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

Case 1:00-cv-00761-FMA

Document 130

Filed 07/14/2006

Page 1 of 3

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 fee 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 fee 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 130

Filed 07/14/2006

Page 2 of 3

In the Hobet Mining case, the IRS has completed its audit for those claims which fall outside the three-year administrative statute of limitations, but are within the six-year statute of limitations applicable to the plaintiff's claims under the Export Clause of the Constitution, brought pursuant to the Tucker Act. The attorneys representing the plaintiff in Hobet Mining submitted a settlement offer concerning those quarters, which the defendant's trial attorney has acknowledged and has forwarded, with the necessary memorandum and documents, to the Office of Review for further consideration. Once this offer has been fully processed and accepted by the defendant, the parties in Hobet Mining anticipate entering into a stipulation for entry of judgment for the Tucker Act quarters. Also since the last status report, the Judge assigned to the Consolidation Coal case extended the time for discovery from May 30 to July 31, 2006. Recently the Justice Department served subpoenas on several coal brokers asking them to produce documents related to export sales by several of the Consolidation Coal plaintiffs. The parties are to file a joint status report by August 15, 2006. The parties in the present case suggest setting October 16, 2006 as the date for filing the next status report.

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Case 1:00-cv-00761-FMA

Document 130

Filed 07/14/2006

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 EILEEN J. O'CONNOR Assistant Attorney General DAVID GUSTAFSON Chief, Court of Federal Claims Section s/ David Gustafson Of Counsel July 14, 2006

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