Guardian Energy, LLC v. Cnty. of Waseca
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Guardian Energy, LLC v. Cnty. of Waseca
Opinion of the Court
*2We remanded this case to the Minnesota Tax Court in 2015 after concluding that the external-obsolescence calculations made by the tax court in valuing relator Guardian Energy's property were not reasonably supported by the record. Guardian Energy, LLC v. County of Waseca ,
FACTS
In 2009, Guardian purchased an ethanol-production facility located in Janesville. The Waseca County Assessor assessed property taxes based on its estimate of the property's market value for 2009, 2010, and 2011, and Guardian challenged each year's assessment by filing petitions with the tax court. The challenges were consolidated, and in 2014 the tax court issued an order determining the fair market value of the property for each tax year.
Guardian appealed the tax court's order to our court. In 2015, we affirmed the tax court's determination that the property's ethanol tanks were taxable real property, vacated the tax court's valuation determinations because its external-obsolescence calculations were not reasonably supported by the evidence, and remanded the case to the tax court, giving it the option to reopen the record. Guardian Energy ,
After additional proceedings in the tax court, on September 28, 2016, the tax court issued the 2016 Order. The tax court stayed entry of judgment on this order for 15 days-until October 13. On October 13, the County filed a "motion for correction of computational errors," asking the tax court to "amend its findings and conclusions to correct computational errors" so that the judgment would "accurately reflect the market value" of Guardian's property. The County brought its motion under Minn. R. Civ. P. 52.02, 60.01 and
On November 21-after the tax court had stayed entry of judgment but before the County's motion was resolved-Guardian filed a petition for a writ of certiorari with our court. See
We subsequently stayed further proceedings in this appeal pending entry of final judgment by the tax court.
ANALYSIS
The County moves to discharge the writ of certiorari, arguing that we lack jurisdiction. Specifically, the County contends that the 2016 Order is not a final order because the market values of Guardian's property were not finally determined until February 2018, no appeal has been taken from the 2018 order, and in the absence of finality to the September 2016 Order, we are without jurisdiction to review the merits of the tax court's valuation determinations. Our jurisdiction is a legal question that we determine de novo. In re Guardianship of Tschumy ,
The tax court is an administrative agency of the executive branch, whose jurisdiction is created and limited by statute. Beuning Family LP v. County of Stearns ,
We can review "any final order of the Tax Court."
Our decisions in Metropolitan Sheet Metal and Beuning Family addressed the final-order rule in the context of interlocutory orders of the tax court, specifically orders on motions to amend, Metropolitan Sheet Metal ,
Guardian asserts that the 2016 Order finally adjudicated its legal rights, despite the County's post-order motion, for three reasons. First, Guardian asserts that the only issue before the tax court on remand was the calculation of external obsolescence, and the County's motion for correction of errors presented a "collateral matter entirely unrelated to [that] issue." Second, Guardian argues that the County's motion requested correction of alleged clerical errors and did not seek amended findings. Thus, Guardian contends, the filing of such a motion does not affect the finality of the 2016 Order. See, e.g ., Minn. R. Civ. P. 60.01 (noting that clerical mistakes can be corrected "[d]uring the pendency of an appeal ... with leave of the appellate court"). Third, Guardian asserts that we "characterized" the County's motion as one for "correction" only, and thus gave the tax court "finite leave" to address only a correction motion.
*5The County argues that the 2016 Order was not a final order because its post-order motion "put into question the finality of the Subject Property's valuation." Specifically, the County asserts that if the tax court granted its motion, then the court necessarily would have changed the market value of the property, which could change the County's tax assessment and therefore Guardian's tax liability. Additionally, the County argues that the 2016 Order was not final once its motion was filed because, simply stated, issues were still "pending before the agency." See Schober , 853 N.W.2d at 108 (stating that "finality occurs when nothing is still pending before the agency") (citation omitted) (internal quotation marks omitted).
We first consider Guardian's argument that the County's post-order motion raised only a "collateral matter," and thus, the tax court did not have the authority to "supersede" the 2016 Order with the May 2017 Order. We remanded this case to the tax court after the first appeal because the tax court's calculation of external obsolescence was "not reasonably supported by the record as a whole." Guardian Energy ,
The County's motion asked the tax court to correct computational errors in the 2016 Order to "accurately reflect the market value" of Guardian's property. In other words, the County's post-order motion questioned the final result of the legal issue before the tax court: the correct valuation of Guardian Energy's property. While the County's motion may not have focused on external obsolescence specifically, the motion went directly to the "determinations" that we had vacated, namely "the valuation of [Guardian's] ethanol plant."
Next, we consider the nature of the County's motion. In asserting that the County's post-order motion did not affect the finality of the 2016 order, Guardian makes much of the distinction between a motion under Minn. R. Civ. P. 52.02 to amend a court's findings or judgment and a motion under Minn. R. Civ. P. 60.01 to correct clerical errors. Guardian contends that the County made the latter motion, while only the former motion affects the finality of the tax court's order. As support, Guardian cites
We have said that a clerical error subject to correction after a final order or judgment is "usually ... in the clerical work," "one of form," or "one made by the court which cannot reasonably be attributed to the exercise of judicial consideration or discretion." Wilson v. City of Fergus Falls ,
*7Here, the tax court responded to that motion by staying entry of judgment. Thus, even if the County's motion did not postpone the running of the time to appeal, the tax court's order staying judgment did, because it called into question the finality of the value determinations contained in the 2016 Order. Because that order stayed entry of judgment "pending further order of the court" (emphasis added), there was necessarily going to be another order from the tax court, and the new order, not the 2016 Order, would then be the tax court's "final order."
Guardian also argues that our orders in this appeal, filed before the tax court issued its 2018 order, effectively endorsed the clerical nature of the County's motion. We disagree. We have filed five orders in this appeal since Guardian filed its petition for a writ of certiorari in 2016. Four dealt with staying the appeal until matters pending in the tax court were resolved; the fifth order established a briefing schedule. None of those orders adopted or rejected the County's arguments regarding jurisdiction or the nature of the relief it requested from the tax court. In all of these orders, we simply recited the title of the County's motion; we did not endorse the merits of the motion nor comment on potential relief based on that motion. In addition, when the County moved to dismiss the appeal (albeit on mootness grounds as opposed to the grounds on which we dismiss it today), we specifically said that "[w]e cannot resolve Waseca County's motion ... until the record before the Tax Court is before us." Now that the record is before us, we conclude that we lack jurisdiction over Guardian's appeal.
Finally, our respect for the separation of powers between the branches of government supports our conclusion here. Unlike the district courts, the tax court is not part of the judicial branch; it is part of the executive branch. Due respect for the separate powers of that branch dictates that we not impinge on the tax court's procedures, including its authority to modify its own decisions, so long as those procedures do not "usurp judicial functions nor deprive taxpayers of constitutional rights." Wulff v. Tax Court of Appeals ,
CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, we conclude that the 2016 Order was not a final order at the time Guardian petitioned for a writ of certiorari.
Motion to dismiss granted; writ of certiorari discharged and appeal dismissed.
LILLEHAUG, J., took no part in the consideration or decision of this case.
After our decision in that appeal, the Legislature amended the relevant statute to exclude structures used in the production of biofuels from the scope of taxable real property. See Act of May 20, 2014, ch. 308, art.2, § 9,
While proceedings continued in the tax court, Guardian also filed a motion with our court to "clarify[ ] the jurisdiction of the Minnesota Tax Court." We denied this motion and continued the stay. Guardian Energy, LLC v. County of Waseca , No. A16-1850, Order (Minn. filed Feb. 1, 2017).
Guardian also asserts that we "inherently" rejected the County's argument that Guardian's appeal was premature in light of the County's post-order motion because we did not dismiss this appeal when the County first raised arguments that the appeal was "premature and untimely" or "moot." We did not address the merits of the County's arguments because of timing: we either stayed the appeal or continued the stay when the County requested this relief. In any case, we can raise a question of our jurisdiction on our own, In re Schmidt ,
The notion that we limited the tax court solely to the calculation of external obsolescence is inconsistent with our refusal to "mandate" the use of a particular methodology on remand.
We note that at a hearing before the tax court in February 2017, Guardian's counsel agreed that the tax court "would need to amend the findings of fact to grant any portion of the County's motion."
At oral argument, the County argued that our decisions in Madson v. Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing Co. ,
We are also unpersuaded by Guardian's argument that the County's motion was not a motion for rehearing because the County declined to schedule a hearing on the motion. Such hearings are a procedural right, which the County was entitled to waive if it thought a hearing was unnecessary. Although Guardian argued at oral argument that the County did not take the appropriate steps to waive its hearing rights, that putative failure (which we express no opinion on) has no bearing on the substance of the County's motion.
We emphasize that the difference between the procedures by which tax court decisions are reviewed and the procedures by which district court decisions are reviewed limits our holding in this case to the certiorari process for review of decisions of the tax court. The time for seeking a writ of certiorari to review the decision of the tax court may run from the "making and filing" of the tax court's final order, which may be a different date from the entry of judgment. See Express Scripts, Inc. v. Comm'r of Revenue , No. A12-1966, Order at 3-4,
In reaching this result, we do not necessarily condone the post-order process that extended the date of a final order by almost 18 months. But we are confident that the professionalism of the practitioners who appear before the tax court generally ensures that they approach cases with an eye towards achieving the goals of finality and a closure to litigation, and that the tax court has the tools needed to address the rare instances of gamesmanship that may occur.
Based on this conclusion, we do not reach the merits of the issues raised by Guardian in its appeal, nor any substantive, as opposed to jurisdictional, issues presented by the County's cross-appeal.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- GUARDIAN ENERGY, LLC, Relator v. COUNTY OF WASECA
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- Published