Stead

FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

IAN MICHAEL STEAD; BELINDA A. 

STEAD, No. 04-35028 Plaintiffs-Appellants, v.  D.C. No.

CV-03-05068-RBL

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, OPINION

Defendant-Appellee.  Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington Ronald B. Leighton, District Judge, Presiding

Argued June 10, 2005 Submitted June 29, 2005 Seattle, Washington

Filed August 12, 2005

Before: David R. Thompson, M. Margaret McKeown, and Ronald M. Gould, Circuit Judges.

Opinion by Judge Gould

10561 10564 STEAD v. UNITED STATES

COUNSEL

Don M. Running, Seattle, Washington, for the plaintiffs- appellants.

Eileen J. O’Connor, Assistant Attorney General, Thomas J. Clark, Karen G. Gregory, Attorneys, Tax Division, Depart- ment of Justice, Washington, DC, for the defendant-appellee.

OPINION

GOULD, Circuit Judge:

We must decide whether the taxpayer or the government bears the risk of loss when funds on deposit at a bank for practical purposes disappear after being levied upon by the Internal Revenue Service…