$300,000 Income Tax Reward (Peymon Mottahedeh)

[notorial dissent]

Nothing in PACER. Since the deadline was four days ago, if it was timely filed, it should have shown up by now.

And the likelihood of him actually complying???? I 'd have better odds on the lottery, methinks. Not his lifelong pattern of obfuscate obfuscate delay delay. I wonder what dog ate his home work this time?

[The Observer]

Should we hold out hope that the dog ate him instead?

Is there a chance that PACER is waiting for his deadline date before publishing anything?

[notorial dissent]

Wouldn't that be cruelty to animals??

[The Observer]

Wouldn't that be cruelty to animals??

[wserra]

Payme's brief was due June 1. As of today: nothing.

April's brief was due May 24. Nothing until this past Thursday, June 3. So do we finally see a brief, even if out of time? Do we finally read the brilliant arguments that will send the govt into hiding, tail between its legs? Well, no; we see a motion to change venue to the Eleventh Circuit.

At this point, a little history is in order. This appeal began its long and tortured existence when the Lottahooeys filed it in the Eleventh Circuit. The govt moved to transfer it to the Ninth, based on 26 U.S.C. § 7482(b). That statute provides that Tax Court decisions are reviewed by the courts of appeals in which “the legal residence of the petitioner” is located as of the date of filing the TC petition. There was no dispute that April and Payme at that time lived in Phelan, CA - the Ninth Circuit. As a matter of fact, they did not even oppose the govt's motion to transfer. So now, rather than file a brief as directed, April seeks to return the poor appeal to a place already determined without objection to be improper venue.

Why, you may ask. Well, she says, our old friend Larry Becraft (she writes "BeCraft") has agreed to represent her, but only if the appeal is in the Eleventh Circuit. Hey, I might agree to handle her appeal, but only if the Ninth retains it and agrees to hear arguments on Kaanapali Beach in Maui.

If this motion is granted, I resign from the bar in disgust.

[Burnaby49]

looks to me like a very successful (so far) attempt to stall the case indefinitely.

[notorial dissent]

So did Payme actually file something, or is it still officially crickets? They didn't even trot out the dog, I 'm disappointed.

[wserra]

As of this morning, Payme has filed nothing. April filed the musical-chairs motion to change venue, described above.

[The Observer]

Does the 9th have a history of being sensitive to claims for adequate representation for appeals? What is the likelihood of the court simply agreeing to April's request to stall this charade again? In my humble layman opinion, if the 9th were to reject the appeal (and there appear to be a number of good reasons to do so, including not meeting the court's set deadlines) I can't imagine that an appeal to the Supreme Court would even be accepted. So what does the 9th have to lose by turning down the Mottahedehs?

[The Observer]

After a week, any sign of the 9th making a decision about April's motion?

[wserra]

Nope. But just today Payme filed his own motion to transfer to the Eleventh. As does April, Payme avers that "Larry BeCraft" will represent him if the case is transferred. The obvious issue of conflict, which we discussed above, remains unaddressed where it counts - in court.

As to whether the Ninth is particularly sensitive to issues of representation - I'm not (and never have been) admitted there, but every court prefers a litigant to be represented. Pro se litigants, rightly or wrongly in a case such as the Lottahooeys', receive a degree of solicitousness that represented parties do not. This very case is an example. But cert? Not a chance.

[The Observer]

But I doubt that this will get any farther with Becraft than it did with than with the previous attorney. Even Becraft is not going to go into the 9th and try to argue that the lower courts ruled wrong against Peymon's baloney. My guess is that Becraft will be drafting a similar motion to withdrawing from representation if he can't convince Peymon of that.

We had another case here of a protester that Becraft represented in district court and lost; the TP appealed to the 2nd as a pro se appellant and lost. What was interesting was that the article that opened that thread reported that Becraft was appearing at a conference sponsored by - you guessed it - Freedom Law School.

[notorial dissent]

I have to admit that I haven't given Becraft much if any thought for a long time. I have to admit that his name did ever so briefly waft through my mind, as this is just his kind of fail, when the discussion went to Lottahooey's moving their failpeal (have to work on that term) back to the 11th. I still don't see any legitimate purpose or any other reason than delay. Besides, if Becraft is going to lawyer for them shouldn't he be the one filing???

[The Observer]

Besides, if Becraft is going to lawyer for them shouldn't he be the one filing???

Are you saying that if the 11th won't come to Becraft, then Becraft must go to the 11th?

I am guessing that Becraft won't be filing anything since he is not representing Peymon; perhaps this is his way of avoiding telling Peymon that he won't represent him. If Becraft knows that the request to move to the 11th will be denied, then he has found a way to not have to deal with Peymon at all, avoid losing another tax-denier case, and still be able to curry favor with other tax deniers.

This all smacks of typical tax-denier behavior in terms of setting pre-conditions that bear no resemblance to reality, logic and common sense in order to be able to declare "victory" over the system: "heads, I win, tails you lose." If I were the 9th, I would have denied the motion and told the Mottahedehs that their appeals were tossed for lack of timeliness and failing to adhere to the rules of the court. I have a strong hunch that moving the appeal to the 11th would only result in more delays, excuses, and Becraft pulling out of this circus at the last possible moment.

[notorial dissent]

Besides, if Becraft is going to lawyer for them shouldn't he be the one filing???

Are you saying that if the 11th won't come to Becraft, then Becraft must go to the 11th?

I am guessing that Becraft won't be filing anything since he is not representing Peymon; perhaps this is his way of avoiding telling Peymon that he won't represent him. If Becraft knows that the request to move to the 11th will be denied, then he has found a way to not have to deal with Peymon at all, avoid losing another tax-denier case, and still be able to curry favor with other tax deniers.

This all smacks of typical tax-denier behavior in terms of setting pre-conditions that bear no resemblance to reality, logic and common sense in order to be able to declare "victory" over the system: "heads, I win, tails you lose." If I were the 9th, I would have denied the motion and told the Mottahedehs that their appeals were tossed for lack of timeliness and failing to adhere to the rules of the court. I have a strong hunch that moving the appeal to the 11th would only result in more delays, excuses, and Becraft pulling out of this circus at the last possible moment.

I have to say that I am of two or three minds on this one. We are making an assumption that the Lottahooeys are telling the truth to start with, problem one. I can't imagine Becraft taking anything without cash up front, he at least learned that lesson. Payme is payment adverse as I recall, so problem two. Becraft claims to be admitted to both the 11th and 9th circuits so laziness could be the explanation, but since I assume most if not all of this would be done electronically, since I just can't for the life of me see there ever being a reason for an in person hearing over this nonsense, so I don't see that as a valid reason. So we're back to where we started, delay, delay delay. I have to agree that I just don't see why the 9th just didn't so "no and get on with it" and continue with getting this closed.

[The Observer]

I can't imagine Becraft taking anything without cash up front, he at least learned that lesson. Payme is payment adverse as I recall, so problem two.

Yeah, that thought occurred to me as I was writing my post, but I withheld since I put myself on a cynicsim diet that limits me to 3 cynical thoughts a day (which is darn hard to do while on Quatloos). It is an interesting loggerhead since neither Becraft or Peymon are going to give in to the other. And maybe that is why Becraft gave the very difficult task of getting the case transferred to the 11th, so as to avoid getting entangled with Peymon.

Becraft does have a caveat on his website about representing out-of-staters:

While I am an attorney licensed to practice law, this site has no advertising purpose and is not designed to provide specific legal advice to anyone nor to solicit clients. If you live in state other than Alabama and if you are seeking legal advice, I suggest that you contact and discuss your particular legal problem with a lawyer from the state where you reside.

But while I am only licensed in Alabama, I am admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court as well as the following federal appellate courts: the First, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh Circuits (excluding the Second and DC Circuits). I am also admitted to practice in several federal district courts: the Northern District of Alabama, the Western District of Tennessee, the District of Maryland and the Eastern District of Michigan. But I usually appear pro hac vice in most US district courts.

So it does give him an escape clause, if he chooses to invoke it, from taking responsibility for Peymon's stupid arguments.

Becraft claims to be admitted to both the 11th and 9th circuits so laziness could be the explanation, but since I assume most if not all of this would be done electronically, since I just can't for the life of me see there ever being a reason for an in person hearing over this nonsense...

Peymon appears to be currently living in Florida, which is under jurisdiction of the 11th. So you may be very right that Becraft is lazy and doesn't want to travel farther than he has to, especially for a case that is predestined to go down in flames. But I have no idea if the appellate courts permit hearings via electrons.

[notorial dissent]

Alas, I am afeared that cynicism when dealing with the likes of Becraft and Payme is inevitable, unavoidable, and inescapable. I certainly wouldn't blame Becraft for putting up an insurmountable requirement to keep Payme out of his hair so that he wouldn't have to come right out and say no, still assuming he is even involved at all.

One of the things I 've always noticed about Becraft is his consistency with the yes....but statements, "there is a winning argument here but so and so screwed it up for everyone...." and so on, when in reality it was only there in his mind.

We are also still making the assumption that Payme is telling the truth and he really did try and rope Becraft in, and we all know what trusting Payme is worth. If he really has been retained with real money, I would be greatly surprised just because...… I 'm not impressed with Becraft's intellect, but I would think even he would shy away from anything Payme put forward as an excuse. He does seem to have a strong sense of self preservation. I've also noticed he is adverse to endangering his license even with all the weird positions he publicly takes.

I still am of the opinion it is just delay, delay, delay.

[The Observer]

I still am of the opinion it is just delay, delay, delay.

Of course, that is the goal. My only question is whether Becraft is colluding with Peymon to achieve this delay, or if Peymon is flailing around solo, and is attempting to use Larry for that purpose.

[notorial dissent]

Then it all comes back to Payme lying, Payme not lying, Payme lying, Payme not lying.

And the Magic Eightball says....

[The Observer]

It's been a couple of months since Peymon has filed his request for transfer from the 9th circuit to the 11th. Any news about whether he was successful?