Rent-A-center East, Inc. v. Lincoln Parish Sales & Use Tax Commission

60 So. 3d 95, 2011 La. App. LEXIS 301, 2011 WL 1106690
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 9, 2011
DocketNo. 46,054-CA
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 60 So. 3d 95 (Rent-A-center East, Inc. v. Lincoln Parish Sales & Use Tax Commission) 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
Rent-A-center East, Inc. v. Lincoln Parish Sales & Use Tax Commission, 60 So. 3d 95, 2011 La. App. LEXIS 301, 2011 WL 1106690 (La. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

WILLIAMS, J.

| ¡.Plaintiff, Rent-A-Center East, Inc., appeals a district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of defendant, Lincoln Parish Sales & Use Tax Commission. The district court declared that the sum of [97]*97$15,433.11, the amount in sales taxes Rent-A-Center paid under protest, was the property of the Lincoln Parish Sales & Use Tax Commission. The court also ordered Rent-A-Center to pay $1,543.31 in attorney’s fees. For the reasons that follow, we amend the judgment to award $2,500 in additional attorney’s fees for the appeal and the judgment, as amended, is affirmed.

FACTS

Rent-A-Center East, Inc. (“RAC”) owns and operates a retail outlet in Lincoln Parish, Louisiana. The retail outlet is in the business of displaying, renting, leasing and/or selling various articles of tangible personal property to its customers. Such property includes home electronics, appliances, computers, furniture and accessories. Most frequently, the items are rented/leased to customers; however, customers/lessees may also opt to purchase items.

When renting/leasing an item. from RAC, the customer has the option of either (1) accepting responsibility for any damage which might affect the rented/leased item, or (2) purchasing a liability damage waiver (“LDW”). If the customer elects to purchase a LDW, then RAC waives the right to charge the customer for any physical damage to the rentedfieased property. A LDW is an additional, optional feature and is offered at an added charge of 7.5% of the basic rental charge. If the customer/lessee chooses to pay the additional charge for a LDW, he or she signs an addendum to the rental |spurchase agreement, captioned “OPTIONAL LIABILITY DAMAGE WAIVER PROTECTION.” The charge for the LDW is added to each periodic payment.1

The Lincoln Parish Sales & Use Tax Commission (“the Commission”) conducted an audit of RAC’s records for the period of January 1, 2004, through March 31, 2007. During the course of the audit, it was discovered that RAC had collected sales taxes from its customers for the rental/lease of items, but had failed to charge, collect and remit sales taxes for the LDW purchases. The Commission issued a tax assessment in the amount of $15,433.11, which included penalties for nonpayment of taxes. RAC paid the full amount under protest. Thereafter, RAC filed the instant lawsuit, naming the Commission and Jerry W. Moore, in his capacity as its administrator, as defendants. RAC alleged that LDW payments were not taxable and requested a refund of the amount it had submitted under protest. The Commission filed an answer and a reconventional demand, alleging that it was entitled to retain the taxes levied, plus interest, penalties and attorney’s fees.

Subsequently, both parties moved for summary judgment. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the Commission, concluding that the proceeds from the LDW sales were taxable “gross proceeds.” The court declared that the sum of $15,433.11, which RAC had paid under protest, was the property of. the Commission and ordered that sum.|4to be released from escrow. The court also ordered RAC to pay an additional amount of $1,543.31 in attorney’s fees. RAC’s motion for summary judgment was denied.

RAC now appeals. The Commission has answered the appeal, requesting that this [98]*98Court “award additional attomeyfs] fees for legal services rendered on appeal.”

DISCUSSION

RAC contends the district court erred in denying its motion for summary judgment and in granting summary judgment in favor of the Commission. RAC argues that the monies received by RAC for the LDW purchases were not subject to taxation because there is no specific provision in the tax statutes and ordinances which provide for the waivers.

A motion for summary judgment is a procedural device used when there is no genuine issue of material fact for all or part of the relief prayed for by a litigant. Somalia, v. Ran, 2007-1726 (La.2/26/08), 977 So.2d 880; Duncan v. USAA Ins. Co., 2006-368 (La.11/29/06), 950 So.2d 544; see also LSA-C.C.P. art. 966. Appellate courts review summary judgments de novo, while considering the record and all reasonable inferences drawn from the record in the light most favorable to the non-movant. Hines v. Garrett, 2004-0806 (La.6/25/04), 876 So.2d 764; Austin v. Bundrick, 41,064 (La.App.2d Cir.6/30/06), 935 So.2d 836. Summary judgment is warranted only if there is no genuine issue of material fact and the mover is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. LSA-C.C.P. art. 966(C)(1).

The burden of proof remains with the movant. LSA-C.C.P. art. 966(C)(2). However, if the movant will not bear the burden of proof at trial Ron the matter that is before the court on the motion for summary judgment, the movant’s burden on the motion does not require him to negate all essential elements of the adverse party’s claim, action, or defense, but rather to point out to the court that there is an absence of factual support for one or more elements essential to the adverse party’s claim, action, or defense. Id. Thereafter, if the adverse party fails to produce factual support sufficient to establish that he or she will be able to satisfy his or her evidentiary burden of proof at trial, then there is no genuine issue of material fact. Id.

LSA-R.S. 47:302 provides, in pertinent part:

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B. There is hereby levied a tax upon the lease or rental within this state of each item or article of tangible personal property, as defined herein; the levy of said tax to be as follows:
(1) At the rate of two per centum (2%) of the gross proceeds derived from the lease or rental of tangible personal property, as defined herein, where the lease or rental of such property is an established business, or part of an established business, or the same is incidental or germane to the said business.
* * 2j

In determining whether a transaction is taxable under the Louisiana sales and use tax statutes, courts have looked at the “essence of’ or the “real object” of the transaction. See, Enterprise Leasing Co. of New Orleans v. Curtis, 2007-0354 (La.App. 1st Cir.11/2/07), 977 So.2d 975, writ denied, 2007-2320 (La.2/1/08), 976 So.2d 719; McNamara v. Electrode Corp., 418 So.2d 652 (La.App. 1st Cir.), writ denied, 420 So.2d 986 (La.1982).

|fiIn the instant case, the trial court relied upon Enterprise Leasing, supra, in concluding that the proceeds derived from [99]*99the LDW sales were taxable. In that case, Enterprise was in the business of renting automobiles to customers. When renting an automobile, Enterprise customers had the option of either accepting responsibility for damage to the automobile or purchasing a collision damage waiver (“CDW’). If the customer elected to purchase a CDW, Enterprise would waive the right to recover damages from the customer for physical damage to the automobile. A dispute arose when Livingston Parish conducted an audit, which resulted in the Parish assessing sales and use taxes on monies Enterprise collected from its customers for purchases of the CDW. The court of appeal considered the res nova issue and concluded that the CDW payments were part of the gross proceeds derived from the lease or rental of automobiles and, therefore, were taxable.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
60 So. 3d 95, 2011 La. App. LEXIS 301, 2011 WL 1106690, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rent-a-center-east-inc-v-lincoln-parish-sales-use-tax-commission-lactapp-2011.