Ross v. Marrero
Ross v. Marrero
Opinion of the Court
IT IS ORDERED that the petition for rehearing filed on behalf of Appellee United States of America is DENIED.
In attempting once again to bring its federal tax lien under the umbrella of United States v. McDermott,
Finally, although we did not reach the question of the identity of the true beneficiary of the Debtor’s exercise of the repurchase agreement (because we did not need to), we note in passing that — -because the repurchase option had been collaterally assigned to the Ross Group as mortgagee and remained thus assigned as of the time of its exercise — the redemption by the Debtor would have to be deemed to be for the benefit of the assignee of that option, i.e., the Ross Group, as mortgagee. Thus, regardless of confusion, if need be even record title would have passed from the Parish to the Ross Group, not the Debt-
When the panel opinion’s Louisiana Civil Law analysis is considered in its entirety (the correctness of which the government, in its petition for rehearing expressly does not question), the position of the government that the panel “ignored material federal tax lien law in reaching its determination” is shown to be demonstrably fallacious. Indeed, it is the government that would have us ignore the Civil Law analysis with which it does not quarrel when it urges us to apply McDermott
. 507 U.S. 447, 113 S.Ct. 1526, 123 L.Ed.2d 128 (1993).
. True, a statement or two in the panel opinion, when viewed in a vacuum and out of context, provide the government with the proverbial reed against which to lean its characterization; but just as truly, that reed is too slender to support the government’s position. For instance, we used the Latin phrases ipso facto and nunc pro tunc inadvisedly when we should have (and meant to) use ab initio. Slip op. at 37. Given the purely — and obviously — pignorative nature of the financing arrangement between the Debtor and the Parish, the Debtor/Mortgagor never relinquished ownership or possession of the tangible property or the land in question, only record title for encumbrance purposes, so that the Ross Group’s mortgage attached ab initio, i.e., from the outset. There was nothing inchoate about it in the McDermott sense; the right of seizure and sale might be "inchoate’’ until the debt secured is defaulted upon but the efficacy and ranking of the encumbrance is not inchoate.
. 507 U.S. 447, 113 S.Ct. 1526, 123 L.Ed.2d 128 (1993).
. E.g., United States v. Acri, 348 U.S. 211, 75 S.Ct. 239, 99 L.Ed. 264 (1955).
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.