Menu
Tax Notes logo

Remaining Anonymous While Suing the IRS

Posted on June 19, 2017

In the recent case of John Doe v. United States, No. 1:16-cv-07256 (SDNY), the plaintiff requested that the court allow him to pursue the case without having his name made public.  The court said no.  It would not allow him to proceed anonymously for reasons discussed below.  At the last Tax Court regular trial session in Boston, I watched as someone, for reasons similar to Mr. Doe’s, asked that the court seal the record and the court said no.  We have blogged before on the rules for sealing the record in Tax Court.    John Doe’s case points out some of the policy considerations present in trying to hide your name or your personal medical information while pursuing a judicial remedy.  In general, courts seem to take a very different view of the protection of personal medical information than we do as a society after the passage of the HIPPA laws.  Where is the right balance in opening up personal medical information or keeping things discreet?

John Doe filed a claim for refund which the IRS denied because he filed it after the applicable time period.  He sought to hold open the time period arguing that the delay resulted from his financial disability as described in IRC 6511(h).  We have blogged before, here, here, here and here, about 6511(h) and the difficulties most taxpayers have in meeting the criteria for relief the IRS has imposed in Rev. Proc. 99-21.

To meet the criteria for financial disability, the taxpayer must provide the IRS with detailed medical information.  This medical information supports taxpayer’s failure to follow through with routine responsibilities that could have a direct correlation to work activities.  Putting such information in the public domain could easily have the effect of limiting an individual’s future job prospects. While a taxpayer might feel uncomfortable turning over lots of sensitive personal medical information to the IRS in order to provide that the criteria for financial disability exists, at least taxpayers should feel comfortable knowing that providing their personal medical information to the IRS cloaks it with the protections of IRC 6103 and makes it as private as President Trump’s returns.

If a taxpayer seeking to use the financial disability provisions to hold open the statute fails to convince the IRS and must move forward to court to seek relief from the agency decision, the protections regarding that personal medical information can become subordinate to the public’s right to know.  In Sealed Plaintiff v. Sealed Defendant, 537 F.3d 185,188-189 (2nd Cir. 2008), the Court stated “[T]he interests of both the public and the opposing party should be considered when determining whether to grant an application to proceed under a pseudonym.”

In John Doe’s case, the Court notes that the 2nd Circuit has created a non-exhaustive list of factors to consider when deciding whether to allow a party to proceed anonymously.  This list includes:

  • “Whether the litigation involves matters that are highly sensitive and of a personal nature”;
  • “Whether identification poses a risk of retaliatory physical or mental harm to the party seeking to proceed anonymously or even more critically, to innocent non-parties”;
  • “Whether identification presents other harms and the likely severity of those harms”;
  • Whether the plaintiff is particularly vulnerable to the possible harms of disclosure, particularly in light of the plaintiff’s age”;
  • “Whether the suit is challenging the actions of the government or that of private parties”;
  • “Whether the defendant is prejudiced by allowing the plaintiff to press his claims anonymously, whether the nature of that prejudice differs at an particular stage of the litigation”;
  • “Whether the plaintiff’s identity has thus far been kept confidential”;
  • “Whether the public’s interest in the litigation is furthered by requiring the plaintiff to disclose his identity”;
  • “Whether, due to the purely legal nature of the issues presented or otherwise, there is an atypically weak public interest in knowing the litigants’ identities”; and
  • “Whether there are any alternative mechanisms for protecting the confidentiality of the plaintiff.”

Think about these factors in the context of a whistleblower case where the effective default is anonymity.  In John Doe’s case the court found that “alternative mechanisms for protecting the confidentiality of the plaintiff weighs against allowing anonymity.”

Plaintiff argued that disclosing his identity would impact his future career prospects because of the personal and sensitive medical information that he would have to show in order to prove his case.  The court noted that redacting and sealing submissions regarding sensitive medical information happens routinely.  In the Tax Court case I watched a couple of months ago, a pro se litigant’s request to seal medical records was summarily denied with little discussion.  The decision may have been the right decision but forcing someone to lay bare their medical history in order to succeed in a case puts the individual to hard choices about the importance of the current case versus the long term consequences of making the medical information public.

Tax Court Rule 27 protects the disclosure of the identity of minors and a host of other information.  Prior to filing a petition or submitting information to the Tax Court take a careful look at the list of information protected and the means of protecting the information.  The Tax Court protects the social security number of petitioners and has a special form to use to disclose the number to the court but not the public.  The Tax Court is concerned about inadvertent disclosure of the social security number and other sensitive information, and directs petitioners (and respondent) to redact such information before filing documents with the court.  The Tax Court practice concerning access to documents filed in its cases seeks to protect the information of litigants at the expense of full public access in its balancing of the competing interests regarding the information.  How does sensitive medical information fit into this scheme of protection about which the Court has given much thought?

The comments in the John Doe case by the district court in the Southern District of New York point to the different standards between requesting anonymity as a party and requesting redaction or sealing of records that come into a case.  In addressing each of the concerns raised by Mr. Doe, the court points to the ability to redact or seal information as an adequate remedy that will protect the sensitive information without creating the serious issues courts have with permitting a plaintiff to proceed anonymously.

Conclusion

The case, and the cases cited in the opinion, point to the very high bar that a plaintiff faces in seeking to proceed anonymously.  At the same time everyone has rights regarding their medical information.  Like corporations that seek to seal a court record regarding proprietary information, individuals have rights to protect medical information that could have an adverse commercial or personal impact.  By raising the concerns at the outset of the case, the individual plaintiff sets the stage for success on motions to seal or redact the medical information.  Even though John Doe loses his motion to protect his identity, he has certainly heightened the awareness of the court to the need to protect his medical information.

If you know that you have sensitive information you want to keep out of the public record, having a conversation with the court and the opposing party early in the proceeding will allow the court to reflect on how best to protect the information and not place the judge in the position of having to rule on such a motion during trial or as a trial begins.  Pro se litigants will struggle to understand the importance of this timing but representatives should not.

DOCUMENT ATTRIBUTES
Subject Areas / Tax Topics
Authors
Copy RID