Riley v. Southern LNG, Inc.
Riley v. Southern LNG, Inc.
Opinion of the Court
This is the third appeal of this case arising from the efforts of appellee Southern LNG, Inc. (“Southern”) to compel State Revenue Commissioner Lynnette T. Riley
On remand, Southern and the Commissioner filed renewed cross-motions for summary judgment. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of Southern, holding that it had no “equally convenient, complete and beneficial” remedy other than mandamus, and that its petition for mandamus therefore would lie. It denied the Commissioner’s motion for summary judgment, granted Southern’s motion for summary judgment and a writ of mandamus, and directed the Commissioner “to accept [Southern’s] ad valorem property tax returns pursuant to OCGA § 48-5-511 (a) instanter.” (Emphasis in original.) From this judgment the Commissioner appeals. Pretermit - ting whether an adequate legal remedy has been shown, we reverse the trial court’s judgment because Southern has failed to show that the Commissioner violated a clear legal duty in refusing to conclude that Southern is a “gas company” and therefore a “public utility” within the meaning of OCGA § 48-1-2 (21).
1. In Southern II, we laid out in some detail the potential issues that could determine whether an “equally convenient, complete and beneficial” legal remedy is available to Southern, including venue, sovereign immunity, and
whether the [Civil Practice Act] rules on joinder of persons necessary for a just adjudication, permissive joinder of parties, interpleader, or intervention, or any other procedural devices, allow or require the Commissioner to become a party to, or otherwise become bound by, a judgment rendered on the statutory issue in the Chatham County tax appeals, and whether Southern controls that process or can be or has been thwarted by the Commissioner.
(Citations and footnotes omitted.) Id. at 667-669 (3) (c). We also noted that such issues may depend on the litigation strategy of the parties, and could result in conflicting rulings. Id. at 666 n. 17.
The Commissioner, in a motion before this court, states that she filed a motion to intervene in the Chatham County proceedings on November 2,2016, after this case was orally argued.
In sum, the legal, procedural, and strategic obstacles outlined in Southern II remain unresolved, particularly in light of the asserted stay of proceedings. But we need not address those issues, because Southern’s petition for mandamus fails on an alternative ground: the trial court erred in finding that the Commissioner had a clear legal duty to accept Southern’s ad valorem property tax returns pursuant to OCGA § 48-5-511 (a).
2. In considering a petition for writ of mandamus,
[a] clear legal right to the relief sought may be found only where the claimant seeks to compel the performance of a public duty that an official or agency is required by law to perform. [F]or mandamus to issue, the law must not only authorize the act to be done, but must require its performance. Where performance is required by law, a clear legal right to relief will exist either where the official or agency fails entirely to act or where, in taking such required action, the official or agency commits a gross abuse of discretion.
(Citations and punctuation omitted.) Bibb County v. Monroe County, 294 Ga. 730, 735 (2) (b) (755 SE2d 760) (2014); see also Forsyth County v. White, 272 Ga. 619, 620 (2) (532 SE2d 392) (2000). Moreover,
a public official’s exercise of discretion will not be disturbed by a mandamus order unless the official’s actions were arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable. A mandamus complaint cannot succeed merely by urging that the public action it seeks to compel would be “reasonable” — mandamus is not available to remedy anything other than a public official’s (or a public body’s) discretionary abuse as evidenced by action that was arbitrary, capricious, and unreasonable.
(Citations and punctuation omitted.) Gilmer County v. City of East Ellijay, 272 Ga. 774, 777 (2) (533 SE2d 715) (2000).
In so holding, the Colonial court relied upon Southland Steamship Co. v. Dixon, 151 Ga. 216 (106 SE 111) (1921). Southland Steamship Company was a corporation organized as a navigation company and authorized by its charter to do so. Although not then doing business as a navigation company, it had recently acquired the assets of a corporation that was “admittedly a navigation company.” Id. at 219. Southland was subject to a tax execution issued by the state for failure to make its tax return to the state comptroller general. It sought an interlocutory injunction against the levy and sale but its petition was denied, and this court affirmed. In so doing, we relied upon a predecessor of OCGA § 48-1-2 (21) enumerating those companies subject to central assessment and required to make returns to the comptroller general. General Tax Act of 1918 (Ga. L. 1918, pp. 43, 76-77).
Here, in contrast, a much more limited charter provision reads in its entirety: “To engage in the natural gas and liquid hydrocarbon pipeline business except that the Corporation shall not have power to construct, maintain and/or operate public utilities within the State of Delaware.” Under the analysis employed in Colonial, Southern is therefore authorized under its certificate of incorporation only to act as a “transportation company, or common carrier.” 114 Ga. App. at 741. But our analysis does not end there, as we must also consider, as we did in Southland, supra, other statutory or regulatory provisions that place limits upon Southern’s “power ... to engage in such business.” Id.
As an officer of Southern acknowledges by affidavit, Southern “is regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (‘FERC’)” and must be authorized by that body to operate its facility. Its authorization extends only to the operation of a liquid natural gas (“LNG”) transfer station located entirely within Chatham County Unlike the taxpayers in Colonial and Southland, Southern does not appear to be authorized or have the power to “engage in the business” of a gas company or operate a pipeline within the meaning of the various regulatory provisions that we noted in Southern II, 294 Ga. at 659 (1) n. 3.
Under these circumstances, Southern has not shown that the Commissioner, in refusing to accept Southern’s ad valorem tax returns, violated a “clear legal duty,” that she failed to act, or that her actions were arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable, amounting to a gross abuse of discretion, so as to entitle Southern to a writ of mandamus. Bibb County, supra, Gilmer County, supra. We therefore reverse the judgment of the trial court.
Judgment reversed.
Lynnette T. Riley is the current State Revenue Commissioner and has been substituted as defendant in her official capacity by operation of law. See OCGA § 9-11-25 (d) (1).
The factual background and procedural history of the litigation are fully recounted in the previous appeals, and we will repeat them here only as necessary to determine the issues presented.
The burden is upon Southern to show that it lacks an adequate legal remedy so that an action for mandamus will lie. See Thompson v. Paulk, 265 Ga. 479, 479-480 (457 SE2d 665) (1995).
According to Southern’s responses to discovery, the multiple tax appeals have been consolidated.
The language interpreted by the Court of Appeals in Colonial survives, in somewhat altered form, in OCGA § 48-1-2 (21).
That Act provides, inter alia:
[A] 11 gas, water, electric light or power, steam heat, refrigerated air, dockage, or cranage, canal, toll road, toll bridge, railroad, equipment and navigation companies through their president, general manager or agents having control of the companies’ affairs in this State, shall be required to make returns of all property of said company located in this State to the Comptroller-General. . . .
While none of these statutory provisions are directly applicable with respect to Southern’s status under OCGA § 48-1-2 (21), they remain indicative of whether the Commissioner has a clear legal duty to accept Southern’s ad valorem tax returns.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- RILEY v. SOUTHERN LNG, INC.
- Cited By
- 2 cases
- Status
- Published