Home/Tennessee Supreme Court/Northwest Airlines, Inc., Federal Express Corp., American Airlines, Inc., Flagship Airlines, and Delta Airlines, Inc. v. Tennessee State Bd. of Equalization and CSX Transportation

Northwest Airlines, Inc., Federal Express Corp., American Airlines, Inc., Flagship Airlines, and Delta Airlines, Inc. v. Tennessee State Bd. of Equalization and CSX Transportation

CourtTennessee Supreme Court
DecidedJune 1, 1998
Docket01S01-9702-FD-00030
StatusPublished

This text of Northwest Airlines, Inc., Federal Express Corp., American Airlines, Inc., Flagship Airlines, and Delta Airlines, Inc. v. Tennessee State Bd. of Equalization and CSX Transportation (Northwest Airlines, Inc., Federal Express Corp., American Airlines, Inc., Flagship Airlines, and Delta Airlines, Inc. v. Tennessee State Bd. of Equalization and CSX Transportation) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Tennessee Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Northwest Airlines, Inc., Federal Express Corp., American Airlines, Inc., Flagship Airlines, and Delta Airlines, Inc. v. Tennessee State Bd. of Equalization and CSX Transportation, (Tenn. 1998).

Opinion

1 J u n e 1 , 1 9 9 8 2 F O R P U B L I C A T I O N 3 4 I N T H E S U P R E M E C O U R T O F T E N N E S S E E 5 6 A T N A S H V I L L E 7 8 FILED 9 N O R T H W E S T A I R L I N E S , I N C . , ( 10 F E D E R A L E X P R E S S C O R P O R A T I O N , ( June 1, 1998 11 A M E R I C A N A I R L I N E S , I N C . , F L A G S H I P ( 12 A I R L I N E S , A N D D E L T A A I R L I N E S , ( Cecil W. Crowson 13 I N C . , ( Appellate Court Clerk 14 ( 15 P l a i n t i f f s - P e t i t i o n e r s , ( 16 ( C e r t i f i e d Q u e s t i o n f r o m t h e 17 ( U n i t e d S t a t e s D i s t r i c t C o u r t 18 v . ( f o r t h e M i d d l e D i s t r i c t o f 19 ( T e n n e s s e e 20 ( 21 T E N N E S S E E S T A T E B O A R D O F ( H o n . T h o m a s A . W i s e m a n , J r . , 22 E Q U A L I Z A T I O N , ( J u d g e 23 ( 24 D e f e n d a n t - R e s p o n d e n t , ( N o . 0 1 S 0 1 - 9 7 0 2 - F D - 0 0 0 3 0 25 ( 26 a n d ( 27 ( 28 C S X T R A N S P O R T A T I O N , I N C . , ( 29 ( 30 P l a i n t i f f - P e t i t i o n e r , ( 31 ( 32 ( 33 v . ( 34 ( 35 ( 36 T E N N E S S E E S T A T E B O A R D O F ( 37 E Q U A L I Z A T I O N , ( 38 ( 39 D e f e n d a n t - R e s p o n d e n t , ( 40 ( 41 a n d ( 42 ( 43 I L L I N O I S C E N T R A L R A I L R O A D C O M P A N Y , ( 44 ( 45 P l a i n t i f f - P e t i t i o n e r , ( 46 ( 47 ( 48 v . ( 49 ( 50 ( 51 T E N N E S S E E S T A T E B O A R D O F ( 52 E Q U A L I Z A T I O N , ( 53 ( 54 D e f e n d a n t - R e s p o n d e n t . ( 55 F o r P l a i n t i f f s - P e t i t i o n e r s : F o r D e f e n d a n t - R e s p o n d e n t : 1 2 S t e p h e n D . G o o d w i n J o h n K n o x W a l k u p 3 J a n i s W i l d K e s s e r A t t o r n e y G e n e r a l & R e p o r t e r 4 B a k e r , D o n e l s o n , B e a r m a n & C a l d w e l l N a s h v i l l e 5 M e m p h i s 6 J i m m y G . C r e e c y 7 J a m e s W . M c B r i d e C h i e f S p e c i a l C o u n s e l 8 B a k e r , D o n e l s o n , B e a r m a n & C a l d w e l l N a s h v i l l e 9 W a s h i n g t o n , D . C . 10 D a r y l J . B r a n d 11 S e n i o r C o u n s e l 12 N a s h v i l l e 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 O P I N I O N 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 R E I D , S P . J . 51 52 P u r s u a n t t o R u l e 2 3 o f t h e R u l e s o f t h e S u p r e m e C o u r t o f 1 T e n n e s s e e 1, t h i s C o u r t h a s a c c e p t e d f r o m t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s D i s t r i c t

2 C o u r t f o r t h e M i d d l e D i s t r i c t o f T e n n e s s e e a c e r t i f i e d q u e s t i o n o f

3 l a w r e g a r d i n g t h e e f f e c t o f t h e 1 9 9 6 a m e n d m e n t t o T e n n . C o d e A n n . §

4 6 7 - 5 - 1 5 1 2 ( b ) ( 2 ) o n t h e c a l c u l a t i o n o f i n t e r e s t o n p r o p e r t y t a x

5 p a y m e n t s a n d r e f u n d s .

7 I

9 T h e p e t i t i o n e r s , N o r t h w e s t A i r l i n e s , I n c . , F e d e r a l E x p r e s s

10 C o r p . , A m e r i c a n A i r l i n e s , I n c . , F l a g s h i p A i r l i n e s , a n d D e l t a A i r 2 11 L i n e s , I n c . , w h i c h a r e “ c o m m e r c i a l a i r c a r r i e r c o m p a n i e s , ” a n d

12 p e t i t i o n e r s C S X T r a n s p o r t a t i o n , I n c . , a n d I l l i n o i s C e n t r a l R a i l r o a d 3 13 C o . , w h i c h a r e “ r a i l r o a d c o m p a n i e s , ” f i l e d s u i t i n t h e d i s t r i c t

14 c o u r t a g a i n s t t h e r e s p o n d e n t T e n n e s s e e S t a t e B o a r d o f E q u a l i z a t i o n ,

15 a l l e g i n g t h a t t h e S t a t e ’ s a s s e s s m e n t o f t h e p e t i t i o n e r s ’ a d v a l o r e m 4 16 p r o p e r t y t a x e s f o r 1 9 9 0 , 1 9 9 1 , 1 9 9 2 , 1 9 9 3 , 1 9 9 4 , a n d 1 9 9 5 , r e s u l t e d 5 17 i n d i s c r i m i n a t o r y t a x a t i o n i n v i o l a t i o n o f c e r t a i n f e d e r a l s t a t u t e s .

18 T h e p a r t i e s r e a c h e d a s e t t l e m e n t o f a l l i s s u e s p r e s e n t e d i n t h e c a s e ,

1 “ T h e S u p r e m e C o u r t m a y , a t i t s d i s c r e t i o n , a n s w e r q u e s t i o n s o f l a w c e r t i f i e d t o i t b y . . . a D i s t r i c t C o u r t o f t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s i n T e n n e s s e e . . . . T h i s r u l e m a y b e i n v o k e d w h e n t h e c e r t i f y i n g c o u r t d e t e r m i n e s t h a t , i n a p r o c e e d i n g b e f o r e i t , t h e r e a r e q u e s t i o n s o f l a w o f t h i s s t a t e w h i c h w i l l b e d e t e r m i n a t i v e o f t h e c a u s e a n d a s t o w h i c h i t a p p e a r s t o t h e c e r t i f y i n g c o u r t t h e r e i s n o c o n t r o l l i n g p r e c e d e n t i n t h e d e c i s i o n s o f t h e S u p r e m e C o u r t o f T e n n e s s e e . ” T e n n . R . S . C t . 2 3 .

2 S e e T e n n . C o d e A n n . § 6 7 - 5 - 1 3 0 1 ( a ) ( 1 2 ) ( S u p p . 1 9 9 7 ) .

3 S e e T e n n . C o d e A n n . § 6 7 - 5 - 1 3 0 1 ( a ) ( 1 ) ( S u p p . 1 9 9 7 ) .

4 C S X d i d n o t c h a l l e n g e i t s a s s e s s m e n t f o r 1 9 9 3 , a n d I l l i n o i s C e n t r a l o n l y c h a l l e n g e d t a x y e a r s 1 9 9 4 a n d 1 9 9 5 .

5 T h e a i r l i n e s a s s e r t e d t h a t t h e B o a r d ’ s a s s e s s m e n t v i o l a t e d 4 9 U . S . C . § 4 0 1 1 6 ( d ) ( 1 9 9 7 ) o f t h e T a x E q u i t y a n d F i s c a l R e s p o n s i b i l i t y A c t o f 1 9 8 2 . T h e r a i l r o a d s a s s e r t e d t h a t t h e a s s e s s m e n t s c h a l l e n g e d v i o l a t e s e c t i o n 3 0 6 o f t h e R a i l r o a d R e v i t a l i z a t i o n a n d R e g u l a t o r y R e f o r m A c t o f 1 9 7 6 , 4 9 U . S . C . § 1 1 5 0 1 ( 1 9 9 7 ) .

- 3 - 1 e x c e p t t h e i s s u e b e f o r e t h i s C o u r t , t h e a p p r o p r i a t e i n t e r e s t r a t e t o

2 b e a p p l i e d t o r e f u n d s a n d a d d i t i o n a l p a y m e n t s d u e . T h e s e t t l e m e n t

3 w a s a p p r o v e d b y t h e d i s t r i c t c o u r t . P u r s u a n t t o t h e s e t t l e m e n t , t h e

4 p e t i t i o n e r s o w e d t a x e s t o s o m e c o u n t i e s a n d m u n i c i p a l i t i e s a n d w e r e

5 d u e r e f u n d s f r o m o t h e r s .

7 S p e c i f i c a l l y , t h e c e r t i f i e d q u e s t i o n i s a s f o l l o w s :

9 W h e t h e r a n y o r a l l o f t h e p r e s e n t p a y m e n t s o r 10 r e f u n d s o f p r o p e r t y t a x e s f o r t a x y e a r s 1 9 9 0 11 t h r o u g h 1 9 9 5 , a l l o f w h i c h p a y m e n t s a n d r e f u n d s 12 w i l l b e m a d e a f t e r A p r i l 2 2 , 1 9 9 6 , s h o u l d b e 13 c a l c u l a t d a t t e w o p e r c e n t a g e p o i n t s b e l o w t h e 14 c o m p o s i t e p r i m e r a t e a s p r o v i d e d b y T e n n . C o d e 15 A n n . § 6 - 5 - 1 5 1 7 2 ( b ) ( 2 ) , a s a m e n d e d e f f e c t i v e 16 A p r i l 2 2 , 1 9 9 6 , o r w h e t h e r s o m e o r a l l o f t h e 17 i n t e r e s t s h o u l d b e c a l c u l a t e d a t t h e c o m p o s i t e 18 p r i m e r a t e a s p r o v i d e d b y T e n n . C o d e A n n . § 6 7 - 19 5 - 1 5 1 2 ( b ) ( 2 ) p r i o r t o A p r i l 2 2 , 1 9 9 6 a n d i n 20 e f f e c t d u r i n g t h e t a x y e a r s i n q u e s t i o n ? 21 22

23 I I

25 T h e p r o p e r t y o f r a i l r o a d a n d c o m m e r c i a l a i r c a r r i e r

26 c o m p a n i e s i s a s s e s s e d f o r s t a t e , c o u n t y , a n d m u n i c i p a l t a x a t i o n b y

27 t h e c o m p t r o l l e r o f t h e t r e a s u r y . T e n n . C o d e A n n . § 6 7 - 5 - 1 3 0 1 ( S u p p .

28 1 9 9 7 ) . T h o s e a s s e s s m e n t s a r e s u b j e c t t o r e v i e w b y t h e S t a t e B o a r d o f

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

"Maritime transactions" and "commerce" defined; exceptions to operation of title
9 U.S.C. § 1
Failure to arbitrate under agreement; petition to United States court having jurisdiction for order to compel arbitration; notice and service thereof; hearing and determination
9 U.S.C. § 4

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
Northwest Airlines, Inc., Federal Express Corp., American Airlines, Inc., Flagship Airlines, and Delta Airlines, Inc. v. Tennessee State Bd. of Equalization and CSX Transportation, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/northwest-airlines-inc-federal-express-corp-american-airlines-inc-tenn-1998.