Lee v. Gulf Oil Corp.
| Decision Date | 05 December 1941 |
| Citation | 4 So.2d 868,148 Fla. 612 |
| Parties | LEE, Comptroller, et al. v. BULF OIL CORPORATION. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
Appeal from Circuit Court, Leon County; E. C. Love Judge.
J. Tom Watson, Atty. Gen., Lawrence A. Truett, Asst. Atty. Gen., and Keen & Allen, of Tallahassee, for appellants.
H. P Osborne, Henry P. Adair and John M. McNatt, of Jacksonville for appellee.
Appeal brings for review final decree making findings and permanently enjoining the appellant, inter alia, as follows:
'It Is Ordered Adjudged and Decreed that the allegations of the bill of complaint herein be taken as confessed.
'And the court finding that the equities of this cause are with the plaintiff and that the plaintiff is entitled to the relief prayed in and by its bill of complaint and herein granted, It Is Further Ordered, Adjudged and Decreed as follows, to-wit:
'1. That the plaintiff is not, by reason of its operation of filling stations as and under the circumstances alleged in the bill of complaint herein, including its filling station at the corner of Tampa and Tyler Streets in the City of Tampa Florida, subject to or liable for the taxes prescribed and imposed upon a 'store' or 'stores' by Chapter 16848, Laws of Florida, 1935.
'2. That the warrant issued by the defendant Comptroller of the State of Florida on the 19th day of July A. D. 1940, to all and singular the Sheriffs of the State of Florida, directing them to levy upon and sell any real and personal property of the plaintiff located at the corner of Tampa and Tyler Streets, Tampa, Hillsborough County, Florida, and recorded in the office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court for Hillsborough County, Florida, all as alleged in the bill of complaint herein, is null and void and the same be and is hereby cancelled and annulled, and the Clerk of said Court be and he is hereby directed to note upon the record of said warrant the cancellation thereof.
'3. That the order for temporary injunction heretofore entered herein and the temporary injunction issued herein be and the same are hereby confirmed and said injunction is hereby made permanent, and the defendant J. M. Lee, as Comptroller of the State of Florida, his agents, servants and employees, be and they are hereby permanently enjoined and restrained from enforcing or attempting to enforce the provisions of Chapter 16848, Laws of Florida, 1935, or any of its provisions against the plaintiff, Gulf Oil Corporation, a Pennsylvania Corporation, because of its operation of a filling station or filling stations within the State of Florida at any time prior to the filing of its bill of complaint herein, or because of its operation of any such filling station or filling stations in the manner described in the bill of complaint herein subsequent to the filing of the bill of complaint herein.
The decree was entered on denial of motion to dismiss bill of complaint.
The bill alleges in effect that plaintiff, or its predecessor corporation, on and prior to June 1st 1935, operated several filling stations in the State of Florida and that it has paid all taxes required of it except that, the legality of which it now challenges; that the primary and dominant character of its business carried on at its filling stations is the sale of gasoline and other petroleum products.
It is alleged, however, that as a part of, and incident to, such business, it carries in stock and sells emergency automobile accessories and cold drinks etc. and that the sales of such commodities constitute from 6.4% to 7% of gross sales or total cash receipts.
The bill sets forth in detail allegations showing that prior to the passage of Chapter 15624, Acts of 1931, the operators of filling stations as a mere incident to the dominant and primary business of selling gasoline and other petroleum products, also carried and sold stocks of emergency automobile accessories and cold drinks and that such fact was commonly known and was known to the legislature. It is shown that in Chapter 15624, Acts of 1931, and in Chapter 16071, the Acts 1933, the term 'store' was identically defined as follows:
, and that in subparagraph (g) of Sec. 2 of Chapter 16848, Acts of 1935, there were slight changes in the definition of 'store' but such changes were immaterial, that provision reading:
The allegations of the bill show that prior to the time of the institution of this suit the...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Jackson v. Princeton Farms Corp.
...Fla. 1, 199 So. 333 (1940); State ex rel. Southern Roller Derbies, Inc. v. Wood, 145 Fla. 296, 199, So. 262 (1940); Lee v. Gulf Oil Corp., 148 Fla. 612, 4 So.2d 868 (1941); State ex rel. Bie v. Swope, 159 Fla. 18, 30 So.2d 748 (1947); Smith V. Ryan, 39 So.2d 281 (Fla.1949); Armistead v. Sta......
-
Turner v. Wainwright
...court must assume that the Legislature adopted the particular wording of a statute advisedly and for a purpose. Lee v. Gulf Oil Corp., 148 Fla. 612, 4 So.2d 868, 870 (Fla.1941). The procedures created by the 1978 and 1979 amendments became effective after petitioners' paroles were violated ......
-
Gwin v. City of Tallahassee, 40078
...act itself, to give to it a different connotation. Gaulden v. Kirk, Fla., 47 So.2d 567, and cases cited therein.6 See Lee v. Gulf Oil Corporation, 148 Fla. 612, 4 So.2d 868.7 Incidentally, the Saunders opinion was a 4-3 decision which does not give to it a strong position as a precedent or ......
-
Sirmons v. State
...body advised and informed by lawyers--adopted the particular wording of a statute advisedly and for a purpose. Lee v. Gulf Oil Corp., 148 Fla. 612, 4 So.2d 868 (1941). Thus, after applying Blockburger, the courts then look at each of the three remaining tiers of analysis--the The second tie......