Steeves v. Internal Revenue Service ( 2020 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 DEAN ALLEN STEEVES, Acting Case No.: 20cv978-LAB Trustee of Brother’s Keeper 12 Ministries ORDER REQUIRING 13 SUBSTITUTION OF COUNSEL Plaintiff, 14 v. 15 INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE 16 Defendant. 17 18 Plaintiff Dean Allen Steeves appears pro se in his role as trustee of Brother’s 19 Keeper Ministries. On behalf of the Ministries, he seek to quash an I.R.S. 20 subpoena. This is the second case in this District in which Steeves has attempted 21 to represent the Ministry pro se. In the earlier case, 20cv204-LAB (BGS), the Court 22 ordered Steeves to retain counsel (see Docket no. 7 in that case), and he did so. 23 Later, the I.R.S. withdrew the subpoena and the case was dismissed as moot. 24 Now, it appears the I.R.S. has issued a new subpoena requiring Wells Fargo Bank 25 to provide records pertaining to the Ministry, and Steeves seeks to quash that 26 subpoena as well. 27 As Steeves is aware, he may not represent an organization regardless of 28 how it is denominated. See C.E. Pope Equity Trust v. United States, 818 F.2d 1 ||696, 697-98 (9th Cir. 1987) (trustee may not appear pro se in federal court on 2 || behalf of a legal entity, such as an organization or a trust). See also Kay v. Ehrler, 3 ||499 U.S. 432, 436 n.7 (“[A]n organization . . . is always represented by counsel 4 ||....”); D-Beam Ltd. P’ship v. Roller Derby Skates, Inc., 366 F.3d 972, 973-74 (9" 5 ||Cir. 2004) (noting “longstanding rule” that associations must appear in court 6 through an attorney). 7 Steeves is ORDERED to retain counsel immediately, who must be a licensed 8 || attorney admitted to appear before this Court. His new attorney must substitute in 9 ||as counsel no later than June 15, 2020. If he does not do so, this action will be 10 || dismissed for failure to prosecute, and for failure to obey the Court’s order. 11 12 IT IS SO ORDERED. 13 ||Dated: June 2, 2020 i Lewd A: Chum 15 Honorable Larry Alan Burns 16 Chief United States District Judge 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28