United States v. Jeffrey Page

Background On May 5, 2017, the IRS mailed Page a $491,104.01 check for his 2016 tax refund. Page’s refund should have been $3,463, but the IRS made a clerical error. About a year later, on April 5, 2018, Page cashed the check. After the government discovered the error, it sent letters over several months demanding that Page return the erroneous refund. Page eventually returned $210,000 but kept the remaining $277,641.01. On March 31, 2020, the government sued Page under 26 U.S.C. § 7405 to recover the outstanding balance. Page did

USA V. PAGE

not answer the complaint, and the government moved for default under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 55(a). After the clerk entered default, the government moved for a default judgment under Rule 55(b). The district court denied the motion. It held that the statute of limitations on the government’s claim began to run when Page received the refund check and, despite not knowing the date of receipt, suggested that the complaint was likely untimely. The district court thus ordered the government to show cause why the case “should not be dismissed with prejudice as barred by” the statute of limitations. The…