United States v. Estate of Francis J. Romani et al. (523 U.S. 517)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided April 29, 1998 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 523 U.S. 517 · 118 S. Ct. 1478
- Decided
- April 29, 1998
- Term
- October Term 1997
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice Stevens
- Issue area
- Federal Taxation
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice Stevens delivered the opinion of the Court. The federal priority statute, 31 U. S. C. § 3713(a), provides that a claim of the United States Government “shall be paid first” when a decedent’s estate cannot pay all of its debts. The question presented is whether that statute requires that a federal tax claim be given preference over a judgment creditor’s perfected lien on real property even though such a preference is not authorized by the Federal Tax Lien Act of 1966, 26 U. S. C. § 6321 et seq. I On January 25,1985, the Court of Common Pleas of Cam-bria County, Pennsylvania, entered a judgment for $400,000 in favor of Romani Industries, Inc., and against Francis J. Romani. The judgment was recorded in the clerk’s office and therefore, as a matter of Pennsylvania law, it became a lien on all of the defendant’s real property in Cambria County. Thereafter, the Internal Revenue Service filed a series of notices of tax liens on Mr. Romani’s property. The claims for unpaid taxes, interest, and penalties described in those notices amounted to approximately $490,000. When Mr. Romani died on January 13,1992, his entire estate consisted of real estate worth only $53,001. Because the property was encumbered by both the judgment lien and the federal tax liens, the estate’s administrator sought permission from the Court of Common Pleas to transfer the property to the judgment…
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