United States Ninth Circuit

In defendants' appeal from the district court's order enforcing IRS summonses requiring production of documents, including those relating to offshore accounts, and finding defendants in contempt, the orders are affirmed in part where: 1) a taxpayer cannot refuse to produce a privilege log or documents for in camera review in response to an order to show cause and then protest an insufficient opportunity to present a claim of privilege; and 2) defendants were in contempt based on their failure to produce documents related to the two previously identified offshore accounts named in the summons. However, the order is modified where the district court's application of the foregone conclusion exception to records of two additional credit cards not named during the enforcement proceeding was clear error.

Appellate Information

• Argued 10/15/2009
• Decided 02/26/2010
• Published 02/26/2010

Judges

• Before ROBERT R. BEEZER, SUSAN P. GRABER and RAYMOND C. FISHER, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• Christopher J. Cannon (argued), Suzanne M. Morris, San Francisco, CA, Michael Jay Green, Honolulu, HI, for respondents-appellants., Carol A. Barthel (argued), Robert W. Metzler, John A. Dudeck, Jr. and David I. Pincus, Tax Division, Department of Justice, John Dicicco, Acting Assistant Attorney General, Gilbert S. Rothenberg, Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Richard T. Morrison, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Nathan J. Hochman, Assistant Attorney General, Washington, D.C., and Edward Kubo, Jr., United States Attorney, Honolulu, HI, for petitioner-appellee.