Scientific Drilling International, Inc. v. Meche

29 So. 3d 1283, 9 La.App. 3 Cir. 1120, 2010 La. App. LEXIS 164, 2010 WL 363868
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 3, 2010
Docket09-1120
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 29 So. 3d 1283 (Scientific Drilling International, Inc. v. Meche) 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
Scientific Drilling International, Inc. v. Meche, 29 So. 3d 1283, 9 La.App. 3 Cir. 1120, 2010 La. App. LEXIS 164, 2010 WL 363868 (La. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinions

GENOVESE, Judge.

| iDefendant/Appellant, Carl Meche, the Director of the Lafayette Parish School Board Sales Tax Division (School Board), appeals from the trial court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of Plaintiff/Appel-lee, Scientific Drilling International, Inc. (Scientific), finding no use tax was owed by Scientific to the School Board. For the following reasons, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.

FACTS

Scientific filed a Petition for Refund of Tax Paid Under Protest against the School Board in December of 2006. Scientific’s payment of a use tax to the School Board was made, under protest, pursuant to an audit of Scientific’s business operations from May 1, 2003, through March 31, 2006.

Both Scientific and the School Board filed motions for summary judgment. According to the School Board’s Motion for Partial Summary Judgment, it “issued to [Scientific] a formal Notice of Assessment on July 10, 2006” after which Scientific paid “$443,629.24 ... under protest....”

In its Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment, Scientific asserted that it was entitled to a “refund [of] the entirety of [its] payment under protest.” In its memorandum in support of its motion, Scientific argued that according to the Lafayette Parish School Board Sales and Use Tax Ordinance (Lafayette Ordinance), “only tangible personal property that is stored for use in the Parish is subject to the tax levy by the Ordinance.”

A hearing on the parties’ counter motions for summary judgment was held on July 20, 2009. The trial court ruled in favor of Scientific, stating: “It appears to me that no tax was levied on property stored for use in another parish, no tax was levied |2by the taxing authority.” A [1285]*1285judgment to this effect was signed by the trial court the same day. The School Board appeals.

ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR

The School Board asserts the following assignments of error:

I. The [trial court] committed reversible error in granting the [Cross-]Motion for Summary Judgment filed by Scientific, and in denying the Motion for Partial Summary Judgment filed by the School Board, by holding that the applicable Lafayette Parish Ordinances do not impose a use tax on articles of tangible personal property purchased out-of-state tax free and then imported into Lafayette Parish for interchangeable, universal,] and indiscriminate use both within and outside the Parish.
II. The [trial court] committed reversible error in failing to hold that pursuant to the “taxable moment” rale, adopted by the Supreme Court of Louisiana and the Third Circuit Court of Appeal, the use tax attached the moment the imported property had ended its interstate travels, came to rest in Lafayette Parish, and became a part of the mass of the property of Lafayette Parish were it was stored, repaired[,] and distributed.
III. The [trial court] committed reversible error in failing to hold that Scientific overcame the legal presumption that its imported property, upon coming to rest in Lafayette Parish for interchangeable, universal!,] and indiscriminate ultimate use in all of Scientific’s market areas, was presumed to be subject to Lafayette Parish use tax.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

Our Louisiana Supreme Court has instructed us on the standard of review relative to a motion for summary judgment as follows:

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. Duncan v. U.S.A.A. Ins. Co., 2006-363[,] p. 3 (La.11/29/06), 950 So.2d 544, 546, see [La.Code Civ. P.] art. 966. A summary judgment is reviewed on appeal de novo, with the appellate court using the same criteria that govern the trial court’s determination of whether summary judgment is appropriate; ie. whether there is any genuine issue of material fact, and whether the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Wright v. Louisiana Power & Light, 2006-1181[,] p. 17 (La.3/9/07), 951 So.2d 1058, 1070; King v. Parish National Bank, 2004-0337[,] p. 7 (La.10/19/04), 885 So.2d 540, 545; Jones v. Estate of Santiago, 2003—1424[,] p. 5 (La.4/14/04), 870 So.2d 1002, 1006.

Samaba v. Rau, 07-1726, pp. 3-4 (La.2/26/08), 977 So.2d 880, 882-83 (footnote omitted).

LAW AND DISCUSSION

Louisiana Civil Code Article 9 provides: “When a law is clear and unambiguous and its application does not lead to absurd consequences, the law shall be applied as written and no further interpretation may be made in search of the intent of the legislature.”

[T]ax statutes are to be interpreted liberally in favor of the taxpayer, and if the statute can reasonably be interpreted more than one way, the interpretation less onerous to the taxpayer shall be adopted. Tarver v. E.I. DuPont de [1286]*1286Nemours and Co., 616 So.2d 216 (La.App. 5th Cir.1993), affirmed, 93-1005 (La.3/24/95); 634 So.2d 356.

Clyde Juneau Co., Inc. v. Caddo-Shreveport Sales and Use Tax Comm’n, 28,433, p. 6 (La.App. 2 Cir. 6/26/96), 677 So.2d 610, 613.

The relevant section of the Lafayette ordinance specifically applicable in this case provides, in pertinent part (emphasis added):

IMPOSITION OF TAX
Section 2.01. There is hereby levied from and after December 1, 1965, for the purposes stated in the proposition set forth in the preamble to this resolution, a tax upon the sale at retail, the use, the lease or rental, the consumption and storage for use or consumption of tangible personal property and on sales of services within this Parish, as defined herein;....

On appeal, the School Board cites Firestone Polymers v. Calcasieu Parish School System, 07-501 (La.App. 3 Cir. 10/31/07), 969 So.2d 748, and Word of Life Christian Center v. West, 04-1484 (La.4/17/06), 936 So.2d 1226, as applicable jurisprudence in the instant matter. The School Board argues that these cases ^support its contention that all tangible property imported into Lafayette Parish is taxable at the moment it comes to rest in the parish.

In Firestone, the taxpayer sought a refund of taxes paid on shipping containers leased out-of-state, delivered to its plant in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana, and stored and maintained there while periodically used in interstate commerce. This court affirmed the summary judgment in favor of the tax collector because Louisiana’s interstate commerce exclusion, found in La. R.S. 47:305(E), did not prohibit the tax collector from applying the lease tax on shipping containers.

In Word of Life, the taxpayer, a nonprofit religious organization located in Ascension Parish, challenged a use tax levied on its purchase and use of airplanes. After an extensive examination of the “taxable moment” and “ultimate use” doctrines, our supreme court held that once the airplanes were imported and parked in a hangar in East Baton Rouge Parish, they came to rest in Louisiana; thus, a “taxable moment” occurred in Louisiana. Id. at 1239.

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29 So. 3d 1283, 9 La.App. 3 Cir. 1120, 2010 La. App. LEXIS 164, 2010 WL 363868, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/scientific-drilling-international-inc-v-meche-lactapp-2010.