Steven Gregory Dunmore v. United States of America, Internal Revenue Service

Pro se plaintiff Steven Dunmore sued the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS,” or “Government”) in district court seeking, inter alia, refunds for his alleged overpay-ments of taxes. The IRS contended that the bankruptcy estate, and not Dunmore, owned the unscheduled claims following Dunmore’s bankruptcy. Pursuant to the parties’ stipulation, the district court transferred the matter to the bankruptcy court to permit the bankruptcy trustee to administer, and possibly abandon, the refund claims. The trustee abandoned the claims. The bankruptcy court then denied Dunmore’s request to transfer his action back to the district court for further proceedings, concluding that his case was a core proceeding and that it had authority to decide the matter. It subsequently dismissed his case for failure to prosecute the case in the bankruptcy forum. Dunmore appealed the bankruptcy court’s dismissal, but the district court affirmed.

We conclude that, although the bankruptcy court had “related to” jurisdiction over Dunmore’s tax refund claims, those claims constituted non-core proceedings. In view of this conclusion, the district court abused its discretion when it affirmed the bankruptcy court’s…