United Telephone Co. v. Tracy

705 N.E.2d 679, 84 Ohio St. 3d 506
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 24, 1999
DocketNo. 97-2462
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 705 N.E.2d 679 (United Telephone Co. v. Tracy) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United Telephone Co. v. Tracy, 705 N.E.2d 679, 84 Ohio St. 3d 506 (Ohio 1999).

Opinions

Per Curiam.

In our prior decision, we remanded this cause to the BTA for further proceedings to determine whether the dead and bad wire and fiber pairs at issue were used in business. We instructed the BTA to apply R.C. 5701.08 in accordance with the principles set forth in Hatchadorian v. Lindley (1986), 21 Ohio St.3d 66, 21 OBR 365, 488 N.E.2d 145, and Dayton Press, Inc. v. Limbach (1989), 42 Ohio St.3d 101, 537 N.E.2d 219.

In Hatchadorian, we agreed with the commissioner that the tubes contained within a coaxial cable that “had never been placed in service and were at that time incapable of use in any manner” were not being used in business. Id. at 69, 21 OBR at 367, 488 N.E.2d at 147. In Dayton Press, we affirmed the BTA’s finding that certain equipment being held for disposal was not used in business, and, therefore, not taxable.

On remand, the BTA, without taking further evidence on the issue, determined that United Telephone’s dead and bad pairs were not used in business and therefore were not subject to taxation.

In this appeal, the commissioner primarily contends that United Telephone’s unutilized cable that exists in the form of dead and bad pairs is property that is used in business and, therefore, taxable under R.C. 5727.06 and 5709.01. We disagree.

In essence the commissioner asks that we overturn our prior decision in Hatchadorian. In Hatchadorian, the commissioner determined that the tubes contained in the coaxial cable “were not ‘installed and in operation or capable of operation in the business for which acquired.’ ” Id. at 69, 21 OBR at 368, 488 N.E.2d at 147. We affirmed Hatchadorian in the prior appeal of this matter, and we decline to reverse it here.

The commissioner next attempts to distinguish this case from Hatchadorian. We will discuss each of the commissioner’s contentions individually.

The commissioner first contends that because the value of the dead and bad pairs is included in United Telephone’s public utility rate base, it must also be included for personal property tax purposes. We disagree.

In his dissent in Hatchadorian, Justice Locher set forth this argument. Nevertheless, the court rejected it. We reject it here. Subjecting property to taxation occurs under tax statutes, not public utility rate statutes.

The commissioner next contends that the coaxial tubes in Hatchadorian are not the same as the wires and fibers involved here. In addition, he further contends that the cost for placing the unattached coaxial cable into service in Hatchadorian was greater than the cost for placing United Telephone’s dead wires and fibers into service. Such distinctions are not factually relevant in this case.

[510]*510Factual differences in the type of wire or fiber, or the cost to place them into service, do not distinguish this case from Hatchadorian. The type of wire or fiber, or whether it cost more or less to place it in service than another type of wire or fiber, is not relevant in determining whether the wire or fiber pair is used in business. The relevant fact is the status of the wire or fiber pair on tax listing day. R.C. 5727.06.

The commissioner next contends that because the entire cable is taxed when it is being held in inventory, no part of it can later be excepted from taxation. We disagree.

The fact that the cable, including the dead and bad pairs contained within it, may have been subjected to taxation as inventory at some time in the past is not relevant to its current tax status. For personal property tax purposes the status of the property on the tax listing date is the relevant fact that determines its taxability. R.C. 5727.06.

The commissioner also contends that those pairs that had been connected at one time but were later disconnected, should not be included as dead pairs. We agree.

The testimony before the BTA established that pairs of wires or fibers that had been placed in service, but were temporarily disconnected on the tax listing date, were defined as “vacant” pairs. Our decision in Hatchadorian did not go so far as to include within the definition of “dead pairs” those pairs that had been connected but had been temporarily disconnected on tax listing day. In Hatchadorian, we expressly stated that the tubes in question “had never been placed in service.” (Emphasis added.) Id. at 69, 21 OBR at 367, 488 N.E.2d at 147. There is a difference for personal property tax purposes between wires or fibers that have been placed in service and then temporarily taken out of service and those that have never been placed in service. Only those pairs that have never been placed into service can be considered as not being used in business.

United Telephone argues that our prior decision in Gannett Satellite Info. Network, Inc. v. Limbach (1989), 45 Ohio St.3d 148, 543 N.E.2d 1183, controls the issue of vacant pairs. It argues that Gannett exempts personal property that on tax listing day was not being used, even though it previously had been in use. United Telephone misinterprets Gannett. In Gannett, we held that the personal property tax did not apply to inoperable printing presses in the process of being removed. The important distinction between Gannett and the present case is that in Gannett, Gannett did not intend to operate the printing presses again. Here, the withdrawal of the vacant pairs from service is only temporary, and United Telephone intends to place them back into service. These vacant pairs are used in business and are not to be counted as dead pairs that are not used in business.

[511]*511The commissioner next contends that the BTA’s decision to allow United Telephone to attempt to prove the extent and value of its dead and bad pairs violated the doctrines of collateral estoppel and res judicata. We disagree.

Collateral estoppel and res judicata did not apply to this case on remand. In Superior’s Brand Meats, Inc. v. Lindley (1980), 62 Ohio St.2d 133, 16 O.O.3d 150, 403 N.E.2d 996, we determined that collateral estoppel applied to cases before the BTA to “bar litigation of issues in a second administrative proceeding.” Id. at syllabus. Here the BTA did not conduct a second administrative proceeding; the remanded proceeding was part of the same administrative proceeding.

Likewise, res judicata did not apply. In Quality Ready Mix, Inc. v. Mamone (1988), 35 Ohio St.3d 224, 227, 520 N.E.2d 193, 196-197, we cited the following definition for res judicata: “ ‘ “[A]n existing final judgment rendered upon the merits, without fraud or collusion, by a court of competent jurisdiction, is conclusive of rights, questions and facts in issue, as to the parties and their privies, in all other actions in the same or any other judicial tribunal of concurrent jurisdiction.” ’ ” Here, again, as with collateral estoppel, another action must be filed.

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Bluebook (online)
705 N.E.2d 679, 84 Ohio St. 3d 506, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-telephone-co-v-tracy-ohio-1999.