Gross Income Tax Div. v. Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corp.

251 N.E.2d 818, 253 Ind. 102, 1969 Ind. LEXIS 293
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 3, 1969
Docket1267 S 162
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 251 N.E.2d 818 (Gross Income Tax Div. v. Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gross Income Tax Div. v. Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corp., 251 N.E.2d 818, 253 Ind. 102, 1969 Ind. LEXIS 293 (Ind. 1969).

Opinions

Jackson, J.

This action was commenced by the appellee in the Marion Circuit Court to recover certain gross income and veterans’ bonus taxes for the years 1953 through 1958.

Appellee’s complaint was filed in the trial court on June 12, 1961, alleging, substantially, that the taxes complained of were illegally collected in that they were imposed on income derived from sales made in interstate commerce, and thus in violation of Ind. Ann. Stat. §64-2606 (a) (1961). On January 31, 1967, the trial court entered its findings of fact and conclusions of law, and rendered judgment for the appellee. The judgment reads as follows:

“This cause having come on for trial, evidence having been submitted by Plaintiff and Defendant; the matter having been taken under advisement by the Court, the parties having submitted briefs and argument, and the Court being duly advised, and having made and filed its findings of fact and conclusions of law and having found that the Plaintiff is entitled to recover of and from the Defendant for the taxes and interest paid, together with interest on such sums from the dates of payment to the date of judgment, now therefore;
It is hereby ordered, adjudged and decreed that Plaintiff recover of and from the Defendant the sum of $16,674.41 for the taxes paid, plus the sum of $4,227.47 for the interest paid on such taxes, plus the sum of $9,108.91 as interest on said sums from the dates of their payment to the date of this judgment, for a total of $30,010.79, plus Plaintiff’s costs herein.
Dated this 31 day of Jan., 1967.”

On February 20, 1967, appellant filed its Motion for a New Trial, which reads, in pertinent part, as follows:

“Comes now the defendant in the above-entitled cause and moves the Court for a New Trial and for grounds therefore, states:
[105]*1051. The decision of the Court is not sustained by sufficient evidence.
2. The decision of the Court is contrary to law.”

The motion was not accompanied by a memorandum pointing out wherein the evidence is insufficient, or the decision .contrary to law. On October 3, 1967, the trial court overruled appellant’s motion.

On appeal, appellant’s sole assignment of error is that the trial court erred in overruling the Motion for a New Trial.

Appellee contends that the only question presented is the claim that the decision of the trial court is contrary to law. It argues that appellant failed to preserve the question of sufficiency of the evidence for the reason that appellant did not challenge, in its Motion for a New Trial and Assignment of Errors, the sufficiency of the evidence as to specific findings of fact and conclusions of law made by the trial .court.

In support of this proposition, appellee cites Edwards v. Wyllie (1964), 246 Ind. 261, 203 N. E. 2d 200, and Fagel v. Fagel (1968), 250 Ind. 27, 234 N. E. 2d 628. In Edwards v. Wyllie, supra, the appellant’s motion for a new trial stated only two grounds: 1. The decision of the court was not sustained by sufficient evidence; 2. The decision of the court was contrary to law. However, the assignment of errors alleged not only that the trial court erred in overruling the motion for a new trial, but also that the trial court erred in making several conclusions of law. This Court held that errors in conclusions of law must be made a part of the motion for a new trial, and may not be independently assigned on appeal. This ruling was in accordance with Supreme Court Rule 2-6, which reads as follows:

“There shall be attached to the front of the transcript immediately following the index, a specific assignment of the errors relied upon by the appellant in which each specification of error shall be complete and separately numbered. An appellee may of right and without notice likewise assign cross-errors within thirty (30) days after the filing of the [106]*106appellant’s brief by filing such assignment with the clerk who shall attach the same to the transcript. If two (2) or more parties join in an assignment of errors or cross-errors, it shall be treated as joint and several, unless otherwise indicated.
In the title to the assignment of errors all parties to the judgment seeking relief by the appeal shall be named as appellants, and all parties to the judgment whose interests are adverse to the interests of the appellants shall be named as appellees. Assignment of cross-errors shall use the same title, but immediately thereafter shall designate the parties seeking relief and those against whom relief is sought by assignment of cross-errors. Failure properly to name parties will not be treated as jurisdictional. Amendments may be permitted upon such terms as the court shall direct.
In all cases in which a motion for a new trial is the appropriate procedure preliminary to an appeal, such motion shall be filed and shall separately specify as grounds therefor each error relied upon however and whenever arising up to the time of filing of such motion, and an assignment of error on appeal to the effect that the trial court erred in overruling said motion shall be the only means of raising said asserted errors on appeal. In all other cases and in cases of asserted errors arising subsequent to the filing of the motion for a new trial, such asserted errors may be assigned independently.”

However, Edwards v. Wyllie, supra, does not stand for the proposition that, where findings of fact are entered by the trial court, an allegation in the motion for a new trial that the decision of the trial court is not supported by sufficient evidence must be directed to specific findings of fact. The reason given by the court in Edwards v. Wyllie, supra, for not considering the sufficiency of the evidence was not that the appellant failed to allege, in his motion for a new trial and assignment of errors, that the trial court erred in a specific finding of fact, but that the appellant waived the question of sufficiency of the evidence by stating in his reply brief that he accepted the court’s findings as correct for the purpose of the appeal.

In Fagel v. Fagel, supra, the appellant-respondent’s motion for a new trial alleged only that the decision of the trial court [107]*107was not supported by sufficient evidence, and that the decision was contrary to law. On appeal before the Appellate Court the appellant-respondent argued that the evidence was insufficient to support finding of fact No. 10, and conclusion of law No. 5. The Appellate Court reversed, see 225 N. E. 2d 776 (1967), and we granted the appellee’s petition to transfer. In that case we held that:

“Errors claimed in special findings and conclusions of law filed prior to a motion for a new trial must be specified in a motion for a new trial to be presented on appeal, pursuant to Rule 2-6. Edwards v. Wyllie (1964), 246 Ind. 261, 203 N. E. 2d 200, 202; Fair Share Organization, Inc. v. Phillip Nagdeman & Sons, Inc. (1963), 135 Ind. App. 610, 193 N. E. 2d 257 (transfer denied); Flanagan, Wiltrout, and Hamilton, Indiana Trial and Appellate Practice § 1733, Comment 1 (1963 Supp.); 3 Wiltrout, Indiana Practice § 2396, (1967).” Fagel v. Fagel, supra.

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Gross Income Tax Div. v. Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corp.
251 N.E.2d 818 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1969)

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Bluebook (online)
251 N.E.2d 818, 253 Ind. 102, 1969 Ind. LEXIS 293, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gross-income-tax-div-v-owens-corning-fiberglas-corp-ind-1969.