Williams v. United States

MEMORANDUM ***

Taxpayers, Lawrence Williams and Kathryn Hanes, filed this action against the *237 United States, seeking declaratory relief in the form of an order declaring that unspecified federal tax obligations owed by the taxpayers were “extinguished by operation of law” because they had tendered “offers to perform” pursuant to California Code of Civil Procedure § 1485 to the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) and the IRS failed to respond to the “offers to perform.” The United States moved to dismiss, asserting that the district court lacked subject matter jurisdiction because the United States had not waived its sovereign immunity for purposes of this suit. The United States also asserted that this suit was barred both by the Anti-Injunction Act, 26 U.S.C. § 7421 , and the Declaratory Judgment Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2201 . Finally, the United States asserted that the suit should be dismissed because the taxpayers had failed to properly obtain service upon the Attorney General.

The United States District Court for the Southern District of California granted the United States’ motion to dismiss on three grounds: (1) that the United States had not waived sovereign immunity; (2) that…