Ex Parte State of Alabama Dept. of Revenue, 1061766.

• Decision Date: 21 March 2008
• Docket Number: 1061766.
• Parties: Ex parte STATE OF ALABAMA DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE. (In re State of Alabama Department of Revenue v. Hoover, Inc.).
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

993 So.2d 898 Ex parte STATE OF ALABAMA DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE.
(In re State of Alabama Department of Revenue
v.
Hoover, Inc.). 1061766. Supreme Court of Alabama. March 21, 2008.

[993 So.2d 899]

Troy King, atty. gen., and Margaret Johnson McNeill, asst. atty. gen., and asst. counsel, Department of Revenue, for petitioner.

Bruce P. Ely and Philip J. Carroll III of Bradley Arant Rose & White, LLP, Birmingham; and Blake A. Madison and Justin G. Williams of Tanner & Guin, LLC, Tuscaloosa, for respondent.

STUART, Justice.

The State of Alabama Department of Revenue ("the Department") petitioned this Court for a writ of certiorari to review the decision of the Court of Civil Appeals in State Department of Revenue v. Hoover, Inc., 993 So.2d 889 (Ala.Civ.App.2007). Specifically, the Department asked this Court to overrule Hoover, Inc. v. State Department of Revenue, 833 So.2d 32 (Ala. 2002), and Ex parte Hoover, Inc., 956 So.2d 1149 (Ala.2006) (hereinafter collectively referred to as "Hoover I"). We granted the writ on this ground. However, after reviewing the briefs of the parties, we determine that we cannot reach the issue necessary to overrule Hoover I.

Hoover I involved the same fundamental issue that is the subject of the present case; the only differences are the tax years involved and the amounts of sales taxes assessed by the Department. In the present case, the Court of Civil Appeals held that the doctrine of collateral estoppel barred the relitigation of any issue in a tax case when the controlling facts and applicable legal principles are the same as in the prior litigation. The Department did not challenge this holding in its petition. Instead, the Department asked this Court to overrule Hoover I. We conclude, based on our review of this case after issuing the writ, that before this Court can entertain the Department's request to overrule Hoover I, a determination must be made as to whether collateral estoppel bars relitigation—the basis of the decision of the Court of Civil Appeals. The Department did not challenge in its petition the Court of Civil Appeals' application of collateral estoppel in this case; therefore, we did not grant certiorari review on that ground, and we

993 So.2d 900

cannot review it. See Rule 39, Ala. R.App. P.; Ex parte Franklin, 502 So.2d 828, 828 (Ala.1987) (recognizing that it is well established that this Court can address only those issues that are pleaded in the petition as grounds for certiorari review). Because the Department did not challenge collateral estoppel in its petition and because this ground must be addressed before we can reach the merits of the ground upon which we granted the petition, i.e., whether Hoover I should be overruled, we must quash the writ.

WRIT QUASHED.

COBB, C.J., and LYONS, WOODALL, SMITH, and BOLIN, JJ., concur.

SEE, J., concurs specially.

PARKER and MURDOCK, JJ., concur in the result.

SEE, Justice (concurring specially).

For the reasons stated in the main opinion, I concur to quash the writ of certiorari previously granted. I do not read the main opinion as holding that this Court is without the power to overrule Hoover, Inc. v. State Department of Revenue, 833 So.2d 32 (Ala.2002), and Ex parte Hoover, Inc., 956 So.2d 1149 (Ala.2006) (collectively referred to as "Hoover I"), without first determining whether the case is barred by collateral estoppel; rather, it holds that it is our policy to restrict review to the issues upon which we granted the petition for the writ of certiorari. Therefore, I concur in the main opinion, but I also agree with the reasoning expressed by Justice Murdock in his special writing that, although we are not required to do so, we should quash the writ in this case.

This Court has the authority to issue "such ... remedial and original writs as are necessary to give to it a general superintendence and control of courts of inferior jurisdiction." § 12-2-7(3), Ala.Code 1975. This Court has stated that "[o]ur supervisory authority, while broad, is certainly not unlimited; its use is governed by the particular circumstances of a case in accordance with our `clear duty to exercise that power whenever it is made to appear that an inferior court is guilty of usurpation or abuse of jurisdiction.' [Ex parte] Burch, 236 Ala. [662,] 666, 184 So. [694,] 698 [(1938)]." Ex parte...