Quaker Oats Co. v. Stanton

• Decision Date: 31 January 2003
• Docket Number: No. WD 60920.,WD 60920.
• Citation: 96 S.W.3d 133
• Parties: The QUAKER OATS COMPANY, Respondent, v. Gary STANTON, Assessor for Buchanan County, and Pat Rethemeyer, Collector for Buchanan County, Appellants.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

96 S.W.3d 133

The QUAKER OATS COMPANY, Respondent, v. Gary STANTON, Assessor for Buchanan County, and Pat Rethemeyer, Collector for Buchanan County, Appellants.

No. WD 60920.

Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District.

January 31, 2003.

Pamela L. Cone, St. Joseph, MO, for appellants.

Brian T. Howes, Kansas City, MO, for respondent.

Before BRECKENRIDGE, P.J., LOWENSTEIN and SMART, JJ.

PATRICIA BRECKENRIDGE, Judge.

Gary Stanton, Assessor for Buchanan County,¹ and Pat Rethemeyer,² Collector for Buchanan County, appeal from a judgment ordering the Assessor to correct the assessment roll to reflect a $2,666,667 reduction in the assessment of Quaker Oats' tangible personal property, and ordering the Collector to refund $126,400 in excess taxes that Quaker Oats paid. In 1999, Quaker Oats, because of a clerical error, overpaid $126,400 in personal property taxes. Pursuant to section 139.031.5, RSMo 2000,³ it filed a claim against the Assessor and Collector to correct the assessment roll and for a refund of the taxes it overpaid. The trial court entered a judgment in Quaker Oats' favor. On appeal, the Assessor and Collector allege that the trial court erred because (1) section 139.031.5 does not allow claims against assessors; (2) Quaker Oats did not exhaust its administrative remedies; and (3) the Collector does not possess or control the funds to make the refund. Because Quaker Oats was challenging an incorrect valuation of its property, it was required to exhaust its administrative remedies and pay its taxes under protest, which it did not do. As a result, Quaker Oats' claim for a refund of the excess taxes paid is barred and the judgment of the trial court is reversed.

Factual and Procedural Background

The parties filed a joint stipulation of undisputed facts and those facts are that Quaker Oats, a corporation organized under the laws of New Jersey, operated a manufacturing facility in St. Joseph during 1999. Because it had a place of business in Missouri, Quaker Oats was subject to Missouri tangible personal property taxes for the personal property that was located in this state. To facilitate the computation of taxes owed, Quaker Oats was required by Missouri law to file a Business Personal Property Tax Declaration for Buchanan County. The declaration that Quaker Oats filed in 1999 overstated the original cost of Quaker Oats' personal property by $10,000,000. The declaration stated that the original cost of its personal property acquired in 1997 was $18,452,482, when the actual cost of the property was $8,452,482. This overstatement was the result of a clerical error made by Quaker Oats when hand-written notations were typed onto the declaration form.

A staff person in the Buchanan County assessor's office utilized the figures on Quaker Oats' declaration form to compute the assessed value of Quaker Oats' personal property in Buchanan County. A copy of the 1999 Business Personal Property Tax Declaration with figures showing the assessed value of the property was mailed to Quaker Oats on April 23, 1999. Quaker Oats' overstatement of the cost of its personal property caused it to be assessed $126,400 more than it actually owed for 1999 personal property taxes. Quaker Oats did not notice the error when it received the copy of the 1999 Business Personal Property Tax Declaration sent by the assessor's office. As a result, it did not file an appeal of the 1999 business personal property tax assessment with the Buchanan County Board of Equalization.

Later in the year, the Collector mailed a personal property tax bill to Quaker Oats. Included with the tax bill was a notice.

The notice read, in relevant part: "Notice to Taxpayer, Missouri Law States: 1. It is the Obligation of the taxpayer to see that his property is properly described and assessed on the tax books. PLEASE CHECK STATEMENT BEFORE PAYMENT." Quaker Oats paid the amount of personal property tax billed, without protest, on December 27, 1999.

Quaker Oats subsequently discovered its error and, within one year of payment, made a written application for refund of the taxes, pursuant to section 139.031.5, claiming that excess taxes were mistakenly or erroneously paid. The application for a refund was made to the Collector and also requested that the Assessor correct the assessment roll. The Collector refused to issue a refund, and the Assessor refused to correct the assessment roll. Subsequently, on December 21, 2000, Quaker Oats filed, in the Circuit Court of Buchanan County, a "Petition to Recover Property Tax Mistakenly or Erroneously Paid."

The parties filed motions for summary judgment upon the stipulated facts. In an amended judgment, dated September 5, 2001, the trial court found in favor of Quaker Oats and ordered the Assessor to correct the assessment to reflect a $2,666,667 reduction in the assessed value of Quaker Oats' tangible personal property. The trial court further ordered the Collector to refund $126,400 to Quaker Oats. This appeal followed.

Standard of Review

Both parties argue that the standard of review is under Murphy v. Carron, 536 S.W.2d 30, 32 (Mo. banc 1976). There is case authority for this position. In Cappo v. Allstate Life Insurance Co., 809 S.W.2d 131, 132-33 (Mo.App.1991), this court held that when a case is submitted to the trial court upon a stipulation of facts, a grant of summary judgment should be considered a judgment on the merits, and the standard of review should be under Murphy v. Carron. See also King v. Jones, 971 S.W.2d 916, 919 (Mo.App.1998) (recognizing and applying this holding from Cappo). In contrast to the standard of review in these cases, however, the Supreme Court has applied the summary judgment standard of review to an appeal from an order granting summary judgment upon stipulated facts. Johnson v. McDonnell Douglas Corp., 745 S.W.2d 661, 662 (Mo. banc 1988). Under Johnson, then, the proper standard of review is the standard of review for a grant of summary judgment.

Therefore, the holdings of Cappo and King are in conflict with the Supreme Court's decision in Johnson and are also inconsistent with this court's more recent decisions. See Transatlantic Ltd. v. Salva, 71 S.W.3d 670, 674 (Mo.App.2002) (stating that "[e]ven if the parties in cross motions for summary judgment would agree that all facts were undisputed, it would not convert the proceeding to a nonjury trial under Rule 73.01," and, thus, the standard of review would not be under Murphy v. Carron); A & L Holding Co. v. S. Pac. Bank, 34 S.W.3d 415, 417 (Mo.App. 2000) (holding that the standard of review for an appeal from a grant of summary judgment based upon stipulated facts is that for any grant of summary judgment). This court is compelled to follow the most recent holding of the Supreme Court, as it did in Transatlantic and A & L Holding Co., so the standard of review is that applicable to the grant of summary judgment. Kansas Ass'n of Private Investigators v. Mulvihill, 35 S.W.3d 425, 432 (Mo.App. 2000).

The standard of review for an appeal from a grant of summary judgment is controlled by ITT Commercial Finance Corp. v. Mid-America Marine Supply Corp., 854 S.W.2d 371 (Mo. banc 1993).⁴ A & L Holding Co., 34 S.W.3d at 417. Under ITT, appellate review of a grant of summary judgment is essentially de novo. ITT, 854 S.W.2d at 376. This court's criteria for ascertaining the propriety of summary judgment are the same as those that a trial court uses initially. Id. This court does not defer to the trial court's order granting summary judgment because the initial judgment of the trial court is based on the record submitted and amounts to a decision on a question of law. Id. The moving party has the burden of establishing a right to judgment as a matter of law and that no genuine issue of material fact exists. Id. at 378. Because the parties have stipulated to the facts, the only question before this court "is whether the trial court drew the proper legal conclusion from the facts." Perry State Bank v. Farmers Alliance Mut. Ins. Co., 953 S.W.2d 155, 157 (Mo.App.1997).

Exhaustion of Administrative Remedies and Payment of Taxes Under Protest Required

The Assessor and Collector's second point is dispositive, so that point alone will be addressed. In this point, the Assessor and Collector assert that the trial court erred in ordering the Assessor to correct Quaker Oats' 1999 personal property tax assessment and ordering the Collector to refund, under section 139.031.5, the excess taxes Quaker Oats paid as a result of its erroneous Business Personal Property Tax Declaration. The basis of these claims of error is that Quaker Oats is not entitled to relief under the provisions of section 139.031.5 because it failed to exhaust its administrative remedies.

The administrative remedies that the Assessor and Collector claim Quaker Oats was required to exhaust are part of what the Supreme Court has called "a complex scheme of property taxation." Bartlett v. Ross, 891 S.W.2d 114, 116 (Mo. banc 1995). That complex scheme was described by the Supreme Court in Bartlett:

The assessor initiates the process by making a property assessment, which may be appealed (1) to the county board of equalization; then (2) to the State Tax Commission if the dispute involves "assessment ..., the correct valuation ..., the method or formula used in determining the valuation ..., or the assignment of a discriminatory assessment;"(FN2)⁵ and finally (3) to circuit court. §§ 137.335, 137.385, 138.110, 138.430.1. To receive a refund, taxpayers must exhaust applicable administrative remedies.

Id. (case citations omitted). While pursuing these administrative remedies, taxpayers can avoid penalties and interest, if their challenge to the tax is ultimately unsuccessful, by paying the tax under protest during the pendency of the administrative proceedings and filing with the collector "a written statement setting forth the grounds upon which [the] protest is based."...