Court Opinion

ID: 9650812
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 15:52:37.948709+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:12:26.211354
License: Public Domain

KELLEHER, Justice,
dissenting.
This dissent is directed solely to that portion of the opinion of my colleague, Mrs. Justice Murray, which sets forth the conclusion that there has been a “taking” within the meaning of art. I, sec. 16, of the Rhode Island Constitution. The disagreement is based upon my firm belief that such a result undermines our past pronouncements defining the exact parameters of review available in this court under the Administrative Procedures Act (APA), to wit, G.L. 1956, (1977 Reenactment) chapter 35 of title 42. Furthermore, even if I were to assume that the majority’s consideration of the taxpayer’s efforts to obtain an exemption is warranted by Rhode Island’s APA, I could not concur with the view that the administrative denial was arbitrary and amounted to a “taking.”
This case is before us pursuant to the discretionary writ of certiorari set forth in G.L.1956 (1977 Reenactment) § 42-35-16. On numerous occasions, we have consistently held that the limited nature of review afforded by this writ enables us to determine solely whether there is any competent evidence to support the findings of the trial justice. We do not examine credibility or the strength of evidence. Herald Press, Inc. v. Norberg, R.I., 405 A.2d 1171, 1177 (1979); Statewide Multiple Listing Service, Inc. v. Norberg, R.I., 392 A.2d 371, 372 (1978); Manual J. Furtado, Inc. v. Sarkas, 118 R.I. 218, 222, 373 A.2d 169, 171-72 (1977).
Here, the petitioner is the tax administrator who requested that we fault the trial justice’s imposition of interest, and indeed, in an earlier portion of their opinion, the majority take exception to the legal reasoning of the trial justice’s decision to award interest. The majority take a further impermissible step, however, in looking to the actions of the tax administrator in the original hearing to find an alternate legal theory in support of the imposition of interest. Although there have been times when this court on appeal in civil matters has faulted the trial justice’s reasoning but sustained his conclusion, the right-but-for-a-different-reason rationale of those cases1 has no place within the legislative scheme of judicial review specified by our APA. The General Assembly never intended, when it adopted the certiorari review provisions of § 42-35-16, that this court would serve as the primary source of judicial review of administrative actions subject to the APA.
The result reached by the majority, while it may please the plaintiff executors, certainly does violence to the legislative command that our appellate function should be restricted to a review of the trial court’s conclusions concerning what occurred at the agency level.
Until today interest was a statutory creature. Foster v. Quigley, 94 R.I. 217, 179 A.2d 494 (1962); St. Germain v. Lapp, 72 R.I. 42, 48 A.2d 181 (1946). Today, the majority in a masterful display of judicial inventiveness have usurped the responsibility of the General Assembly by applying a broad brush and painting the administrator’s original findings with a “taking” color. I believe, however, that when this color is viewed in light of the record and this court’s past pronouncements, the paint soon flakes away.
In order to support its contention that the assessment made by the administrator was arbitrary and thus constitutes a “taking” of private property for public use, the majority rely on a portion of a 1912 advisory opinion given by the justices of this court in response to a variety of questions propounded by the Governor. The subject of the inquiry concerned an act that created the so-called Metropolitan Park District and al*1365lowed three court-appointed commissioners to determine annually the amount of assessment that each municipality within the district would have to pay to the state. The proceeds of the assessment were to be used to reimburse the state for the money it had spent in the development of public parks and other recreational facilities within the district. Opinion of the Justices of the Supreme Court to the Governor in the Matter of Metropolitan Park Loan, 34 R.I. 191, 88 A. 3 (1912).
The reference to the “just compensation” mandate as being the equivalent of a guarantee against “illegal exactions disguised under the name of taxation” is part of a larger excerpt from 27 American and English Encyclopedia of Law 585-86 (2d ed. 1904) that the justices incorporated verbatim as part of their response to the executive inquiry. When one analyzes the cases cited in the encyclopedia to support the “illegal exactions” verbiage, it becomes apparent that every case concerns a constitutional challenge to a legislative branch of government for its enactment of a statute authorizing the imposition of a tax. All of the courts referred to concede that a legislatively authorized “taxing” might well result in a “taking.”
Up to the moment, I have been unable to discover a case in which observations made by a court considering the constitutionality of a taxing statute have supported the actions taken here by the majority in their award of interest to the taxpayer. Perhaps there will come a time when a tax administrator’s actions are so “arbitrary and flagrant” that a judicial tribunal will conclude that there has been a “taking.” Although the majority seemingly would find a “taking” upon discovery of almost any administrative slip-up in the tax division, apparently a “taking” occurs only if the administrator acts “arbitrarily” in construing a statute or making findings that are not supported by the evidence. In my opinion, however, a “taking” did not occur in Rhode Island on May 25, 1976, when the tax administrator, after reviewing the record of the administrative hearing, adopted the findings made by the hearing officer.
The hearing was held in Providence on July 31, 1975. The record indicates that Rathbun Willard, a resident of Seituate, died on December 10, 1968. The executors filed an inventory of the assets of the estate with the State Division of Taxation. Schedule C of the inventory lists tangible personal property that was then valued at $1,581,407.29. In his decision, the hearing officer found as a fact that “Watch Tower, a Pennsylvania corporation, is the publishing arm of the Jehovah Witnesses, publishing millions of magazines and books during the course of the year.” He also described “the Jehovah Witnesses” as “a religious organization and prime distributor of the publications of Watch Tower.” As he proceeded to make his determination, the hearing officer did not ignore the result in Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc. v. Lewisohn, 35 N.Y.2d 92, 315 N.E.2d 801, 358 N.Y.S.2d 757 (1974), but he remarked that the “courts of New York do not seem to share a uniform opinion on the interpretation of this statute.” In taking this position, he relied on two cases, Swedenborg Foundation, Inc. v. Lewisohn, 48 App.Div.2d 798, 369 N.Y.S.2d 429 (1975), and American Bible Society v. Lewisohn, 48 App.Div.2d 308, 369 N.Y.S.2d 725 (1975), wherein the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court ruled that neither the foundation nor the society qualified for the tax exemption given the Watch Tower.
Admittedly, New York’s Watchtower holding is totally immaterial in this controversy. The crucial statutes are the exemptions listed in either the Rhode Island or the Pennsylvania law. The hearing officer in his own way did make a determination about whether the Watch Tower, as he viewed it, qualified under the Rhode Island law. In refusing to give an exempt status to the residuary legatee, the hearing officer pointed out
“that the printing and publishing arm of one of the largest religious organizations in the State of Rhode Island is assessed taxes on both its corporate entity and its property, i. e., The Providence Visitor.”
*1366The officer was referring, of course, to the Providence Visitor’s publisher, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence.
Although the hearing officer referred to an out-of-date Pennsylvania statute, he was right on target as he discussed the need to satisfy the “test” that the residuary legatee “operated exclusively” for religious or charitable purposes. Many taxpayers who are bothered as to where one draws the line between evangelism and entrepreneurism will certainly applaud the hearing officer’s invocation of the well-settled principle calling for the strict construction of statutes granting tax exemptions when the burden of proving the exemption is on the claimant. I believe that at one point in this controversy the administrator’s refusal to give the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania tax-exempt status came about because the hearing officer described the Pennsylvania unit as the publishing arm of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. One of the attorneys who was active in the New York litigation testified at the hearing. He depicted the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc., as “the publishing arm.” Another witness, however, was the secretary-treasurer of the Pennsylvania Watch Tower entity. He described his organization as the “ecclesiastical governing agency for the congregations of Jehovah’s Witnesses.” Later, he explained that the Witnesses, in making their household visits, employed many study aids, including the Watch Tower magazine that, according to the secretary-treasurer, is published by the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania. Admitted into evidence at this point was a Watch Tower magazine which contained on page 2 a notation in support of this statement.
In this atmosphere of conflicting testimony concerning the true nature of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania, the hearing officer concluded that the Pennsylvania unit was the publishing arm of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. From this premise he went on to compare the tax status of this Pennsylvania branch with that of the Providence Visitor and justifiably concluded that the Pennsylvania unit should likewise be denied tax-exempt status. Even if his original premise may have been flawed, this is hardly the type of error which is sufficiently arbitrary to amount to a “taking.” I would imagine that even the majority would concede that there is no guarantee that any hearing officer, trial judge, or appellate judge has been endowed with the gift of infallibility.
If my colleagues had engaged in the limited review specified by § 42-35-16, the executors would still have a remedy. If they wished, they could follow the path taken by the taxpayer in Sterling Shoe Co. v. Norberg, 411 F.Supp. 128 (D.R.I.1976), and invoked the provisions of the Tax Injunction Act of 1937, 28 U.S.C.A. § 1341 (1976). While Sterling did not prevail upon its claim that our taxing statute failed to afford a simple, speedy, and efficient remedy, who knows what can happen, especially in light of the holding in LaSalle National Bank v. Rosewell, 604 F.2d 530 (7th Cir. 1979).2 If the taxpayer were to succeed, it would not be the first time that there is a difference of opinion expressed between the federal and state judicial branches, but at least there would be a hearing during which all points of view could be explored.
The majority have left the administrator in the position of a general who has won the battle but has lost the war. Unlike the general, the administrator has, however, never been afforded the opportunity to defend his position. For the reasons hereinbe-fore stated, I would sustain the administrator’s appeal.

. Souza v. O’Hara, R.I., 395 A.2d 1060 (1978); Bric’s Market, Inc. v. State, 105 R.I. 572, 253 A.2d 590 (1969); Lancia v. Grossman’s of Rhode Island, Inc., 100 R.I. 407, 216 A.2d 517 (1966).

. The United States Supreme Court has granted the petition for certiorari which was filed by the treasurer and the tax assessor of Cook County. The appeal is scheduled to be heard this fall. See Rosewell v. LaSalle National Bank, - U.S. -, 100 S.Ct. 1310, 63 L.Ed.2d 758 (1980).