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Billy F. Hawk, Jr., et al. v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, No. 18-1534 · judgment May 15, 2019

Certiorari denied · October 7, 2019
Pre-decision estimate: 5% cert probability (95% interval 3%–9%)

Before the decision, modestly above the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a circuit split argued in the petition, a petition filed soon after the judgment below, and a Sixth Circuit decision below.

Questions presented

  1. Whether the Sixth Circuit’s decision conflicts with the decisions of the First, Second, Fourth, and Ninth Circuits regarding whether an alleged transferee’s knowledge is required for collapsing transactions under the Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act.

  2. Whether the Sixth Circuit’s reliance on state tax cases rather than creditor rights cases to justify collapsing under Tennessee’s Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act (“TUFTA”) conflicts with Commissioner v. Stern, 357 U.S. 39 (1958) and Frank Sawyer Trust of May 1992 v. Commissioner, 712 F.3d 597 (CA1 2013).

  3. Whether the Sixth Circuit’s imposition of strict liability under 26 U.S.C. § 6901 conflicts with Stern and the Fourth Circuit’s decision in Starnes v. Commissioner, 680 F.3d 417 (CA4 2012).

  4. Whether the Sixth Circuit’s application of federal doctrines to collapse transactions under TUFTA violates Stern’s required two-step analysis and the decisions of the First, Second, Fourth, Seventh, and Ninth Circuits interpreting Stern to prohibit such application.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
John Eric Butler
Lewis, Thomason, King, Krieg & Waldrop, P.C.

For respondent
Noel John Francisco
Jones Day

Case

Subject area
Federal Taxation (estimated from the questions presented, in the Supreme Court Database’s categories)

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Order
Order list, October 7, 2019 · Certiorari denied

Proceedings

  1. Oct 07 2019
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Sep 04 2019
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 10/1/2019.
  3. Aug 26 2019
    Waiver of right of respondent Commissioner of Internal Revenue to respond filed.
  4. Aug 13 2019
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due September 16, 2019)