IRS Hit

[John Young <jya@pipeline.com>]

5 June 1997, NYP:

A federal judge in Denver has awarded $250,000 in punitive 
damages to a woman whose family business was raided by armed 
Internal Revenue Service agents four weeks after the woman 
insulted an IRS agent.

The revenue agents padlocked all three Kids Avenue clothing   
stores in Colorado Springs, and posted notices that some 
customers interpreted as evidence that the woman, Carole Ward, 
49, was a drug smuggler.

In a harshly worded 17-page opinion, Judge William Downes of 
the U.S. District Court in Denver found that one of the IRS 
agents, James Dolan, was "grossly negligent" and acted with 
"reckless disregard" for the law, and that he made three false 
statements in a sworn declaration.

The judge, who said the actions by the IRS agents violated 
Ms. Ward's privacy rights, wrote that the punitive damages 
award "gives notice to the IRS that reprehensible abuse of 
authority by one of its employees cannot and will not be 
tolerated."

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Full story at:

   http://jya.com/irshit.htm