Free Joint Status Report - District Court of Federal Claims - federal

Case 1:00-cv-00761-FMA

Document 140

Filed 03/03/2008

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IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF FEDERAL CLAIMS ______________ No. 00-761 T (Judge Allegra) MINGO LOGAN COAL CO., Plaintiff, v. THE UNITED STATES, Defendant. ______________ JOINT STATUS REPORT ______________ The parties hereby file a joint status report indicating the status of Hobet Mining, Inc. v. United States, Fed. Cl. No. 00-218 T, and Consolidation Coal Co. v. United States, Fed. Cl. No. 01-254 C. This document will be filed electronically. This case involves the plaintiff's claims for refunds of (1) Black Lung Excise Taxes ("BLET") imposed on the plaintiff's export sales of coal pursuant to 26 U.S.C. § 4121 and (2) Reclamation Fees imposed on the plaintiff's export sales of coal pursuant to 30 U.S.C. § 1232. Both the BLET and the Reclamation Fees were held to be unconstitutional as applied to export sales of coal. See Ranger Fuel Corp. v. United States, 33 F. Supp. 2d 466 (E.D. Va. 1998) (holding that the BLET violated the Export Clause); IRS Notice 2000-28, 2000-1 C.B. 1116 (acquiescing in Ranger Fuel); Consolidation Coal Co. v. United States, 64 Fed. Cl. 718 (2005) (holding that the Reclamation Fees violated the Export Clause). The plaintiff sought refunds of the BLET it paid in certain quarters in Hobet Mining and sought refunds of the Reclamation Fees it paid in certain quarters in Consolidation Coal.

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Case 1:00-cv-00761-FMA

Document 140

Filed 03/03/2008

Page 2 of 3

In the Hobet Mining case, the parties filed a stipulation concerning the amount of damages on June 1, 2007, and the clerk entered judgment on July 24. On August 3, 2007, the plaintiffs filed a notice of appeal because the judgment was entered as payable without interest. On August 8, the defendant filed a notice of cross-appeal contending that the court lacked jurisdiction to consider a demand for an amount paid as a tax because the plaintiffs filed no timely claims for refund. On September 17, 2007, the parties asked the Federal Circuit to stay the appellate proceedings pending resolution of the Clintwood Elkhorn case described in the next paragraph. The court granted the stay on October 9. On May 4, 2007, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit had decided both of the issues raised in Hobet Mining (interest and jurisdiction) in favor of coal-excise-tax claimants. See Clintwood Elkhorn Mining Co. et al. v. United States, 473 F.3d 1373 (Fed. Cir. 2007). The United States petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari on September 7, 2007, which the Court granted on December 3. The defendant filed its opening brief on January 14, 2008, and Clintwood Elkhorn filed its response on February 13. The Court has set oral argument for March 24, 2008. The Hobet Mining case will be resolved when Clintwood Elkhorn is resolved. In Consolidation Coal, the Court entered judgment for one test plaintiff, Jim Walter Resources, Inc., on February 22, 2007. The defendant appealed the judgment on a constitutional issue to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on April 19, 2007. Briefing on that issue is now complete. The four remaining test plaintiffs must file motions for summary judgment with the Court of Federal Claims on or before April 2, 2008. Briefing should be complete in June of 2008. (Mingo Logan is not one of the test plaintiffs in Consolidation Coal.) -2-

Case 1:00-cv-00761-FMA

Document 140

Filed 03/03/2008

Page 3 of 3

Counsel for the plaintiff has reviewed this report and has authorized the defendant's counsel to file it on behalf of both parties. Respectfully submitted, s/ Robert Stoddart ROBERT STODDART Attorney of Record U.S. Department of Justice Tax Division Court of Federal Claims Section Post Office Box 26 Ben Franklin Station Washington, D.C. 20044 TEL: (202) 307-6445 FAX: (202) 514-9440 NATHAN J. HOCHMAN Assistant Attorney General DAVID GUSTAFSON Chief, Court of Federal Claims Section s/ David Gustafson Of Counsel March 3, 2008

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