United States Second Circuit

In an action involving the FICA tax exemption for students, district court judgment is vacated where the district courts erred in ruling as a matter of law that medical residents are categorically ineligible for the FICA tax exemption for students, as the question of whether a medical resident qualifies for the student exclusion is a separate factual inquiry that must be reviewed on remand. The district court ruling that the monies paid by defendant to medical residents are not scholarships is affirmed.

Appellate Information

• Decided 03/25/2009
• Published 03/25/2009

Judges

• Before:  POOLER, HALL, Circuit Judges, and TRAGER, District Judge.

Court

• United States Second Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Mark H. Churchill, McDermott Will & Emery LLP, Washington, DC (Joel E. Cohen, McDermott Will & Emery LLP, New York, NY, Christopher Kliefoth, Sarah E. Hancur, McDermott Will & Emery LLP, Washington, DC, on the brief), for Plaintiff-Appellant Albany Medical Center.


• For Appellees:
  
• Mark H. Churchill, McDermott Will & Emery LLP, Washington, DC (Christopher Kliefoth, Teresa M. Goody, McDermott Will & Emery LLP, Washington, DC, Joel E. Cohen, McDermott Will & Emery LLP, New York, NY, on the brief), for Defendant-Appellant Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center., Teresa E. McLaughlin, Attorney, Tax Division, Department of Justice, Washington, DC (Richard T. Morrison, Acting Assistant Attorney General, Gilbert S. Rothenberg, Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Michelle B. Smalling, Attorney, Tax Division, Department of Justice, Washington, DC, on the brief, Glenn T. Suddaby, United States Attorney for the Northern District of New York, of counsel), for Defendant-Appellee United States of America., Ross E. Morrison, Assistant United States Attorney (David S. Jones, Assistant United States Attorney, on the brief), for Michael J. Garcia, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, New York, NY, for Plaintiff-Appellee United States of America.