Ip, Co. v. East Feliciana Parish School Bd.

850 So. 2d 717, 2003 WL 21769504
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 28, 2003
Docket2002 CA 0648
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 850 So. 2d 717 (Ip, Co. v. East Feliciana Parish School Bd.) 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
Ip, Co. v. East Feliciana Parish School Bd., 850 So. 2d 717, 2003 WL 21769504 (La. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

850 So.2d 717 (2003)

INTERNATIONAL PAPER COMPANY
v.
EAST FELICIANA PARISH SCHOOL BOARD, State of Louisiana, Attorney General.

No. 2002 CA 0648.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

March 28, 2003.

*718 Jesse R. Adams, III, Andre B. Burvant, New Orleans, Counsel for Appellant International Paper Co.

Robert R. Rainer, Frederick Mulhearn, Baton Rouge, Counsel for Appellee East Feliciana School Board.

Before: FOIL, McCLENDON, and KLINE,[1] JJ.

KLINE, J.

This is an appeal taken by International Paper Company (IP) from a summary judgment rendered in favor of East Feliciana Parish School Board (School Board) allowing it to levy and collect sales tax on parts and labor used in repairing IP's equipment in East Feliciana Parish. For the following reasons, we affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Between January 1, 1994 and December 31, 1996, IP owned and operated a paper mill located in Mobile, Alabama. During that period, IP sent equipment used at its Mobile mill to be repaired at Woodyard Equipment and Supply Company, Inc. (WYESCO), located in East Feliciana Parish. According to IP, these repairs generally required the installation of new parts. After WYESCO completed the repairs, it returned IP's equipment to the Mobile mill on WYESCO trucks. For billing purposes, IP specifically requested that WYESCO separately designate the cost for labor and the cost for parts on its invoices.

Subsequently, the School Board conducted a tax audit of IP for the period of January 1994 through December 1996. The audit revealed that IP had not paid taxes in East Feliciana Parish for the repairs performed by WYESCO. Consequently, the School Board issued an assessment to IP on December 30, 1997, seeking collection of taxes in the amount of $15,421.64, penalties in the amount of $3,855.41, and interest in the amount of $4,217.76, for a total of $23,494.81. In its *719 assessment, the School Board levied sales tax on the full cost of the repairs, including labor and the cost of the parts used in making the repairs.

On March 2, 1998, IP paid the assessment under protest and soon after filed suit for recovery of the amount paid. While IP subsequently admitted that the labor used in making the repairs was taxable in East Feliciana Parish, it disputed that the parts used in making the repairs were also taxable in the parish. Rather, IP contended that the repair parts constituted tangible personal property delivered outside the parish and, as such, was exempt from East Feliciana sales tax.

On September 10, 2001, IP filed a motion for partial summary judgment arguing that the School Board "lack[ed] authority to impose and collect sales taxes on the materials used in the repairs because WYESCO delivered the materials that it sold to IP at its mill in Mobile, Alabama." Subsequently, on October 1, 2001, the School Board filed a cross motion for partial summary judgment contending entitlement to levy and collect a sales tax on the materials used in the repairs. A hearing on the motions was conducted on November 26, 2001. At its conclusion, the trial court stated:

[T]he East Feliciana Parish School Board, the collector of taxes here in East Feliciana Parish, conducted a tax audit for the years 1994, 1995 and 1996. And [sic] pursuant to that audit determined that International Paper had not paid taxes on labor and parts related to repairs of International Paper's equipment which occurred here in East Feliciana Parish during the audit period[.] International Paper owned and operated a mill located in Mobile, Alabama that sent pieces of equipment to the Woodyard Equipment and Supply Company, which is located here in East Feliciana Parish for repair. These repairs generally required installation of new parts into International Paper's equipment. After these parts were installed and otherwise repaired, the Woodyard Equipment and Supply Company delivered the equipment on Woodyard's trucks to International Paper in Mobile, Alabama. So, those are the facts, and as is said earlier, it does not appear that there is any contest as to any of these material facts.
The issue before the Court and the basis of International Paper's motion is that they are protesting the assessment because there are allegations that the School Board lacks authority to collect sales taxes on the materials used in the repairs because of the fact that Woodyard delivered the materials that sold [sic] to International Paper at its mill in Mobile, Alabama. Again, that is the issue as to whether or not these materials that were used in the repairs are taxable here in East Feliciana Parish or elsewhere.
The East Feliciana Parish School Board ordinance which purportedly creates the authority for the School Board to levy this tax is found in Section 1.301(14) that defines the sale of services. It says "Furnishing of repairs to tangible personal property, including but not restricted to the repair and servicing of automobiles and other vehicles, electrical and mechanical appliances and equipment, watches, jewelry, refrigerators, radios, shoes and office appliances and equipment." So that's the basis upon which this tax is levied and the issue is whether or not that includes materials. That is whether or not there is, in fact, a sale of materials. So the actual labor, as I said earlier, is not an issue. Both parties appear to agree that labor certainly is taxable. So, again, the issue is *720 the material, the parts used in making the repairs.
It appears to me that these two items, labor and materials or parts, go hand in hand. I do not think that they're divisible. It's my opinion that International Paper sent their equipment over here for repairs, not for the purchase of individual parts. And looking at the Parish of Jefferson versus Ecko-Glaco, which is found at 280 So.2d 629, a Fourth Circuit decision of 1973, and looking at the second case, which I feel is dispositive of the issue before the Court, Clyde Juneau Co. versus Caddo-Shreveport Sales and Use Tax Commission found at 677 So.2d 610, Second Circuit, 1996, buttresses my opinion that the labor/services and parts/ materials go hand in hand. I just don't feel from the facts of this case and those cases that those things can or should be bifurcated or divided.
The language from the Clyde Juneau case says that the parts are of no use to a customer without the service provided by a contractor and the service provided cannot be completed without the parts. So, again, this just reinforces my belief that these two things are not divisible.

Thus, the trial court denied IP's motion and granted the motion of the School Board. A judgment was signed accordingly on December 11, 2001. From this judgment, IP appeals asserting the following three assignments of error:

1) The District Court erred by ruling that the East Feliciana Parish School Board can impose sales tax on tangible personal property delivered outside the territorial limits of East Feliciana Parish.

2) The District Court erred in concluding that the separately itemized labor and materials aspect of a repair could not be treated separately for sales tax purposes.

3) The District Court erred by failing to recognize that any ambiguity in the relevant statutes as they apply to the transactions at issue in this case must be interpreted liberally in favor of the taxpayer, International Paper.

As an appellate court we review a trial court's decision to grant a motion for summary judgment de novo,

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850 So. 2d 717, 2003 WL 21769504, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ip-co-v-east-feliciana-parish-school-bd-lactapp-2003.