State ex rel. Edmondson v. Grand River Enterprises Six Nations, Ltd.

2013 OK CIV APP 58, 308 P.3d 1057, 2013 WL 3389079, 2013 Okla. Civ. App. LEXIS 47
CourtCourt of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedMarch 27, 2013
DocketNo. 109484
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 2013 OK CIV APP 58 (State ex rel. Edmondson v. Grand River Enterprises Six Nations, Ltd.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State ex rel. Edmondson v. Grand River Enterprises Six Nations, Ltd., 2013 OK CIV APP 58, 308 P.3d 1057, 2013 WL 3389079, 2013 Okla. Civ. App. LEXIS 47 (Okla. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

DEBORAH B. BARNES, Vice-Chief Judge.

¶1 This is the second appeal in this case. The first appeal was taken from the trial court's May 2009 order granting summary judgment in favor of the State of Oklahoma ex rel. Office of the Attorney General of Oklahoma (AG) and against Grand River Enterprises Six Nations, Ltd., a Canadian corporation (GRE). This Court dismissed that appeal for lack of an appealable order. To-baccoville USA, Inc., a South Carolina corporation (Tobaccoville), and GRE now appeal the trial court's "Order Nune Pro Tune of Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law," filed on April 20, 2011, denying "in their entirety" the claims of GRE and Tobaccoville and entering judgment in favor of AG and the State of Oklahoma ex rel. Oklahoma Tax Commission (OTC) (or, collectively, the State). Based on our review of the record on appeal and applicable law, we affirm.

BACKGROUND

¶2 In 1998, Oklahoma, along with forty-five other states, entered into a Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) with the four largest American tobacco product manufacturers.1 These first four tobacco manufacturer signatories to the MSA agreed to make annual payments to the settling states in perpetuity and, in exchange, the settling states agreed to release them from liability for claims to recover for tobacco-related [1060]*1060health costs.2 Other tobacco manufacturers may elect to participate in the MSA at any time and be released from Hability.

¶3 Manufacturers of tobacco products that continue to sell cigarettes in the United States without joining the MSA are known as "non-participating manufacturers" (NPMs). GRE is an NPM. Pursuant to the MSA, "each of the settling states also enacted legislation that required [NPMs] who sell cigarettes in a particular state ... to make annual payments to be held in an escrow fund for twenty-five years."3 In 1999, the Oklahoma Legislature amended the Prevention of Youth Access to Tobaceo Act (the Act), 37 O.8.2011 §§ 600.1-600.28, to address NPM escrow payments. The added sections, §§ 600.21-600.23, are commonly referred to as the "Escrow Statute."

¶4 Section 600.21 of the Escrow Statute provides in pertinent part as follows:

C. The Oklahoma Legislature ... finds that it is the policy of the State of Oklahoma that financial burdens imposed on the state by cigarette smoking should be borne by tobacco product manufacturers rather than by the State of Oklahoma to the extent that such manufacturers either determine to enter into a settlement with the state, or are found culpable by the court....
D. The Oklahoma Legislature ... finds that it would be contrary to the policy of the State of Oklahoma if tobacco product manufacturers who determine not to enter into [the MSA] could use a resulting cost advantage to derive large, short-term profits in the years before liability may arise without ensuring that the state will have an eventual source of recovery from them if they are proven to have acted culpably; and that it is thus in the interest of the State of Oklahoma to require that such manufacturers establish a reserve fund to guarantee a source of compensation and to prevent such manufacturers from deriving large, short-term profits and then becoming judgment-proof before liability may arise.

Pursuant to the Escrow Statutes: NPMs are to make these escrow deposits based upon the number of cigarette "units sold" in Oklahoma each year; interest or appreciation on the funds reverts back to the appropriate NPM; and the escrow deposits that have not been used to pay a judgment or settlement "shall be released from escrow and revert back to such tobacco product manufacturer twenty-five (25) years after the date on which they were placed into escrow." § 600.23(B)(3).

¶5 "Soon after passage of [the Escrow Statute], it became clear ... that [NPMs] were evading their escrow obligation. Oklahoma ... responded to this noncompliance by enacting complementary enforcement legislation." Native Wholesale Supply, ¶ 4, 237 P.3d at 203. This legislation, 68 O.S.Supp. 2004 §§ 360.1-360.9 (amended in 2008 and 2010), known as the Master Settlement Agreement Complementary Act, provides in part that

all tobacco product manufacturers whose products are sold in Oklahoma [are] to provide the Attorney General's office with an annual certification that the manufacturer has either signed on to participate in the MSA or is fully compliant with the qualifying statute's escrow requirement. [1061]*1061The Complementary Act requires the Attorney General's Office to publish on its website an annual list of all [NPMs] who have complied with the certification requirement and met their eserow obligation.

Native Wholesale Supply, ¶ 4, 237 P.3d at 203-204 (footnotes omitted).

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶ 6 As stated in Case No. 107,168, the first appeal arose out of two consolidated lawsuits regarding a dispute, on the one hand, between OTC and AG as to the proper enforcement of the Escrow Statute and, on the other hand, between the State and GRE and To-baccoville, regarding escrow payments for "units sold" in 2005 and 2006.

¶7 In August of 2006, AG sued GRE alleging it knowingly failed to comply with the Escrow Statute for the year 2005. Prior to answering, GRE and Tobaccoville filed a separate lawsuit against the State, seeking a declaratory judgment interpreting the Escrow Statute, an accounting, and injunctive relief regarding payments under the Escrow Statute.

¶8 In September of 2006, GRE answered the petition filed by AG, alleging it does not sell tobacco products within Oklahoma and urging that Tobaccoville be joined in the lawsuit as a party needed for just adjudication because it sells cigarettes manufactured by GRE. GRE also alleged the State miscounted the number of "units sold" by including cigarettes sold in prior years, cigarettes sold on tribal lands, and/or cigarettes illegally sold by unauthorized third parties.

¶9 The two lawsuits were consolidated in November of 2006. With leave of court, AG filed a "supplemental petition" on June 14, 2007, adding allegations of Escrow Statute violations occurring in 2006.

¶10 In June of 2008, AG filed a motion for partial summary adjudication against GRE only. The trial court granted, in part, AG's motion against GRE, finding, in pertinent part and pursuant to the Eserow Statute, that the number of "units sold" in a year is equal to the number of packs of cigarettes manufactured by an NPM to which "a tax stamp issued by the State of Oklahoma is actually affixed" during that year. The trial court also found "that packs of cigarettes manufactured by an [NPM] which have a tax stamp issued by the State of Oklahoma affixed thereto and are sold in the State of Oklahoma by retailers owned, licensed, or operated by an Indian Tribe are 'units sold upon which escrow is due." The trial court granted partial summary adjudication in favor of AG on these issues, and stated, "A ruling on the issue of the number of 'units sold by [GRE] during the years 2005 and 2006, and corresponding escrow obligations, is reserved until such time as an evidentiary hearing is held on same."

¶11 An evidentiary hearing was held in March of 2009. AG presented three witnesses (one by deposition), and GRE presented no evidence.

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2013 OK CIV APP 58, 308 P.3d 1057, 2013 WL 3389079, 2013 Okla. Civ. App. LEXIS 47, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-edmondson-v-grand-river-enterprises-six-nations-ltd-oklacivapp-2013.