GREGORY CHANDLER--JUDICIAL NOTICE II

In Storm Plastics, Inc. v. United States, 770 F. 2d 148 (10th Cir. 1985) the court reversed a judgment for the government in a suit involving excise taxes on fishing lures.  The Court held that the trial judge improperly took judicial notice of the quality of the plaintiff's fishing lures.  This was neither a subject generally known in the community nor one capable of accurate and ready determination by plainly accurate sources. 

The gist of the ruling is that a trial judge cannot overreach when taking judicial notice. 


GREGORY CHANDLER, Attorney at Law