I have to be honest with you. Cases like this one somewhat hack me off. Here you've got a rich, married couple who make a mint and who (accordingly) owe hundreds of thousands of dollars in state and federal taxes. But they try to get out of paying any taxes -- and apparently successfully get a federal refund of over $300,000 -- by asserting the usual stupid, utterly frivolous claims repeatedly employed by tax protesters ("I'm a sovereign citizen," "Wages aren't taxable," "The moon is green," etc.).
Sure, the FTB catches on, and doesn't give them the $250,000+ state tax refund that they requested. But then these nutballs -- their names are Tony and Dorothy Jibilian -- file a lawsuit against the FTB seeking their requested refund, again on the same utterly frivolous bases. And, yes, the trial court dismisses the complaint, and Justice Mallano affirms.
What hacks me off is this. Could you please sanction these people -- and, for that matter, their lawyer (who, here, is Derek Tabone). It's bad enough that these rich sleazebags are trying to leech off of the community and citizenry that made their wealth possible by paying utterly no taxes, and that they've also added insult to injury by then making us waste our time dealing with their absurd administrative claims. But it's even worse when they file a lawsuit and add even more economic harm to the community as we're forced to deal with an utterly frivolous civil action.
My honest belief is that these people should be in jail. (I know that's harsh, but that's how I feel.) At a very minimum, this action in the very definition of a frivolous lawsuit -- claims that have repeatedly, repeatedly, repeatedly, and uniformly been rejected by the courts. If anyone deserves to be sanctioned, it's the parties and their lawyer here. I simply can't fathom why Justice Mallano apparently decides otherwise.
P.S. - Of course, you know that this is hardly the first -- or last -- utterly frivolous lawsuit that the Jibilians have or will file. Here's one of the (many) others. Jerks.
