Barrett v. United States’s Empirical Analysis
580 F.2d 449 · 1978
Citation profile
12 federal appellate · 3 district · 2 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 39 later decisions — most recently December 2016 · most notably Gephart v. United States (1987), Fiataruolo v. United States (1993)
12 federal appellate · 3 district · 2 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Applies 26 U.S.C. § 6672
Relies on Kelsaw v. Oregon · Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad v. United States · White v. United States · McCarty v. United States · Bolding v. United States
Most-quoted passages
The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 39 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“[T]he test for determining the responsibility of a person under § 6672 is essentially a functional one, focusing upon the degree of influence and control which the person exercised over the financial affairs of the corporation and, specifically, disbursements of funds and the priority of payments to creditors ... Among the specific facts which courts have relied upon in determining whether individuals were persons responsible for the payment of Taxes withheld from the wages of employees are: (1) the duties of the officer as outlined by the corporate by-laws; (2) the ability of the individual to sign checks of the corporation; (3) the identity of the officers, directors, and shareholders of the corporation; (3) the identity of the individuals who hired and fired employees; (5) the identity of the individuals who were in control of the financial affairs of the corporation. More than one person can be a responsible officer of a corporation. Essentially, liability is predicated upon the éxistence of significant, as opposed to absolute, control of the corporation’s finances. It is basically a factual inquiry. Generally, such a person is one “with ultimate authority over expenditure of funds since such a person can fairly be said to be responsible for the corporation’s failure to pay over its taxes” or more explicitly, one who has “authority to direct payment of creditors.””
4 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“[c]ase law discloses that authority to sign checks, without more, is a weak pillar on which to rest a liability determination that a person is properly subject to a 100 percent penalty under section 6672.”
4 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“had no responsibility for making up the payroll. She had no authority over payment of the salaries of company employees. Creditors did not ask for her when inquiring about being paid. She had no responsibility for the preparation of tax returns for the company, nor did she sign any such returns. Plaintiff did not negotiate company contracts, bill customers, order supplies or hire and fire employees.”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.