Stiley Files Chapter 11 Flamboyant Spokane Attorney Says Irs Wants $200,000 In Back Taxes

Pat Stiley, one of Spokane’s most flamboyant lawyers, is seeking bankruptcy protection for himself and his downtown law firm.

“I’ve got the IRS on my butt,” he said Tuesday.

Stiley said he was forced to file for Chapter 11 reorganization last week because the Internal Revenue Service lost patience with him, demanding back taxes totaling roughly $200,000.

More than a dozen other creditors, including family members, doctors and other Spokane law firms, have filed claims exceeding $100,000, according to documents in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

“Everybody will get paid,” Stiley said. “They just can’t knock on my door quite so loudly. It’s hard to concentrate.”

Stiley, 48, shares a cluster of second-floor offices in the Rookery Building on North Howard with two lawyers, five legal interns and four secretaries.

He blames the firm’s financial woes on his “remarkably expensive” divorce four years ago and a more recent automobile crash that left him laid up with a neck injury.

Stiley doesn’t dispute his debt with the IRS. He said he opted for bankruptcy as a last resort - after the agency began turning up the pressure, checking on his firm’s daily operations.

“If I didn’t file for reorganization, the IRS would be running my law office,” he maintained.

IRS officials in Seattle and Spokane refused to comment on the case.

With his earring and shaggy mop of blond hair, Stiley has never looked like a conventional high-rise lawyer.

Scorned by police detectives and federal agents, he has built a reputation as a skilled civil rights and criminal defense lawyer, especially in big drug cases.

He is currently one of four lawyers representing the Gypsy Church of the Northwest and its members in their $40 million civil rights suit against the city and county of Spokane.

A couple of years ago, Stiley defended the owner of Sam’s Pit, a notorious afterhours rib joint, against charges that it was a haven for crack dealers. Stiley battled the police department but lost the case when a judge ordered the business closed as a drug nuisance.

Stiley graduated from Gonzaga Law School in 1971.

He began his career with Spokane attorney Carl Maxey, working his way up from law clerk to partner. He opened his own practice in 1981.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo