District of Columbia Office of Tax and Revenue v. John R. Shuman and Sara G. Shuman

SCHWELB, Senior Judge:

In the 1984 film “The Terminator” — a work of fiction starring Arnold Schwarzenegger — artificially intelligent machines attempted to exterminate what was then left of the human race. In the appeal now before us, a man-made computer system did not go so far but, defying the will of those who programmed it, it caused significant grief and distress to those who had a right to rely on its accuracy. Unfortunately, the machine involved belonged to the branch of the District of Columbia government responsible for calculating and collecting citizens’ taxes. In this case, we are…