http://www.in.gov/judiciary/cofc/files/transfer-2012-0316.pdf
And here's the original Tax Court decision holding:
"It cannot reasonably be inferred that the jeopardy assessment procedure was used in this case to protect the State’s fiscal interests. For example, the day after the Garwoods’ 240 dogs were seized, the Department sold them all to the Humane Society for a total of $300.00, yet logic dictates that the dogs had a value far greater than just over $1.00 each. The Department’s sale of the dogs for this nominal price is in stark contrast to the Department’s previous purchase of two dogs from the Garwoods for a total of $550.00 as well as its estimate that each dog’s value was $300.00 in calculating the BIA assessments. Moreover, a media circus roiled on the very day the Department and the OAG served the jeopardy assessments, jeopardy tax warrants, and seized the Garwoods’ assets. Within hours of the raid, individuals from the OAG were interviewed on television and by newspapers about shutting down a “puppy mill.” The unusual occurrence of this media hype in conjunction with the Department’s sale of the Garwoods’ property for a nominal sum demonstrate that the Department wielded the power of jeopardy assessments as a sword to eliminate a socially undesirable activity and close down a suspected “puppy mill," not to fill the State’s coffers with the tax liabilities the Garwoods purportedly owed.
Jeopardy assessments are a
powerful collection tool that, when properly used, further the important state
interest of collecting state tax revenue needed to pay for critical governmental
services and conducting the business of the state. The designated evidence
shows that the Garwoods did not remit the proper amount of tax due to the state
on their sales, a fact the Garwoods have repeatedly acknowledged. Nonetheless,
the Department overstepped its authority in this case by issuing jeopardy
assessments without having shown the exigent circumstances required by Indiana
Code § 6-8.1-5-3 and 45 IAC 15-5-8. Consequently, the Court holds that the
sixteen jeopardy assessments issued to the Garwoods for all or part of the 2007
though 2009 tax years are void as a matter of law."
