Court Opinion

ID: 9784239
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-30 20:40:34.910649+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:35:51.415969
License: Public Domain

BOUDREAU, J.,
with whom OPALA and KAUGER, JJ., join, dissenting.
¶ 1 The majority opinion affirms the ad valorem tax charitable-purposes exemption for certain office space occupied by “Integris Nonprofit Entities” identified as engineering, education and training, facility planning, physician services, foundation, legal, plaza hotel, managed care, CVI lab, diabetes center, heart center, surgery center, and fertility institute. Because the record before us is void of any evidence showing the charitable character of the use of this office space, I must respectfully dissent.
¶2 Our state constitution exempts from ad valorem taxation “all property used for free public libraries, free museums, public cemeteries, property used exclusively for nonprofit schools and colleges, and all property used exclusively for religious and charitable purposes”.1 (Emphasis added.) The intent of the exemption is to encourage and assist institutions which benefit the public and, to some extent, relieve the government of some of its burdens.2
¶ 3 Whether property is “exclusively used for charitable purposes” is necessarily a question of fact to be established by the evidence.3 To determine the “exclusive use” of the property, there must be a showing *207that the property is dedicated and devoted to a particular use.4
¶4 The charitable character of the particular use is the determinative factor that brings the property within the constitutional exemption.5 The charitable use of property by an institution, such as a hospital, is determined by a single test: Are the doors open to all, poor persons and paying persons alike. If yes, it is a charitable hospital and the property it uses is exempt from taxation.6
¶ 5 In this case, the charitable use of the office space by the “Integris Nonprofit Entities” was disputed in the pleadings before the district court. For summary adjudication to be appropriate, the disputed material fact of charitable use must be conclusively established by the evidence in the record.7
¶ 6 The majority opinion, at footnote 11, notes that the evidence substantiated the type and quantum of charitable work which the tenants performed in the office space. I have carefully examined the summary adjudication record. I find no evidence that substantiates the charitable uses of the office space at issue.
¶ 7 There is documentary evidence establishing the general identities of the tenants as engineering, education and training, facility planning, physician services, foundation, legal, plaza hotel, managed care, CVI lab, diabetes center, heart center, surgery center, and fertility institute. However, there is no evidence that these tenants are care centers providing services to the public or that these tenants’ doors are open to the public, poor persons and paying persons alike.8
¶ 8 There is affidavit evidence relating to the charity afforded by Integris Baptist Medical Center (Baptist Hospital) and affiliated care centers including Family Care Center Northwest. However, the affidavits do not claim that Baptist Hospital or the Family Care Center occupied the office space at issue or otherwise used the space for charity.
¶ 9 Article 10, § 6 provides an exemption from ad valorem taxation for property used exclusively for charitable purposes. The majority opinion expands this narrow exemption of property utilized exclusively for charitable purposes to encompass all property used by hospital-related, not-for-profit entities in furtherance of charity-related purposes.9
¶ 10 The property owners’ bare statement that the office space was used for *208charitable purposes does not entitle them to summary adjudication that the property is exempt from ad valorem taxation as a matter of law.10 Charitable use is the material, determinative fact that would bring the property within the constitutional exemption. Without proof of the charitable use of the property, summary adjudication is premature. Accordingly, I would reverse the summary adjudication and remand this controversy for trial de novo in the district court.11

. Okla. Const., art. 10, § 6.

. Cox v. Dillingham, 1947 OK 250, 199 Okla. 161, 184 P.2d 976.

. London Square Village, Inc. v. Oklahoma County Equalization and Excise Board, 1976 OK 159, 559 P.2d 1224; Beta Theta Pi Corporation v. Board of Commissioners of Cleveland County, 1925 OK 176, 108 Okla. 78, 234 P. 354.

. Rule 13(b), Rules for the District Courts, 12 O.S.2001, ch. 2, app. 1.

. 68 O.S.2001, § 2871(H).

. Holland Hall School v. Glass, 1972 OK 81, 497 P.2d 763; Oklahoma County v. Queen City Lodge No. 197, 1945 OK 55, 195 Okla. 131, 156 P.2d 340.

. Tulsa County v. St. John’s Hospital, 1948 OK 84, 200 Okla. 176, 191 P.2d 983; Cox v. Dillingham, supra, page 206, footnote 2.

. In re Farmers Union Hospital Association of Elk City, 1942 OK 128, 190 Okla. 661, 126 P.2d 244.

. Meadows v. Fain, 1989 OK 100, 776 P.2d 1270.

. The property owners submitted lists of the tenants and sublessees of the office building for each tax year involved as attachments to an affidavit. The lists categorize the occupants as: 1) "private or for-profit," 2) "Integris not-for-profit,” or 3) "other not-for-profit.” The lists also contain comments that six of the "Integris not-for-profit” occupants are "part of IBMC," leaving the other six or seven "Integris not-for-profit” occupants without such comment. The affidavit and the attached lists do not, however, provide any information regarding the work performed by the occupants. Further, there is no other evidence in the record that describes the occupants or their charitable works.

.Expansion of the narrow charitable-purposes exemption is precisely the wrong that was redressed in Oklahoma County v. Queen City Lodge No. 197, 1945 OK 55, 195 Okla. 131, 156 P.2d 340. Recognizing that our constitution, art. 5, § 50, prohibits our Legislature from expanding the charitable-purposes exemption, Oklahoma County v. Queen City Lodge No. 197 determined that prior jurisprudence impermissibly expanded the constitutional exemption to include charity-related property, i.e., property used to economically support another entity’s charitable work. Finding that economic support of a charity does not bring property within the constitutional exemption, Oklahoma County v. Queen City Lodge No. 197 overruled Board of Commissioners of Garfield County v. Phillips University, 144 Okla. 57, 289 P. 720(which exempted farm land used to support a college); Sands Springs Home v. State, 168 Okla. 323, 32 P.2d 928(which exempted a gasoline plant used to support a home for orphans and widows); and University Scholarship Corporation v. Parduhn, 1937 OK 447, 180 Okla. 446, 70 P.2d 84(which exempted an apartment building used to support scholarship fund).