Ryder Intern. Corp. v. State
| Decision Date | 21 September 1983 |
| Citation | 439 So.2d 162 |
| Parties | RYDER INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION v. STATE of Alabama. Civ. 3631. |
| Court | Alabama Court of Civil Appeals |
Joseph B. Mays, Jr. of Bradley, Arant, Rose & White, Birmingham, and Robert C. Black of Hill, Hill, Carter, Franco, Cole & Black, Montgomery, for appellant.
Charles A. Graddick, Atty. Gen., and B. Frank Loeb, Chief Counsel, and Ronald J. Bowden, Asst. Counsel, Dept. of Revenue, and Asst. Attys. Gen., for appellee.
The trial court of Montgomery County dismissed taxpayer's appeal of a use tax assessment. The taxpayer appeals the trial court's action and we reverse.
The dispositive issue on appeal is whether the trial court committed reversible error in dismissing the taxpayer's appeal for failure to comply with a local circuit court rule. The pertinent facts are not in dispute.
In June of 1982 the Alabama Department of Revenue made a $47,208.91 assessment for use taxes against the taxpayer, Ryder International Corporation. Within the appropriate period of time, taxpayer filed its notice of appeal from the Department of Revenue's action to the Circuit Court of Montgomery County. The taxpayer did not, however, also file a complaint setting forth the issues presented for review. Under the Local Court Rules of the 15th Judicial Circuit, specifically rules 1(d)(1)(A) and 1(e), an appellant's failure to file such a complaint within thirty days from the taking of the appeal may result in a dismissal as provided in rule 41, Alabama Rules of Civil Procedure. It is undisputed that the appellant's failure to file the required complaint stemmed from appellant's Birmingham counsel's ignorance of the trial court's local rules.
In the months following the filing of the notice of appeal taxpayer's attorney conferred with the attorney from the Revenue Department in an attempt to come up with a stipulation of facts and a schedule to be submitted for the trial judge's approval. In the meantime, the trial judge noticed a scheduling conference for October 7, 1982. Because taxpayer's attorney had agreed with the Revenue Department concerning a proposed case schedule, he decided not to attend the scheduling conference and instead asked the Department of Revenue attorney to present the parties' proposed schedule to the judge. At the conference the trial judge, on his own motion, dismissed the appeal for appellant/taxpayer's failure to file the complaint required under the local rule.
Upon receiving notice of the trial court's action, the taxpayer immediately filed the required complaint, a motion for reconsideration, and an affidavit explaining that the oversight was due to out-of-town counsel's ignorance of the local rules. The motion for reconsideration was denied. (We note that when the trial court dismissed taxpayer's appeal the statutory 30-day time limit on administrative appeals had already expired. See Ala.Code § 40-2-22 (1975). Therefore, the trial court's action effectively denied taxpayer the opportunity to contest the use tax assessment. See Burden v. Yates, 644 F.2d 503 (5th Cir.1981).
The relevant portions of the local rule here at issue are as follows:
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...with court rules or orders. See, e.g., Link v. Wabash R.R., 370 U.S. 626, 82 S.Ct. 1386, 8 L.Ed.2d 734 (1962); Ryder Int'l Corp. v. State, 439 So.2d 162 (Ala.Civ.App.1983). For example, in Crutchfield v. Vogel, 233 Ala. 306, 171 So. 889 (1937), the Court held that the dismissal of an action......
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