Richfield Oil Corporation v. State Board of Equalization

Citation67 S.Ct. 156,329 U.S. 69,91 L.Ed. 80
Decision Date25 November 1946
Docket NumberNo. 46,46
PartiesRICHFIELD OIL CORPORATION v. STATE BOARD OF EQUALIZATION
CourtUnited States Supreme Court

Action by Richfield Oil Corporation against State Board of Equalization to recover, with interest, a sum paid under protest as a retail sales tax and as interest thereon. A judgment was entered by the California Supreme Court, 27 Cal.2d 150, 163 P.2d 1, reversing a judgment for plaintiff after the judgment for the plaintiff had first been affirmed, 155 P.2d 1, and the plaintiff appeals.

Appeal from the Supreme Court of the State of California.

[Syllabus from pages 69-71 intentionally omitted] Mr. Norman S. Sterry, of Los Angeles, Cal., for appellant.

Mr. John L. Nourse, of Los Angeles, Cal., for appellee.

Mr. Justice DOUGLAS delivered the opinion of the Court.

This case is here on appeal from the Supreme Court of California which sustained a California tax against the claim that it was repugnant to Article I, Section 10, Clause 2 of the Constitution of the United States. Judicial Code § 237, 28 U.S.C. §§ 344(a) 861a, 28 U.S.C.A. §§ 344(a), 861a.

Appellant is engaged in producing and selling oil and oil products in California. It entered into a contract with the New Zealand government for the sale of oil. The price was f.o.b. Los Angeles, payment in London. Delivery was 'to the order of the Naval Secretary, Navy Office, Wellington, into N.Z. Naval tank steamer R.F.A. Nucula at Los Angeles, California.' The oil was to be consigned to the Naval-Officer-In-Charge, Auckland, New Zealand. Appellant carried the oil by pipe line from its refinery in California to storage tanks at the harbor where the Nucula appeared to receive the oil. When the Nucula had docked and was ready to receive the oil, appellant pumped it from the storage tanks into the vessel. Customary shipping documents were given the master, including a bill of lading which designated appellant as shipper and consigned the oil to the designated naval officer in Auckland, Payment of the price was made in London. The oil was transported to Auckland, no portion of it being used or consumed in the United States. Appellant filed with the Collector of Customs a shipper's export declaration. It did not collect, nor attempt to do so, any sales tax from the purchaser. Appellee assessed a retail sales tax against appellant meas- ured by the gross receipts from the transaction. The tax was paid under protest, a claim for refund was filed asserting that the levy of the tax violated the provisions of Article I, Section 10, Clause 2 of the Constitution of the United States and this suit was brought to obtain a refund. The California Supreme Court, one justice dissenting, first allowed a recovery on that ground. 155 P.2d 1. After a rehearing it reversed its position and held the tax constitutional, two justices dissenting. 27 Cal.2d 150, 163 P.2d 1.

I. We are met at the outset with the question whether the judgment of the California Supreme Court is a 'final judgment' within the meaning of the Judicial Code § 237, 28 U.S.C. § 344(a), 28 U.S.C.A. § 344(a). The case was tried on the pleadings and stipulated facts, a jury having been waived. The trial court found for appellant. The Supreme Court ordered that the judgment 'be and the same is hereby reversed.' The argument is that under California law where a judgment has been reversed without directions, there is a new trial; that on a new trial appellant might amend its complaint and produce other evidence; and that if a new trial were had, new or different findings of fact might be made. See Erlin v. National Union Fire Ins. Co., 7 Cal.2d 547, 61 P.2d 756.

The designation given the judgment by state practice is not controlling. Department of Banking, State of Nebraska v. Pink, 317 U.S. 264, 268, 63 S.Ct. 233, 235, 87 L.Ed. 254. The question is whether it can be said that 'there is nothing more to be decided' (Clark v. Williard, 292 U.S. 112, 118, 54 S.Ct. 615, 618, 78 L.Ed. 1160), that there has been 'an effective determination of the litigation'. Market Street R. Co. v. Railroad Commission, 324 U.S. 548, 551, 65 S.Ct. 770, 773, 89 L.Ed. 1171; See Radio Station W.O.W. v. Johnson, 326 U.S. 120, 123, 124, 65 S.Ct. 1475, 1477, 1478, 89 L.Ed. 2092. That question will be resolved not only by an examination of the entire record (Clark v. Williard, supra) but, where necessary, by resort to the local law to determine what effect the judgment has under the state rules of practice. Brady v Terminal Railroad Ass'n of St. Louis, 302 U.S. 688, 58 S.Ct. 24, 82 L.Ed. 531; Brady v. Southern R. Co., 319 U.S. 777, 63 S.Ct. 1028, 87 L.Ed. 1723. See Boskey, Finality of State Court Judgments under the Federal Judicial Code, 43 Col.L.Rev. 1002, 1005.

This suit is brought under the California Retail Sales Tax Act, § 23, and § 31, which prescribes the sole remedy for challenging the tax. The procedure prescribed is payment of the tax, the filing of a claim for refund which sets forth 'the specific grounds upon which the claim is founded,' Cal.Stats.1941, pp. 1328, 1329, and, in case the claim is denie , the institution of a suit within ninety days 'on the grounds set forth in such claim.' Cal.Stats.1939, pp. 2184, 2185. The claim thus frames and restricts the issues for the litigation. Although the Supreme Court reversed the judgment of the trial court without direction, its decision controls the disposition of the case. See Estate of Baird, 193 Cal. 225, 223 P. 974; Bank of America Nat. Trust and Savings Ass'n v. Superior Court, 20 Cal.2d 697, 128 P.2d 357. Since the facts have been stipulated1 and the Supreme Court of California has passed on the issues which control the litigation, we take it that there is nothing more to be decided. The jurisdictional objection is thus without merit. See Gulf Refining Co. of Louisiana v. United States, 269 U.S. 125, 136, 46 S.Ct. 52, 53, 70 L.Ed. 195.

II. We turn then to the merits. Article I, Section 10, Clause 2 of the Constitution provides that 'No State shall without the Consent of the Congress, lay any Imposts or Duties on Imports or Exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing it's inspection Laws: and the net Produce of all Duties and Imposts, laid by any State on Imports or Exports, shall be for the Use of the Treasury of the United States; and all such Laws shall be subject to the Revision and Controul of the Congress.'

The Supreme Court of California held that this provision did not bar the tax because the delivery of the oil which resulted in the passage of title occurred prior to the commencement of the exportation. The court suggested, and the appellee concedes, that a different result might follow if the oil had been delivered to a common carrier; 'for then it would have been placed in the hands of an instrumentality whose sole purpose is to export goods, thus indelibly characterizing the process as a part of exportation.' 27 Cal.2d at page 153, 163 P.2d at page 3. The court, in reaching the conclusion that the tax was constitutional, rested in part on our recent decisions (particularly McGoldrick v. Berwind-White Coal Mining Co., 309 U.S. 33, 60 S.Ct. 388, 84 L.Ed. 565, 128 A.L.R. 876; Department of Treasury of State of Indiana v. Wood Preserving Corporation, 313 U.S. 62, 61 S.Ct. 885, 85 L.Ed. 1188; International Harvester Co. v. Department of Treasury, 322 U.S. 340, 64 S.Ct. 1030, 88 L.Ed. 1313) which sustained the levy of certain state taxes against the claim that they violated the Commerce Clause. Article 1, § 8, Cl. 3. The court concluded that if this had been an interstate transaction, it would have been subject to the tax. It saw no greater limitation on the power of the States under Article I, Section 10, Clause 2, than this Court has found to exist under the Commerce Clause.

We do not pursue the inquiry as to the validity of the tax under the Commerce Clause. For we are of the view that whatever might be the result of that inquiry, the tax is unconstitutional under Article I, Section 10, Clause 2.

The two constitutional provisions, while related, are not coterminous. To be sure, a state tax has at times been held unconstitutional both under the Import-Export Clause and under the Commerce Clause. Brown v. State of Maryland, 12 Wheat. 419, 6 L.Ed. 678; Crew-Levick Co. v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 245 U.S. 292, 38 S.Ct. 126, 62 L.Ed. 295. But there are important differences between the two. The invalidity of one derives from the prohibition of taxation on the import or export; the validity of the other turns nowise on whether the article was, or had ever been, an import or export. See Hooven & Allison Co. v. Evatt, 324 U.S. 652, 665, 666, 65 S.Ct. 870, 877, 878, 89 L.Ed. 1252 and cases cited. Moreover, the Commerce Clause is cast, not in terms of a prohibition against taxes, but in terms of a power on the part of Congress to regulate commerce. It is well established that the Commerce Clause is a limitation upon the power of the States, even in absence of action by Congress. Southern Pacific Co. v. State of Arizona, 325 U.S. 761, 65 S.Ct. 1515, 89 L.Ed. 1915; Morgan v. Commonwealth of Virginia, 328 U.S. 373, 66 S.Ct. 1050. But the scope of the limitation has been determined by the Court in an effort to maintain an area of trade free from state interference and at the same time to make interstate commerce pay its way. As recently stated in McGoldrick v. Berwind-White Coal Mining Co., supra, 309 U.S. at page 48, 60 S.Ct. at page 393, 84 L.Ed. 565, 128 A.L.R. 876, the law under the Commerce Clause has been fashioned by the Court in an effort 'to reconcile competing constitutional demands, that commerce between the states shall not be unduly impeded by state action, and that the power to lay taxes for the support of state government shall not be unduly curtailed.' That accommodation has been made by upholding taxes designed to make interstate commerce bear a fair share of the cost of the local...

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