237 F. Supp. 554

CHESAPEAKE VENDING CO., Inc., a body corporate v. Louis DeCARLO, Assistant Regional Commissioner, Alcohol and Tobacco Tax Division, Internal Revenue Service, Philadelphia Region, and Paul Younce, Supervisor-in-Charge, Alcohol and Tobacco Tax Division, Internal Revenue Service, Baltimore District, Baltimore, Maryland.

Civ. No. 14439.

United States District Court D. Maryland.

Jan. 7, 1965.

*555Leon H. A. Pierson, Pierson & Pierson, Baltimore, Md., for petitioner.

Thomas J. Kenney, U. S. Atty., and Joseph H. H. Kaplan, Asst. U. S. Atty., Baltimore, Md., for respondents.

THOMSEN, Chief Judge.

Petitioner seeks an order enjoining the Internal Revenue Service from disposing of 31 coin-operated gaming devices seized by the Service under sec. 7321, IRC 1954, Title 26 U.S.C.A., for violation of sec. 7302, because of non-payment of the tax imposed by sec. 4461(a) (2).1 The Serv*556ice proceeded under sec. 7325, and takes the position that the relief sought should be denied (1) because petitioner did not comply with see. 7325(3) by filing the required bond, and (2) because the machines and their contents were subject to forfeiture, which this Court has no authority to remit. The case has been submitted on a stipulation of facts, supplemented by testimony and exhibits.

It is conceded that each of the 31 machines involved in this case is a device defined in sec. 4462(a) (2), with respect to which sec. 4461(a) (2) imposes a “special tax” of $250 a year “to be paid by every person who maintains for use or permits the use of” the gaming device “on any place or premises occupied by him”. Such person is customarily called the “operator”, to distinguish him from the “owner” of the machine.

Petitioner is the owner of 28 of the 31 machines,2 which it leased to the several operators of establishments at 22 distinct locations in Baltimore County and Baltimore City. These operators maintained the machines for use and permitted them to be used by the public. The receipts from each machine were divided 50-50 between the owner and the operator. Applications for the special tax stamps required for each year beginning July 1 were signed by or on behalf of the operators and were delivered to the Baltimore District office of the Internal Revenue Service by petitioner’s president. Petitioner customarily advanced the money for the stamps, and was reimbursed out of the gross receipts from the machines.

On July 2, 1962, William Angster, petitioner’s president, delivered to E. M. Friedland, Assistant Chief of the Returns and Receipt Branch, the 31 applications (and a few other applications not involved in this case), together with a check for $8,470 drawn on petitioner’s account at the Equitable Trust Company. Angster knew that petitioner did not have sufficient funds in the bank to meet the check, but he had been promised a loan by an undisclosed person. He asked Friedland to delay depositing the check. Friedland said that could not be done, but that in view of the holiday the check would probably not reach the bank for about a week. In fact the check was deposited on July 9, was not paid, and was returned to the Collection Division marked NSF on July 18. The prospective lender had not made good his promise, and Angster had not made other *557arrangements. On July 23, the Service seized the 31 machines at the 22 locations, as authorized by sec. 7302 and sec. 7321. Since the Secretary’s delegate was of the opinion that the value of the property seized in each of the 22 seizures was less than $2,500, the Service proceeded under sec. 7325 to have the machines appraised by independent appraisers. The appraisals showed that in no instance did the value of the property seized at any location or from any operator exceed $2,500. The seizures were advertised in the Morning Sun on September 10, 17 and 24, 1962. In accordance with sec. 7325(2) the advertisement advised any person claiming an interest in any of the seized property of his right to file a claim and deliver a $250 cost bond with the Supervisor in Charge, Alcohol and Tobacco Tax, at a specified address, on or before October 10, 1962; otherwise the property would be forfeited and disposed of according to law. Neither petitioner nor anyone else filed such a claim or such a bond.

Meanwhile, after the seizures, Angster had obtained some money; on July 25 he delivered a check for $4,470 to Fried-land and on July 27 another check for $4,000. The stamps were, reissued in the names of the operators at the several locations. Angster delivered the reissued stamps to them. Some of the stamps were used on other machines leased by petitioner to some of the operators. It does not appear what was done with the other stamps, but they were available for use. No doubt some were not used, because petitioner lost some locations to competitors as a result of the fiasco.

Both defenses set up by the government are good. In Milkint v. Morgenthau, 4 Cir., 92 F.2d 266 (1937), the Court sustained a predecessor statute similar to the present sec. 7325, holding that the administrative method of proceeding “against seized property of the value of $500, or less, was an exclusive method and Congress undoubtedly had the right to make this provision”. See also Fisburn v. Jackson, N.D.Tex., 55 F.2d 934 (1932); Application of Colacicco, S.D.N.Y., 55 F.Supp. 766 (1943); United States v. One Hudson Sedan, M.D.Pa., 16 F.Supp. 895 (1936); United States v. Chicelli, W.D.N.Y., 10 F.Supp. 900 (1935).

The machines and their contents were subject to forfeiture for non-payment of the special tax, and the seizures were proper. Voglino v. United States, 4 Cir., 253 F.2d 794 (1958), cert. den. 357 U.S. 919, 78 S.Ct. 1359, 2 L.Ed.2d 1364, aff’g United States v. Five (5) Coin-Operated Gaming Devices and Contents, D.Md., 154 F.Supp. 731 (1957).

This Court has no jurisdiction to remit or mitigate the forfeiture in this case. United States v. One 1957 Ford Tudor Fairlane Victoria, D.Md., 161 F.Supp. 232 (1958).

The reissuance of the stamps, the use of some of them on other machines, and the availability for use of all of them, answers the equitable argument on which petitioner sought to rely.

A judgment will be entered dismissing the petition with costs.

Chesapeake Vending Co. v. DeCarlo
237 F. Supp. 554

Case Details

Name
Chesapeake Vending Co. v. DeCarlo
Decision Date
Jan 7, 1965
Citations

237 F. Supp. 554

Jurisdiction
United States

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