law Library now ship to: c/o 2509 N. Campbell, #1776 : this is free speech, at its best Tucson, Arizona state : state zone, not the federal zone Postal Zone 85719/tdc : USPS delays first class w/o this As agents of the Most High, we came here to establish justice. We shall not leave, until our mission is accomplished and justice reigns eternal. ======================================================================== [This text formatted on-screen in Courier 11, non-proportional spacing.]
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