State v. Stewart Bros. Cotton Co.

190 So. 317, 193 La. 16, 1939 La. LEXIS 1164
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedMay 29, 1939
DocketNo. 34811.
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 190 So. 317 (State v. Stewart Bros. Cotton Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Stewart Bros. Cotton Co., 190 So. 317, 193 La. 16, 1939 La. LEXIS 1164 (La. 1939).

Opinions

HIGGINS, Justice.

The State of Louisiana, under Act 14 of the Second Extra Session of the Legislature of 1935, instituted a summary proceeding or rule against the defendant corporation for the sum of $2,155.11, for additional franchise taxes, penalties and attorneys’ fees alleged to be due for the years 1933, 1934 and 1935, under the provisions of Act 8 of 1932, as originally enacted, and as *21 amended by Act 18 of 1934, Act 25 of .the 1st Extra Session of 1934 and Act 10 of the First Extra Session of the Legislature of 1935, generally referred to as the “Franchise Tax Statutes.”

The defendant filed a plea of prescription of three years against the claim of additional taxes for 1933, an exception of prematurity to the claim for the 1935 taxes, and exceptions of no right and no cause of action to the entire claims of the State.

All of the exceptions were overruled and the defendant answered the rule, reserving the benefit of the exceptions and the plea of prescription, and reiterated them, and then denied liability.

Further answering, the defendant averred that it was a domestic corporation, organized under the laws of this State, with an authorized capital stock of $1,000,-000, consisting of 10,000 shares of a par value of $100 each; that all of the capital stock represented common stock and was issued and outstanding and owned in equal proportions by John N. Stewart, Andrew Stewart and William P. Stewart, brothers; that John N. Stewart died during May, 1929 and, in accordance with an agreement between the defendant corporation and the representatives of the estate of the deceased, it transferred one-third of its assets to his estate, in consideration of the surrender and cancellation of the 3,333% shares of the capital stock which the estate owned; that as a result of the transaction, the capital stock of the defendant corporation was reduced from $1,000,000 to $666,666.66 and, therefore, these surrendered shares were no longer outstanding and the assets of the defendant were reduced by one-third; that since these shares of the capital stock were surrendered in 1931, they were never carried as assets on the books of the defendant nor did they have any market value; that, in the alternative, if the surrendered stock should be considered “Treasury Shares” — it was at no time outstanding within the meaning of Act 8 of 1932, as amended; that, in the alternative, should the surrendered stock be considered still outstanding, it was never reflected on its balance sheets as an asset and, hence, a deduction of $333,333.33 should be made from the surplus account on the balance sheets fjor all of the years that the stock may be held to be outstanding, since a corporation can only, under the law, pur-! chase its own stock out of its surplus; that the Franchise Tax Acts should be construed to mean that the taxes be calculated only| upon the net worth of the corporation; and that this is an attempt to tax defendant on stock which is not outstanding and, if the State’s position is sustained, defendant will be deprived of its property without due process of law, within the meaning of the XIV Amendment of the Constitution of the United States, U.S.C.A., and Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution of the State of Louisiana.

On the trial of the case on its merits, the defendant corporation, in accordance with the averments of its answer, introduced evidence showing that, prior to 1929, it was a local corporation with an authorized, issued and outstanding capital stock of $1,-000,000, which was represented by 10,000 shares of a par value of $100 per share, all of which stock was owned by three broth *23 ers, in the proportion of one-third or 3,333% shares each; that John N. Stewart, one of the brothers, died in May, 1929, at which time the corporation had a surplus of $1,-712,111.23; that in 1930, in accordance with an amicable agreement, the estate of John N. Stewart received one-third of all of the corporation’s assets, in exchange for the decedent’s stock, and the certificates representing these shares were delivered to the officers of the corporation; that the charter of the corporation was not amended until the latter part of 1935, at which time the acquired and surrendered shares were formally cancelled and the capital stock reduced;' that, in the meantime, the books of the corporation reflected the authorized capital stock at $1,000,000; that the corporation was a closed one and its stock was not listed; and that the surrendered stock or “Treasury Stock” had no value, was never reissued, nor was such action ever contemplated.

The defendant’s Franchise Tax Return to the Secretary of State for the year 1933 showed the amount of capital stock authorized as $1,000,000, less Treasury Shares of $33,333.33, or $666,666.66, and the amount of capital stock subscribed and paid in as $666,-666.66. The number of shares of common stock were 6,666%, which were of a par value of $100 each or a total of $666,666.66. The amount of surplus was given at $164,-004.99. There were no undivided profits reported. The capital stock and surplus amounted to $830,617.65 less claimed deductions reducing the total of the capital stock and surplus to the sum of $611,171.65, which amount was taxable at $1 per $1,000, and the defendant therefore remitted $611.-77. The return also shows in detail the movable and immovable assets of the corporation and their values.

The return for the year 1934, for all practical purposes of this case, is identical with that of the year 1933, except the surplus is given at $161,231.75, and the tax rate $1.50 for each $1,000,

The 1935 return is generally the same as the years 1933 and 1934, but the surplus is reported to be $104,883.66 and the tax rate $2 for each $1,000.

The trial judge not only adopted the State’s views of the case that the $333,333.-33, representing the par value of the 3,-333% shares acquired by the corporation from the estate of John N. Stewart, was issued and outstanding capital stock, subject to the franchise tax and, therefore, not deductible from the capital stock of $1,000,-000, but also concluded that under the law, the corporation owed the tax on $904,037.-08, the value of one-third of the total assets of the corporation delivered to the decedent’s estate from the surplus, in consideration of his 3,333% shares, on the grounds that these Treasury Shares had not been formally cancelled by a reduction of the capital stock of the corporation, as required by Section 45 of Act 250 of 1928, the General Corporation Act, and that, under the provisions of Section 23 of this Statute, the officers of the corporation were prohibited from reissuing these shares of stock for a price less than the amount for which they had acquired them.

The defendant appealed.

The plea of prescription of three years against the claim for an additional tax for. *25 the year 1933 is based on Section 1 of Act 148 of 1906. The defendant argues that as this is the general law with reference to license taxes and the tax in question falls in that category, it is prescribed, as more than three years had elapsed from the time the tax became due and exigible until the suit was filed.

Section 16 of Article 19 of the Constitution of the State of Louisiana of 1921 provides: “Prescription shall riot run against the State in any civil matter, unless otherwise provided in this Constitution or expressly by law.”

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Bluebook (online)
190 So. 317, 193 La. 16, 1939 La. LEXIS 1164, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-stewart-bros-cotton-co-la-1939.