Opinion ID: 553303
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Adequacy of State Remedies

Text: 28 In assessing the propriety of a motion for dismissal under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(1), a district court is not limited to an inquiry into undisputed facts; it may hear conflicting evidence and decide for itself the factual issues that determine jurisdiction. See Gould, Inc. v. Pechiney Ugine Kuhlmann, 853 F.2d 445, 451 (6th Cir.1988); Williamson v. Tucker, 645 F.2d 404, 413 (5th Cir. May), cert. denied, 454 U.S. 897, 102 S.Ct. 396, 70 L.Ed.2d 212 (1981). Although a district court has wide discretion to determine the scope of such discovery, a plaintiff must have ample opportunity to present evidence bearing on the existence of jurisdiction. See Gould, 853 F.2d at 451; Majd-Pour v. Georgiana Community Hosp., Inc., 724 F.2d 901, 903 (11th Cir.1984). 29 In this case, the district court did not allow a full factual inquiry into the truthfulness of Colonial's allegations concerning the adequacy of state remedies for its constitutional claims. Although Georgia's ad valorem tax system is no stranger to the federal courts, 9 we conclude that the 1988 amendments have so significantly altered the assessment and appeals processes for centrally-assessed taxpayers that their adequacy within the meaning of section 1341 remains an open question. See TelecomUSA, Inc., 260 Ga. at 365, 393 S.E.2d at 238 (finding that the plain language of the statute, its caption, and its history, all indicate that the legislature intended for the counties to play a new role in the taxation of utilities). 10 Colonial's allegations support the conclusion that the tax review and appeals process for centrally-assessed taxpayers is not only burdensome and fraught with delays, but that it has ceased to function by any practical measure. The record assembled in the district court, however, is insufficient to determine whether or not this is, in fact, the case. We therefore remand this case to the district court for the development of a broader record on this point before deciding whether it has jurisdiction to hear this case. 30 In essence, Colonial has made two general allegations that Georgia's ad valorem tax review and appeals process is not an adequate remedy within the meaning of section 1341. First, Colonial argues that the basic elements of a functional tax system are missing in Georgia and, as a result, there can be no meaningful reform unless it has access to the injunctive powers of a federal court. Due to various perceived deficiencies, Colonial contends that the equitable relief afforded by Georgia state courts would be insufficient to address these systemic concerns. Second, Colonial argues that the multiplicitous number of suits it must pursue to appeal the valuation and assessment of its properties is not only inefficient and burdensome, but would also lead to disparate results among the different forums on the basic questions of valuation and equalization. 11 31 In order to constitute a plain, speedy, and efficient remedy, the Supreme Court has stated that the remedies provided in a state court must provide a taxpayer with a full hearing and judicial determination at which she may raise any and all constitutional objections to the tax. Rosewell, 450 U.S. at 514, 101 S.Ct. at 1230. For instance, the Court in Rosewell found that the state remedy at issue was adequate because the taxpayer could raise her constitutional claims in a state-court refund procedure. Id. at 514, 101 S.Ct. at 1229-30; see also Grace Brethren Church, 457 U.S. at 413-16 & n. 31, 102 S.Ct. at 2510-12 & n. 31. Applying this same standard, we have also held a state remedy to be inadequate when a taxpayer was effectively barred from ever raising his constitutional claims either through the statutory appeals process or any other state avenue of review. See Williams v. City of Dothan, 745 F.2d 1406, 1412-13 (11th Cir.1984). 12 32 In assessing the adequacy of state court remedies, the Supreme Court, however, has instructed that the plain, speedy, and efficient exception to the Tax Injunction Act must be construed narrowly. Grace Brethren Church, 457 U.S. at 413, 102 S.Ct. at 2510. State remedies must only meet certain minimal procedural criteria, and a reviewing court should eschew any analysis of their substantive sufficiency so long as a complainant has some opportunity to raise his constitutional objections. See Rosewell, 450 U.S. at 512-15, 101 S.Ct. at 1228-30. For example, in Grace Brethren Church, the Supreme Court held that a state court remedy was not inadequate due to the fact that injunctive relief was unavailable because the taxpayer could ultimately seek a judicial determination of the constitutionality of the tax at issue. See 457 U.S. at 415-16, 102 S.Ct. at 2511-12. In a similar vein, we have noted that the Tax Injunction Act ... [does] not require[ ] 'that the state remedy be the best remedy available or even equal to or better than the remedy which might be available in federal court.'  Ayers v. Polk County, 697 F.2d 1375, 1377 (11th Cir.1983) (quoting Bland v. McHann, 463 F.2d 21, 29 (5th Cir.1972)). 33 On remand, the district court should apply these principles in determining whether Colonial's state remedies afford it an opportunity for judicial determination of its constitutional claims against Georgia's ad valorem tax system. Colonial, however, also contends that state remedies are not plain, speedy, and efficient because Georgia state courts will not entertain jurisdiction of a suit brought under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 founded only on the claim that [ad valorem tax] assessments are unequal. See Backus v. Chilivis, 236 Ga. 500, 504-05, 224 S.E.2d 370, 373-74 (1976); accord Vann v. DeKalb County Bd. of Tax Assessors, 186 Ga.App. 208, 211-12, 367 S.E.2d 43, 47 (1988). It points to a rather cryptic suggestion by the Supreme Court that the availability of a section 1983 action in a state court is to be considered a factor in determining whether a state provides an adequate remedy. See McNary, 454 U.S. at 116-17, 102 S.Ct. at 186-87. 34 We believe that this contention misperceives the nature of a federal court's inquiry into the adequacy of state remedies under the Tax Injunction Act. The mere fact of the availability or unavailability of a section 1983 suit in state courts is not the linchpin to such analysis. Cf. Rosewell, 450 U.S. at 511 n. 14, 101 S.Ct. at 1228 n. 14 (declining to reach the question of whether availability of a section 1983 in state court does not bar federal jurisdiction). Rather, the district court, on remand, must scrutinize the totality of state court remedies available to Colonial to determine whether it has some opportunity to raise [its] constitutional objections. Grace Brethren Church, 457 U.S. at 412 n. 26, 102 S.Ct. at 2509 n. 26. Whether a section 1983 claim is unavailable to Colonial in Georgia state courts is simply one factor to be considered in this broad inquiry. 13 In both Rosewell and Grace Brethren Church, the Supreme Court upheld admittedly laborious state-created remedies because it found that a complainant could eventually seek relief from a state court. See 457 U.S. at 413-17, 102 S.Ct. at 2510-13; 450 U.S. at 516-21, 101 S.Ct. at 1230-33. Having reached these findings, it became unnecessary for the Court to inquire further about the availability of a federal cause of action in state court. 14 35 On remand, the district court must also seek to develop a fuller record on Colonial's allegations that Georgia state court remedies are inefficient and fraught with delays. Despite its  'procedural interpretation'  of the phrase a  'plain, speedy, and efficient remedy,'  Rosewell, 450 U.S. at 516, 101 S.Ct. at 1230, the Supreme Court has indicated that the litigation burdens imposed by state remedies are pertinent to a court's overall assessment of their adequacy. Thus, a state remedy is not efficient if it imposes unusual hardship ... requiring ineffectual activity or an unnecessary expenditure of time or energy. Id. at 518, 101 S.Ct. at 1231. For example, in Georgia R.R. & Banking Co. v. Redwine, 342 U.S. 299, 72 S.Ct. 321, 96 L.Ed. 335 (1952), the Court held a state remedy, which required the filing of over 300 claims in fourteen counties to protect a single federal claim, to be inadequate. See id. at 303-04, 72 S.Ct. at 323-24; cf. Rosewell, 450 U.S. at 518, 101 S.Ct. at 1231-32 (stating that [a] remedy to contest a tax that requires repetitive suits on the same issue in succeeding years may not be 'efficient' ). The Redwine Court also found that an adequate state remedy which applies only to a portion of the taxes in controversy does not bar federal jurisdiction. 342 U.S. at 303 & n. 11, 72 S.Ct. at 323-24 & n. 11. On the other hand, the mere fact that a taxpayer must cross state lines to challenge an imposed tax system is not inefficient. See Tully v. Griffin, Inc., 429 U.S. 68, 73, 97 S.Ct. 219, 222-23, 50 L.Ed.2d 227 (1976). The Court has also cautioned that a state remedy is not inadequate if it first requires exhaustion of administrative remedies. See Grace Brethren Church, 457 U.S. at 416 n. 35, 102 S.Ct. at 2512 n. 35; see also McNary, 454 U.S. at 133-38, 102 S.Ct. at 194-97 (Brennan, J., concurring) (reviewing Supreme Court decisions finding exhaustion requirement). 36 The Supreme Court has also suggested that state court relief may be delivered to a complainant with such delay as to render the underlying remedy inadequate. See Rosewell, 450 U.S. at 518-21, 101 S.Ct. at 1231-33. The Court in Rosewell, however, held that a two-year delay in mounting a tax challenge in state court still amounted to a speedy remedy after comparing this period to customary delays for civil cases in state courts and the corresponding federal district court. See id. 37 We conclude that Colonial has alleged sufficient facts in support of its claim that Georgia does not provide an adequate remedy to survive a motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. 15 38 For the foregoing reasons the judgment of the district court is REVERSED and the case REMANDED for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.