Gulf Refining Co v. Fox Ashland Refining Co v. Same, s. 442
| Decision Date | 02 March 1936 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 442,538,s. 442 |
| Citation | 56 S.Ct. 510,80 L.Ed. 731,297 U.S. 381 |
| Parties | GULF REFINING CO. v. FOX, Tax Com'r of West Virginia. ASHLAND REFINING CO. v. SAME |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
Appeals from the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of West Virginia.
Messrs. Arthur S. Dayton and Fred O. Blue, both of Charleston, W. va., for appellant Gulf Refining Co.
Mr. E. L. McDonald, of Lexington, Ky., for appellant Ashland Refining co.
Mr. Homer A. Holt, of Charleston, W. Va., for appellee.
These suits were brought to restrain the enforcement of a statute of West Virginia known as the 'Chain Store Tax Act,' imposing a graduated license tax upon 'stores,' which are defined as including any mercantile establishments 'which are owned, operated, maintained and/or controlled by the same person, firm, corporation, copartnership or association.' Acts of 1933, c. 36, § 8. In a companion case, this court sustained the constitutional validity of the statute and also decided that gasoline filling stations were stores or mercantile establishments within its purview. Fox v. Standard Oil Company, 294 U.S. 87, 55 S.Ct. 333, 79 L.Ed. 780. There remained, in the instant cases, the question whether certain filling stations, particularly described, were stores belonging to, operated or controlled by the complainants, respectively.
On the appeal to this court in the case of the Gulf Refining Company, it appeared that this question had not been determined by the District Court, and, on the reversal of its decree, the cause was remanded to the District Court that it might consider and decide that issue. Fox v. Gulf Refining Company, 295 U.S. 75, 55 S.Ct. 641, 79 L.Ed. 1311.
The question, in the case of the Gulf Refining Company, related to 568 filling stations operated under particular arrangements with 'Authorized Licensed Dealers.' These arrangements were evidenced by a lease of the premises from the dealer to the company, a license by the company to the dealer for retail sale of the company's products on the premises, a contract for sales by the company to the dealer, and various receipts for equipment and forms of riders. On considering the terms and effect of these agreements, the District Court, of three judges decided that the stations were controlled by the Gulf Refining Company within the meaning of the statute. 11 F.Supp. 425.
In the case of the Ashland Refining Company, the question related to 82 filling stations. The...
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