| Opinion: | WAREHOUSE MARKET v. STATE ex rel. OKLAHOMA TAX COMM., 2021 OK 6 |
| Subject matter: | Indian law; Sales tax; Administrative law |
| Date Decided: | February 2, 2021 |
| Trial Court: | District Court of Okmulgee County |
| Route to this Court: | Appeal of summary judgment order in the trial court. Retained by this Court on Appellee’s motion. |
| Facts: | Plaintiff subleased a commercial building on federally restricted Indian land. The Oklahoma Tax Commission (OTC) and the Muscogee (Creek) Nation Office of Tax Commision (Tribe) both sought to collect sales tax from Plaintiff’s operation from the building. The Plaintiff filed an interpleader action in the trial court and asked the trial court to determine to which entity the Plaintiff should pay over sales tax. After first granting Plaintiff’s interpleader and issuing a temporary restraining order against the OTC and the Tribe, the trial court eventually dismissed the Tribe on account of its sovereign immunity and also ruled that the OTC could not be entitled to the sales tax until the dispute between the OTC and the Tribe over who was entitled to collect sales tax from the Plaintiff was resolved in some other forum. |
| Standard of Review: | Not specified, but appears to be de novo because the Court is determining the applicability to the case of the law requiring exhaustion of administrative remedies and the resulting impact on the trial court’s jurisdiction over the cause. |
| Analysis: | Because the trial court dismissed the Tribe, the cause could no longer be considered one of interpleader and instead was a tax protest. As such, exhaustion of administrative remedies is a jurisdictional prerequisite to seeking relief in the trial court. The Plaintiff has not exhausted its administrative remedies and, therefore, the trial court had no jurisdiction over the matter. |
| Outcome: | Trial court reversed and remanded with instructions to dismiss the cause. |
| Vote: | Opinion by J. Kauger. Concur: Darby, C.J., Edmondson, Combs, Gurich, and Rowe, JJ. Concur in result: Kane,V.C.J. and Winchester, J (by separate writing) |
| Other: | Concurring opinion by J. Winchester points out precedent that the State may impose its sales tax on sales made to non-tribal members on tribal land. |
