PLATTS v. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF TREASURY - INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE

Filing 4

ORDER denying 3 Motion to not be required to pay a filing fee. Signed by Magistrate Judge Maureen P. Kelly on 9/12/2014. A copy of the Order together with this Notice of Electronic Filing are being sent to Plaintiff at his address of record via first class mail. (tmr)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA
JAMES C. PLATTS,
Plaintiff,
vs.
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF
TREASURY – INTERNAL REVENUE
SERVICE,
Defendant.

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Civil Action No. 14-1041
Magistrate Judge Maureen P. Kelly
Re: ECF No. 3

ORDER
James Platts (“Plaintiff”) filed what he captioned as a “Motion of Appeal for Refund of
Overpaid Taxes.” ECF No. 1. He did so without paying a filing fee or without filing a Motion
for Leave to Proceed In Forma Pauperis (“IFP Motion”). Plaintiff is a prisoner in the United
States Penitentiary at Hazleton in Bruceton Mills, West Virginia. He was convicted in this Court
in two different criminal proceedings. In the first criminal proceeding, presided over by Judge
Donetta Ambrose, Plaintiff was convicted by a jury of tax evasion for deliberately underpaying
taxes owed. U.S.A. v. Platts, No. 07-cr-21 (W.D. Pa.). In the second criminal proceeding,
presided over by Judge Alan Bloch, Plaintiff was convicted of Mail Fraud, Money Laundering
and Mail Fraud Conspiracy, after Plaintiff pleaded guilty. U.S.A. v. Platts, No. 10-cr-176 (W.D.
Pa.). The current civil action is Plaintiff’s most recent attempt to challenge the fact that he
underpaid his taxes as was found by the jury in his first criminal proceeding. This action is yet
another attempt by Plaintiff to claim a refund of the taxes which he claims he overpaid which are
the same taxes that the jury found Plaintiff to have underpaid. Plaintiff has repeatedly, and
unsuccessfully, attempted to attack in this Court the fact that he underpaid taxes and/or to

impugn his conviction for tax evasion. See, e.g., Platts v. Buchanan, No. 12-cv-1788 (W.D. Pa.)
aff’d, Platts v. Buchanan, No. 13-4393 (3d Cir. 9/5/2014); Platts v. Buchanan, No. 13-803 (W.D.
Pa. closed 7/17/2013); Platts. V. U.S.A., No. 14-cv-36 (W.D. Pa. closed 3/26/2014).
Plaintiff has also filed several civil actions in the United States District Court for the
Northern District of West Virginia wherein he has unsuccessfully tried to attack the fact that he
underpaid taxes and was not due a refund and/or to impugn his conviction for tax evasion. Platts
v. Buchanan, No. 13-cv42 (N.D.W.V. ECF No. 27, Report recommending dismissal of
complaint as frivolous, ECF No. 32, Order adopting Report over Plaintiff’s Objections), aff’d,
Platts v. Buchanan, No. 13-7574 (4th Cir. 2/18/2014); Platts v. O’Brien, 13-cv-61 (N.D.W.V.,
ECF No. 12, Report recommending dismissal of Section 2241 petition, ECF No. 16, Order
adopting Report over Petitioner’s Objections), aff’d, Platts v. O’Brien, No. 13-7486 (4th Cir.
1/21/2014); Platts v. O’Brien, No. 13-cv-257 (N.D.W.V., ECF No. 18, Amended Report
recommending dismissal of the Section 2241 petition, ECF No. 23, Order adopting Report over
Petitioner’s Objections).
In the presently pending civil action, this Court ordered Plaintiff to either pay the filing
fee of $400.00 for this civil action or to file an IFP Motion and to do so no later than September
20, 2014. ECF No. 2. Rather than pay the filing fee or file an IFP Motion, Plaintiff filed a letter
deemed to be a Motion, ECF No. 3, asserting that no filing fee was due as he was permitted to
file this “appeal” for the refund of overpaid taxes based upon IRS Publication 1 and the
Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, which are in fact one and the same. See http://www.irs.gov/pub/irspdf/p1.pdf.
Plaintiff’s assertion that no filing fee is required is without merit. Plaintiff is unable to
point to any provision contained in the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights that explicitly provides or even

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implicitly provides that no filing fee would be required in order to file a civil action in the United
States District Court for the purpose of seeking a refund of overpaid taxes. In fact, the statute
which grants the United States District Court subject matter jurisdiction over the filing of a civil
action in the United States District Court in order to recover allegedly overpaid taxes utilizes
language that clearly implies a filing fee is in fact required. The statute that permits a person,
such as Plaintiff, to file in a United States District Court an action for recovery of taxes is found
in 28 U.S.C. § 1346, which provides in relevant part as follows:
(a) The district courts shall have original jurisdiction, concurrent with the United
States Court of Federal Claims, of:
(1) Any civil action against the United States for the recovery of any
internal-revenue tax alleged to have been erroneously or illegally
assessed or collected, or any penalty claimed to have been collected
without authority or any sum alleged to have been excessive or in any
manner wrongfully collected under the internal-revenue laws;
Because the only statute that permits Plaintiff to invoke this Court’s jurisdiction to
recover allegedly overpaid taxes speaks in terms of a “civil action,” we find that the provisions
of 28 U.S.C. 1914(a) to be applicable and Section 1914(a) provides the requirement that the
filing fee for a “civil action” is $350.001 and 28 U.S.C. §1914(b) provides that courts may charge
an additional fee as prescribed by the Judicial Conference of the United States which imposed an
additional $50.00 fee at the September 12, 2012 meeting of the Judicial Conference to be
effective May 1, 2013.2 Accordingly, Plaintiff is statutorily required to either pay the $400.00

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28 U.S.C. § 1914(a) provides as follows: “(a) The clerk of each district court shall require the
parties instituting any civil action, suit or proceeding in such court, whether by original process,
removal or otherwise, to pay a filing fee of $350, except that on application for a writ of habeas
corpus the filing fee shall be $5.”
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The Judicial Conference Committee’s Report establishing the $50.00 fee is available at:
http://jnet.ao.dcn/judicial-conference/september-2012-report-proceedings
(site last visited 9/9/2014).
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filing fee or file an IFP Motion by September 20, 2014 or this civil action will be dismissed for
failure to prosecute without further warning. See, e.g., Vale v. I.R.S., 286 F. App’x 643 (11th
Cir. 2008) (prisoner who filed suit against IRS, seeking a refund of overpaid taxes was required
to pay the filing fee in installments under the Prison Litigation Reform Act). We note in passing
that Plaintiff tried to by pass the requirement to pay filing fees previously.

Platts v. Buchanan,

No. 12-cv-1788 (W.D. Pa.) aff’d, Platts v. Buchanan, No. 13-4393 (3d Cir. 9/5/2014). The
United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit explicitly rebuffed Plaintiff’s attempt to
avoid the payment of filing fees. Platts v. Buchanan, No. 13-4393 (3d Cir. 9/5/2014) (“The
District Court was correct in its conclusion that 28 U.S.C. Section 1915(b)(1) governs the fee
assessment in this case, and that there is no statutory provision for a refund of the fees
collected.”). Hence, Plaintiff’s Motion asserting that no filing fee is due is hereby DENIED.
An appeal to the District Judge will not act as a supersedeas of the Court’s August 20,
2014 Order requiring payment of the filing fee or filing an IFP Motion by September 20, 2014.
Thus, even if Plaintiff chooses to appeal to the District Judge, he will still be required to comply
with the August 20, 2014 Order of Court requiring Plaintiff to cure the deficiency by September
20, 2014, unless the District Judge orders otherwise.
The parties are allowed fourteen (14) days from this date to appeal this order to a District
Judge pursuant to Rule 72.C.2 of the Local Rules. Failure to appeal within fourteen (14) days
may constitute waiver of the right to appeal.
DATED: September 12, 2014
BY THE COURT:
/s/Maureen P. Kelly
MAUREEN P. KELLY
UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE
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cc:

James C. Platts
#09684-068
USP Hazelton
U.S. Penitentiary
P.O. Box 1000
Bruceton Mills, WV 26525

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