Court Opinion

ID: 9718457
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 07:24:26.952614+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:59.414245
License: Public Domain

MILLER, Chief Justice
(dissenting).
[¶ 30.] I dissent. A declaratory judgment action is a recognized method for seeking a refund of an illegal tax. Our holdings in Arneson v. Baker, 76 S.D. 262, 266, 77 N.W.2d 325, 326-27 (1956), and Agar School Dist. No. 58-1 v. McGee, 527 N.W.2d 282, 286-87 (S.D.1995) (Agar I), expanded the narrow circumstances in which a tax refund may be allowed to include not only the exclusive statutory methods provided by the protest and suit statute, SDCL 10-27-1, and the refund and abatement statutes, SDCL 10-18-1 and -2, but also to include declaratory *325judgment actions. The inclusion of declaratory judgment actions as a method to refund an illegal tax is consistent with public policy supporting strict limitations on tax refunds. See Agar I, 527 N.W.2d at 287(noting declaratory relief “does not hinder tax collections”); Fiman v. Hughes County, 55 S.D. 204, 206, 225 N.W. 711, 713 (1929) (stating “[t]he general rule [is] that taxes are to be refunded in exceptional cases and under circumstances which render the repayment equitable.”).
[¶ 31.] Furthermore, a declaratory judgment action was expressly sanctioned by this Court under the facts of this case. In Agar I, we held as a matter of law that “a declaratory judgment action is a meaningful alternative to payment under protest statutes” and specifically remanded the matter for additional proceedings. 527 N.W.2d at 287-89. A question which has been decided on a former appeal is the law of the ease and must be followed in all subsequent proceedings concerning the litigation. Western States Land & Cattle Co., Inc. v. Lexington Insurance Co., 459 N.W.2d 429, 435 (S.D.1990); Shaffer v. Honeywell, Inc., 249 N.W.2d 251, 260 (S.D.1976). “[W]e will not decide the same issue anew or on appeal after remand.” First Western Bank, Sturgis v. Livestock Yards Co., 466 N.W.2d 853, 858 (S.D.1991). Accordingly, we are bound by our holding in Agar I that a declaratory judgment action is an available remedy for Taxpayers. See American State Bank v. List-Mayer, 350 N.W.2d 44, 46 (S.D.1984); Gamble v. Keyes, 49 S.D. 39, 43, 206 N.W. 477, 478 (1925).
[¶ 32.] The grant of declaratory relief pursuant to SDCL 21-24-12 allows relief to be granted “whenever necessary and proper” within the discretion of the court. Given the availability of the collected taxes, the fact Sully Buttes School District did not rely on the collected taxes, and the windfall that Sully Buttes would receive as a result of the illegally collected tax, the trial court’s refund of the illegal tax to all taxpayers was not an abuse of discretion.
[¶ 33.] For these reasons and those stated in my majority writing in Agar I, I would affirm the trial court.