Tax season is a stressful time under the best of circumstances. Underscoring the tense feelings most citizens already feel at this time is the case of Denise Simon, a 50-year-old mother of six. Three days after the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) raided her family residence in 2007, Simons wrote a note to her family and committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning. Her husband, James Simon, has filed a wrongful death suit against the federal government and the IRS agents involved in the raid.

James Simon filed the lawsuit in February, making a number of very strenuous claims against the raid and its methodology. He claims that the agents misstated facts and made misleading statements to a federal judge to obtain the warrant. He also exerts that the raid was overkill, with heavily-armed and armored agents storming the home while only his wife and their 10 year old daughter were home. He further asserts that the case violated the IRS’ own policy of only using a search warrant until less intrusive means have been exhausted.

Simon has maintained his family’s innocence in the matter, as did his wife’s final message. She wrote a note to her husband, and one to each of her children before taking her life. In each note she stressed complete innocence of the charges, and explained her sense of despair that the IRS had acted despite her innocence in the matter. Perhaps crucially, the federal government insists that the case is still under investigation, but even two-and-a-half years after the raid, the IRS has not assessed any tax charges or penalties against the Simon family.

For its part, the Federal government has issued a categorical denial of any wrongdoing in the raid. They assert that Simon’s death was voluntary and self-inflicted, and therefore not their responsibility. They also claim that the warrant as executed was entirely valid.