Mooney Real Estate Holdings v. City of Southfield

CourtMichigan Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 19, 2022
Docket357611
StatusUnpublished

This text of Mooney Real Estate Holdings v. City of Southfield (Mooney Real Estate Holdings v. City of Southfield) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mooney Real Estate Holdings v. City of Southfield, (Mich. Ct. App. 2022).

Opinion

If this opinion indicates that it is “FOR PUBLICATION,” it is subject to revision until final publication in the Michigan Appeals Reports.

STATE OF MICHIGAN

COURT OF APPEALS

MOONEY REAL ESTATE HOLDINGS, UNPUBLISHED May 19, 2022 Petitioner-Appellee,

v No. 357611 Tax Tribunal CITY OF SOUTHFIELD, LC No. 19-001449-TT

Respondent-Appellant.

Before: MURRAY, P.J., and SAWYER and M. J. KELLY, JJ.

PER CURIAM.

Respondent appeals as of right a final opinion and judgment granting petitioner’s motion for summary disposition, denying respondent’s motion for summary disposition, and concluding that petitioner was entitled to a charitable exemption from real property taxation for the 2019 tax year. We affirm.

This tax dispute pertains to real property in Southfield occupied by Our Lady of Albanians, which is a parish of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit (“the Archdiocese”). The property was owned by petitioner as of December 31, 2018, the date relevant to the 2019 tax year. This property will sometimes be referred to as “the property.” As will be explained, petitioner also owned numerous other properties. The plural term “properties” will sometimes be used to refer to all of the properties owned by petitioner, including the property at issue here.

Petitioner is a Michigan nonprofit corporation. It has seven directors and three officers; none of the officers or directors receive any salary or compensation from petitioner. Two of its directors are ordained Catholic priests. Petitioner’s sole member is the Archbishop of the Archdiocese (“the Archbishop”). Petitioner was formed to make the alignment of parish organizations consistent with Canon Law of the Roman Catholic Church. Church authorities in Rome directed dioceses in the United States to incorporate their parishes and to convey properties to those incorporated parishes. The properties used by parishes had historically been owned by the Archbishop. As part of a two-step process, the properties were first conveyed to petitioner, and petitioner later conveyed each property to the incorporated parish occupying that property. While it owned the properties, petitioner leased the properties to the Archdiocese free of charge to

-1- continue using the properties as it always had, i.e., for religious and other charitable purposes. Petitioner owned the Our Lady of Albanians property during the 2019 tax year but then conveyed the property to the parish following its incorporation under Michigan law.

A dispute arose between petitioner and respondent over whether petitioner was entitled to an exemption from taxation for the 2019 tax year with respect to the property used by Our Lady of Albanians. Petitioner filed this action in the Tax Tribunal (“the Tribunal”) seeking an exemption under MCL 211.7o(1) or (3) or MCL 211.7s. The parties filed competing motions for summary disposition. The Tribunal ruled that petitioner was not entitled in its own right to an exemption under MCL 211.7o(1) or (3) or MCL 211.7s, but the Tribunal ruled that petitioner was entitled to a so-called “pass-through” exemption under MCL 211.7o(1), i.e., that the Archdiocese’s tax- exempt status was to be passed through to petitioner by virtue of the relationship between those two entities. The Tribunal thus granted summary disposition to petitioner, making it exempt from taxation with respect to the property for the 2019 tax year. This appeal followed.

On appeal, respondent argues that the Tribunal erred in concluding that petitioner was entitled to a pass-through exemption under MCL 211.7o(1). We need not reach that issue because we agree with an argument made by petitioner asserting an alternative ground for affirmance, i.e., that petitioner was entitled in its own right to an exemption under MCL 211.7o(3). We therefore affirm the Tribunal’s decision because it reached the correct result, even though our reasoning differs. See Kyocera Corp v Hemlock Semiconductor, LLC, 313 Mich App 437, 449; 886 NW2d 445 (2015) (“We will affirm a [lower tribunal’s] decision on a motion for summary disposition if it reached the correct result, even if our reasoning differs.”).

Our Supreme Court has explained:

Absent a claim of fraud, this Court reviews decisions from the Tax Tribunal for the misapplication of law or the adoption of a wrong legal principle. We deem the tribunal’s factual findings conclusive if they are supported by competent, material, and substantial evidence on the whole record. This Court reviews de novo the tribunal’s interpretation of a tax statute. When interpreting statutory language, our obligation is to ascertain the legislative intent that may reasonably be inferred from the words expressed in the statute. This requires us to consider the plain meaning of the critical word or phrase as well as its placement and purpose in the statutory scheme. This Court, as with all other courts, must give effect to every word, phrase, and clause in a statute, to avoid rendering any part of the statute nugatory or surplusage. Though this Court will generally defer to the Tax Tribunal’s interpretation of a statute that it is delegated to administer, that deference will not extend to cases in which the tribunal makes a legal error. Thus, agency interpretations are entitled to respectful consideration but cannot control in the face of contradictory statutory text. [SBC Health Midwest, Inc v Kentwood, 500 Mich 65, 70-71; 894 NW2d 535 (2017) (quotation marks and citations omitted).]

A lower tribunal’s decision on a motion for summary disposition is reviewed de novo. El- Khalil v Oakwood Healthcare, Inc, 504 Mich 152, 159; 934 NW2d 665 (2019).

-2- A motion under MCR 2.116(C)(10) . . . tests the factual sufficiency of a claim. When considering such a motion, a [lower tribunal] must consider all evidence submitted by the parties in the light most favorable to the party opposing the motion. A motion under MCR 2.116(C)(10) may only be granted when there is no genuine issue of material fact. A genuine issue of material fact exists when the record leaves open an issue upon which reasonable minds might differ. [El- Khalil, 504 Mich at 160 (quotation marks and citations omitted).]

Petitioner argues that it was qualified in its own right for an exemption under MCL 211.7o(3) and that the Tribunal erred in concluding otherwise. We agree.

“The General Property Tax Act (the Act) provides that ‘all property, real and personal, within the jurisdiction of this state, not expressly exempted, shall be subject to taxation.’ ” Trinity Health-Warde Lab, LLC v Pittsfield Charter Twp, 317 Mich App 629, 633; 895 NW2d 226 (2016), quoting MCL 211.1. “The petitioner bears the burden of proving that it is entitled to an exemption.” Trinity, 317 Mich App at 633.

MCL 211.7o(3) provides the following exemption:

Real or personal property owned by a nonprofit charitable institution or charitable trust that is leased, loaned, or otherwise made available to another nonprofit charitable institution or charitable trust or to a nonprofit hospital or a nonprofit educational institution that is occupied by that nonprofit charitable institution, charitable trust, nonprofit hospital, or nonprofit educational institution solely for the purposes for which that nonprofit charitable institution, charitable trust, nonprofit hospital, or nonprofit educational institution was organized or established and that would be exempt from taxes collected under this act if the real or personal property were occupied by the lessor nonprofit charitable institution or charitable trust solely for the purposes for which the lessor charitable nonprofit institution was organized or the charitable trust was established is exempt from the collection of taxes under this act.

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Related

Wexford Medical Group v. City of Cadillac
713 N.W.2d 734 (Michigan Supreme Court, 2006)
McLaren Regional Medical Center v. City of Owosso
738 N.W.2d 777 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 2007)
Kyocera Corp. v. Hemlock Semiconductor, LLC
886 N.W.2d 445 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 2015)
Trinity Health-Warde Lab, LLC v. Pittsfield Charter Township
895 N.W.2d 226 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 2016)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
Mooney Real Estate Holdings v. City of Southfield, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mooney-real-estate-holdings-v-city-of-southfield-michctapp-2022.