ANR Pipeline Co. v. Louisiana Tax Com'n

815 So. 2d 178, 2002 WL 429368
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 20, 2002
Docket2001 CA 2594 to 2001 CA 2600
StatusPublished
Cited by26 cases

This text of 815 So. 2d 178 (ANR Pipeline Co. v. Louisiana Tax Com'n) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
ANR Pipeline Co. v. Louisiana Tax Com'n, 815 So. 2d 178, 2002 WL 429368 (La. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

815 So.2d 178 (2002)

ANR PIPELINE COMPANY
v.
LOUISIANA TAX COMMISSION, Malcolm B. Price, Jr., Chairman of the Louisiana Tax Commission, Kenneth P. Naquin, Jr., Member of the Louisiana Tax Commission, and Russel R. Gaspard, Member of the Louisiana Tax Commission.
Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company
v.
Louisiana Tax Commission, Malcolm B. Price, Jr., Chairman of the Louisiana Tax Commission, Kenneth P. Naquin, Jr., Member of the Louisiana Tax Commission, and Russel R. Gaspard, Member of the Louisiana Tax Commission.
UT Offshore Systems, L.L.C.
v.
Louisiana Tax Commission, Malcolm B. Price, Jr., Chairman of the Louisiana Tax Commission, Kenneth P. Naquin, Jr., Member of the Louisiana Tax Commission, and Russel R. Gaspard, Member of the Louisiana Tax Commission.
Stingray Pipeline Company, L.L.C.
v.
Louisiana Tax Commission, Malcolm B. Price, Jr., Chairman of the Louisiana Tax Commission, Kenneth P. Naquin, Jr., Member of the Louisiana Tax Commission, and Russel R. Gaspard, Member of the Louisiana Tax Commission.
ANR Pipeline Company
v.
Louisiana Tax Commission, Malcolm B. Price, Jr., Chairman of the Louisiana Tax Commission, Kenneth P. Naquin, Jr., Member of the Louisiana Tax Commission, and Russel R. Gaspard, Member of the Louisiana Tax Commission.
Southern Natural Gas Company
v.
Louisiana Tax Commission, Malcolm B. Price, Jr., Chairman of the Louisiana Tax Commission, Kenneth P. Naquin, Jr., Member of the Louisiana Tax Commission, and Russel R. Gaspard, Member of the Louisiana Tax Commission.
ANR Pipeline Company, Stingray Pipeline Company, L.L.C., UT Offshore System, L.L.C., Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company, and Southern Natural Gas Company
v.
Louisiana Tax Commission, Malcolm B. Price, Jr., Chairman of the Louisiana Tax Commission, Kenneth P. Naquin, Jr., Member of the Louisiana Tax Commission, and Russel R. Gaspard, Member of the Louisiana Tax Commission

Nos. 2001 CA 2594 to 2001 CA 2600.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

March 20, 2002.
Rehearing Denied April 26, 2002.

*181 Hilton S. Bell, Angela W. Adolph, New Orleans, Laurence E. Garrett, Colorado Springs, CO, Counsel for Plaintiffs/Appellants, ANR Pipeline Company, Stingray Pipeline Company, L.L.C., UT Offshore Systems, L.L.C., Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company and Southern Natural Gas Company.

Brian A. Eddington, Theodore L. (Ted) Jones, Baton Rouge, Counsel for Defendants/Appellees, Louisiana Tax Commission, Malcolm B. Price, Jr., Kenneth P. Naquin, Jr., and Russel R. Gaspard.

Before: GONZALES, FITZSIMMONS, and LANIER,[1] JJ.

GONZALES, J.

Five interstate pipeline companies brought seven suits relating to ad valorem taxes paid under protest. In the first suit, ANR Pipeline Company sought judicial review of the final determination of the Louisiana Tax Commission's assessed valuation of its public service properties, other than land, for 1994 through 1999, and a declaratory judgment that Louisiana Revised Statute 47:1851(K) is unconstitutional.[2] The district court dismissed ANR's claims for 1994 through 1998 as prescribed because ANR did not file suit directly in district court within 30 days of payment of taxes under protest pursuant to Louisiana Revised Statute 47:2110. ANR appealed to this court, and we reversed, holding that the claim of a taxpayer for recovery of taxes paid under protest does not prescribe while the taxpayer exhausts administrative *182 remedies under Revised Statute 47:1856. ANR Pipeline Co. v. Louisiana Tax Comm'n, 00-2251 (La.App. 1 Cir. 12/22/00), 774 So.2d 1261 (ANR I).

ANR and four other interstate pipeline companies, Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company; Stingray Pipeline Company, L.L.C.; Southern Natural Gas Company; and UT Offshore System, L.L.C. (plaintiffs), later filed individual suits in district court within 30 days of making payment under protest for tax year 2000, without waiting for a final adjudication from the Louisiana Tax Commission ("the Commission").[3] Those virtually identical suits sought declaratory judgments that Revised Statute 47:1851(K) and the actions of the defendants in administration thereof have violated the equal protection and due process clauses of the Louisiana and United States Constitutions, the uniformity requirement of the Louisiana Constitution, and the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution. They also sought to have the assessed valuation for the year 2000 declared null and void, to have the property re-assessed at no more than 15% of the fair market value, and to have the taxes paid under protest returned to them. The five pipeline companies also filed a joint suit entitled "Application for Writ of Mandamus, Writ of Prohibition and for Exercise of Supervisory Jurisdiction," in which they sought to prevent the Commission from hearing the constitutional issues and to transfer those matters to the Nineteenth Judicial District Court.

In response to those suits, defendants filed a plethora of exceptions raising, inter alia, the objections of no cause of action and prematurity. The seven cases were consolidated "for further proceedings." The district court held a hearing on all exceptions and motions filed in the seven suits and on the merits of the suit for writs of mandamus and prohibition and exercise of supervisory jurisdiction. In a single judgment on all seven suits, the court: (1) overruled the peremptory exception raising the objection of no cause of action as to ANR's suit on the 1994 to 1999 tax payments; (2) denied the writ applications; (3) refused to exercise its supervisory jurisdiction; (4) sustained the dilatory and peremptory exceptions raising the objections of prematurity and no cause of action as to the five suits relative to 2000 tax payments; and (5) dismissed without prejudice all of the suits except ANR's original suit on the 1994 to 1999 tax payments.[4] All five pipeline companies appealed the judgment, in seven separate appeals that were consolidated by this court.

MOTION TO DISMISS APPEAL

Defendants moved to dismiss these appeals, contending the judgment *183 was not final as to all parties and that the district court had not certified the judgment as final pursuant to Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure article 1915(B). While only one document labeled "Judgment" was prepared in these cases, a copy of that document was filed in each of the seven suit records. Each represents an individual judgment as to that particular case. Procedural rights peculiar to one case are not rendered applicable to a companion case by the mere fact of consolidation; each case must stand on its own merits. Howard v. Hercules-Gallion Co., 417 So.2d 508, 511 (La.App. 1 Cir.1982). As to six of those suits, the judgments dismiss the cases in their entirety and thereby constitute final judgments that require no certification. We deny the motion to dismiss as to docket numbers 2001 CA 2595, 2001 CA 2596, 2001 CA 2597, 2001 CA 2598, 2001 CA 2599, and 2001 CA 2600.

The seventh judgment, however, in docket number 2001 CA 2594, is not a final judgment. The district court ruled on only two issues in that suit—it overruled defendants' peremptory exception raising the objection of no cause of action, and it ordered ANR to submit its formal application for leave to submit additional evidence by a certain date. That judgment is not appealable because those rulings are interlocutory. Thus, we must grant the motion to dismiss as to docket number 2001 CA 2594.

PLAINTIFFS' REQUEST FOR SANCTIONS UNDER LOUISIANA CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE ARTICLE 863

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Bluebook (online)
815 So. 2d 178, 2002 WL 429368, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/anr-pipeline-co-v-louisiana-tax-comn-lactapp-2002.