Court Opinion

ID: 5177395
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2022-01-06 01:08:35.710651+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:26:23.701300
License: Public Domain

COMBS, J.,
with whom TAYLOR, J., joins, dissenting.
1 In this cause concerning alleged violations of the Documentary Stamp Tax Act (DSTA), 68 0.8.2011 §§ 3201-3206, the majority determines that although the plaintiffs do not have authority to enforce the provisions of the DSTA, the plaintiffs have standing to seek declaratory relief under Oklahoma's declaratory judgment statute, 12 0.8. 2011 §§ 1651-1657. Because I disagree with the majority's assertion that the plaintiffs possess standing in this cause, I respectfully dissent.
I.
The Plaintiffs Do Not Have Standing Because Their Injury Cannot be Redressed by a Favorable Court Decision.
T2 The question of whether a party possesses standing has traditionally been formulated by this Court as whether a party has sufficient interest in an otherwise justiciable controversy to obtain judicial resolution of that controversy. Indep. School Dist. No. 5 of Tulsa v. Spry, 2012 OK 98, ¶ 2, 292 P.3d 19; Estate of Doan v. First Nat'l Bank and Trust Co. of Tulsa, 1986 OK 15, ¶ 7, 727 P.2d 574; Imdep. School Dist. No. 9 of Tulsa County v. Glass, 1982 OK 2, ¶ 8, 639 P.2d 1233. At a minimum, standing is composed of three elements, which are: 1) a legally protected interest which must have been injured in fact, ie, an injury which is actual, concrete and not conjectural in nature; 2) a causal nexus between the injury and the complained of conduct; and 3) a likelihood, as opposed to mere speculation, that the injury will be redressed by a favorable court decision. J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, Nat'l Assoc. v. Eldridge, 2012 OK 24, ¶ 7, 273 P.3d 62; Cities Service Co. v. Gulf Oil Corp., 1999 OK 16, ¶ 3, 976 P.2d 545. This Court has also phrased the standing requirement in other terms, noting that:
A party whose standing is challenged must show (1) actual or threatened injury, (2) for which relief can be given, and (8) the interest to be protected is "within a statutorily or constitutionally protected zone".
Oklahoma Public Employees Ass'n v. Oklahoma Dept. of Central Services, 2002 OK 71, ¶ 16, 55 P.3d 1072 (quoting In Re Initiative Petition No. 363, 1996 OK 122, ¶ 13 n. 29, 927 P.2d 558).
3 I do not dispute that the plaintiffs have alleged sufficient injury to a protected interest and a causal nexus to the defendants' conduct exists to satisfy the first and second required elements of standing. The loss of revenue to the plaintiffs due under 68 O.S 2011 § 8204 and caused by defendants' claimed exemptions from the purchase of documentary stamps results in actual, peeu-niary harm. - However, I do not believe that the plaintiffs have demonstrated the third requirement: redressability.
T4 The specific harm to the plaintiffs is pecuniary. Due to the actions of the defendants, the plaintiffs are not getting the share of revenue from the sale of documentary stamps they believe they are owed pursuant to the DSTA, 68 O.S.2011 § 3204, because the defendants allegedly wrongly claimed an exemption. As the majority's opinion states, the plaintiffs "filed this suit to enforce section 8201 and collect the documentary taxes they contend are due." Majority Opinion, at 18.
1 5 However, the first section of the majority's opinion is dedicated to a discussion of why the plaintiffs are not entitled to enforce the provisions of the DSTA, because the authority to do so lies with the Oklahoma *535Tax Commission. The majority lists several reasons justifying its position, including: 1) state policy provides for uniform procedures and remedies with respect to all state taxes; 2) the plaintiffs' position on enforcement conflicts with the Legislature's general statutory procedure for collecting unpaid taxes; and 8) rules promulgated by the Oklahoma Tax Commission confirm that the plaintiffs lack direct enforcement authority. The majority concludes: "[wle will not read into the DSTA authority for the Counties to prosecute violations of the Act when the Legislature has declined to do so." Majority Opinion, at I 15.
T6 Fundamentally, an assessment of standing is not a decision on the case's merits. Rather, it is a determination whether the plaintiff is the proper party to seek adjudication of the asserted issue. Gulf Oil. Corp., 1999 OK 16, ¶ 5, 976 P.2d 545; Toxic Waste Impact Group v. Leavitt, 1994 OK 148, ¶ 9, 890 P.2d 906. The asserted issues in this cause are whether taxes are due pursuant to the DSTA and whether exemptions from those taxes were validly claimed. Based on the majority's analysis in part one of its opinion, the plaintiffs are mot the proper party to seek adjudication of these issues. The proper parties to enforce the tax statutes are the Oklahoma Tax Commission (Title 68 0.98.2011 §§ 221 to 2830) and the Attorney General (Title 68 0.8.2011 § 250).
IL.
This Cause is Distinguishable from Independent School Dist. No. 9 of Tulsa County v. Glass, 1982 OK 2, 639 P.2d 1233.
17 The majority asserts that the plaintiffs inability to sue to enforce the DSTA, and hence, their inability to receive the monetary relief they desire by doing so, does not defeat their standing to seek some other form of relief. Specifically, the majority likens this cause to Indep. School Dist. No. 9 of Tulsa County v. Glass, 1982 OK 2, 639 P.2d 1233. In Glass, a school district challenged a refund payable as the result of a tax exemption claimed by a taxpayer whose taxable personal property was located in the district. 1982 OK 2, ¶¶ 1-3, 689 P.2d 1233. The school district sought a temporary and permanent injunetion to prevent payment of the refund to the taxpayer, after the refund request was granted by the Tulsa County Board of Tax-Roll Corrections. Gloss, 1982 OK 2, 1 6, 639 P.2d 1233. The taxpayer argued that the school district lacked standing to sue, as 68 O.S. Supp.1974 § 2479 authorized only the taxpayer and the County Assessor to seek review of the Board's decision. Glass, 1982 OK 2, 1 8, 639 P.2d 12383.
8 This Court determined that the school district possessed standing to seek an injunetion to protect the wrongful disposition of its revenues, though in the end the Court also determined the school district was not entitled to an injunction. Glass, 1982 OK 2, 111, 639 P.2d 1233. The majority in this cause asserts that Glass supports the position that the plaintiffs have standing, if not to enforce the DSTA, then to seek some other form of relief. However, Glass is distinguishable from the instant cause in more than one respect.
T9 First, the school district in Glass never sought a statutory remedy it was not entitled to invoke. Rather, the school district in Glass prevailed on the question of standing because it sought equitable relief in the form of an injunction. This Court specifically stated that had the school district attempted to invoke 68 O.S. Supp.1974 § 2479, the taxpayer's position that the district did not have standing would have merit. This Court stated:
Ford contends that the School District lacks standing to enjoin the refund because 68 O.S.Supp.1974 § 2479 authorizes only the taxpayer and the County Assessor to seek review of the Board's decision. Ford's position would be tenable if the District sought to avail itself of the statutory remedy of a trial de novo. The issue is not under-assessment or non-assessment. The District is not appealing the decision of the Board, nor is it seeking a trial de novo. Rather, it seeks to prevent what it characterizes as an illegal refund of public funds which has been erroneously authorized by the Board.
Glass, 1982 OK 2, 18, 639 P.2d 1238 (footnotes omitted) (emphasis added).
*5361 10 Second, the equitable remedy sought by the school district in Glass would have been fully sufficient to remedy the injury it suffered. By granting the school district's request for an injunction to prevent the illegal payout of a refund, the court would have been able to prevent the loss of revenue to which the school district claimed it was entitled. It is here that redressability is an issue: "[it is not necessary to decide whether a litigant will ultimately be entitled to any relief in order to hold that the party has standing to seek judicial redress for his/her grievance" but the relief being sought must, if granted, be capable of remedying the injury. Gloss, 1982 OK 2, 110, 689 P.2d 1233. In this cause, the plaintiffs have not sought injunctive relief but instead seek enforcement of the DSTA in order to obtain the revenue to which they claim they are entitled.
IIL.
Because the Plaintiffs Cannot Sue to Enforce the DSTA, They Cannot Pursue a Declaratory Judgment that Serves No Purpose Other than to Further That Goal.
111 Having determined in this cause that the plaintiffs do not have authority to sue to enforce the provisions of the DSTA, the majority cireamyvents the problem of redressa-bility by determining that the plaintiffs have standing to seek non-monetary relief pursuant to Oklahoma's declaratory judgment statute, 12 0.8.2011 §§ 1651-1657, noting that when statutory relief is inadequate, equitable relief may be available.
112 Title 12 0.98.2011 § 1651 sets the parameters for the issuance of declaratory judgments in Oklahoma, and provides:
District courts may, in cases of actual controversy, determine rights, status, or other legal relations, including but not limited to a determination of the construction or validity of any foreign judgment or decree, deed, contract, trust, or other instrument or agreement or of any statute, municipal ordinance, or other governmental regulation, whether or not other relief is or could be claimed, exeept that no declaration shall be made concerning liability or nonliability for damages on account of alleged tortious injuries to persons or to property either before or after judgment or for compensation alleged to be due under workers' compensation laws for injuries to persons. The determination may be made either before or after there has been a breach of any legal duty or obligation, and it may be either affirmative or negative in form and effect; provided however, that a court may refuse to make a determination where the judgment, if rendered, would not terminate the controversy, or some part thereof, giving rise to the proceeding.
A declaratory judgment is merely a type of remedy, not an independent cause of action, and it does not extend the jurisdiction of a court where it would not otherwise exist. Conoco, Inc. v. State Dept. of Health of State of OK, 1982 OK 94, ¶ 18, 651 P.2d 125. Specifically, this Court stated in Conoco, Inc.:
Such relief [a declaratory judgment] is especially useful in a case where a justiciable controversy between the parties exists and the plaintiff would be required to do or refrain from doing some action at his legal peril. It is merely a type of remedy which may be granted where a court already has jurisdiction over a particular cause. It cannot extend the jurisdiction of a court where it would not exist otherwise; and if a court lacks jurisdiction over a case, it cannot enter any rightful judgment.
Conoco, Inc., 1982 OK 94, ¶ 18, 651 P.2d 125.
Declaratory actions are meant to supplement rather than supersede other types of litigation. Restatement (Second) of Judgments § 33, comment C (1981).
113 This Court has long relied upon the axiom that what may not be done directly should not be allowed to be done indirectly. In Re Oklahoma Capitol Imp. Authority, 2012 OK 99, ¶ 12, 289 P.38d 1277; Large v. Acme Engineering and Mfg. Corp., 1990 OK 34, ¶ 8, 790 P.2d 1086; Reherman v. Oklahoma Water Resources Bd., 1984 OK 12, ¶ 15, 679 P.2d 1296. A determination by this Court that the plaintiffs can seek a declaratory judgment that documentary stamp taxes are due from the defendants pursuant to 68 O.S. § 3201 and that the exemptions claimed *537by the defendants were unlawful is nothing more than an end-run around the basic determination that the plaintiffs are not permitted to sue to enforce the DSTA. Having determined that the plaintiffs cannot enforce the DSTA, it does not make sense to allow them to seek declaratory relief that could lead to nothing else but subsequent action by the plaintiffs to enforce the DSTA.
[ 14 Declaratory relief serves no purpose other than to aid the plaintiffs in their quest to redress their original harm caused by alleged violations of the DSTA. Since the plaintiffs cannot sue to enforce the DSTA, a declaratory judgment that the DSTA has in fact been violated by the defendants does not help the plaintiffs1 Further, 12 0.S$.2011 § 1651 specifically indicates that a court may refuse to issue a declaratory judgment where the judgment, if rendered, would not terminate the controversy, or some part thereof, giving rise to the proceeding.
1[ 15 Pursuant to the majority opinion, the plaintiffs will not be permitted to enforce the DSTA even if they received a declaratory judgment that the DSTA was violated by the defendants. This leads back to the redressa-bility of the underlying harm giving rise to the plaintiffs cause: there is no likelihood that the plaintiffs' injury (their loss of revenue) will be redressed by a favorable court decision; there is only speculation. See J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, Nat'l Assoc. v. Eldridge, 2012 OK 24, ¶ 7, 273 P.3d 62; Cities Service Co. v. Gulf Oil Corp., 1999 OK 16, ¶ 3, 976 P.2d 545.
{16 Because the plaintiffs' harm is not redressable through declaratory relief or otherwise, they do not have standing to sue to enforce the DSTA, and they do not have standing to seek a declaratory judgment the only purpose of which is to further that end. The majority opinion would remand this cause back to the district court for a determination on the merits of the applicability of the DSTA, placing a heavy evidentiary burden on the plaintiffs to prove that the properties in question were sold within the meaning of 68 0.8.2011 $ 3201. The resulting further litigation and expense is unnecessary and should be avoided, because the plaintiffs cannot attain the relief they seek. Because the plaintiffs lack standing to enforce the DSTA and lack standing to seek a declaratory judgment in furtherance of that end, it is not necessary to address the merits of the controversy. For this reason, I respectfully dissent.

. Declaratory relief might be beneficial to the Oklahoma Tax Commission, but the Commission has never been made a party to this litigation.