ROBERT A. MALLARD, PROPERTY APPRAISER OF DUVAL COUNTY, FLORIDA, H. S. ALBURY, TAX COLLECTOR OF DUVAL COUNTY, FLORIDA, THE BOARD OF TAX ADJUSTMENT OF DUVAL COUNTY, FLORIDA, AND J. ED STRAUGHN, DIRECTOR, DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE, STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLANTS,
v.
R. G. HOBELMANN & COMPANY, INC., A CORPORATION, APPELLEE

Fla. 1st DCA | 1978-11-14
No. FF-286
McCORD, C. J., and BOYER and MILLS, JJ., concur.
363 So. 2d 1176 Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (1978) Positive Treatment
Cited by 2 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

The Florida District Court of Appeal reversed a trial court's grant of ad valorem tax exemption to a private corporation leasing property from a public port authority. The court held that the corporation's commercial warehousing and vehicle servicing operations do not constitute a governmental use entitled to tax exemption, regardless of the public nature of the port authority's functions.


Holding

The court reversed the trial court's exemption, holding that the private corporation's commercial warehousing and servicing operations do not qualify as a governmental use entitled to tax exemption. The court relied on controlling precedent from St. John's Associates v. Mallard, which mandated reversal under the facts of this case.


Headnotes

[1] A leasehold interest in property owned by a public body may be exempt from ad valorem taxation if the lessee's use of the property constitutes a governmental use.

[2] A private corporation's commercial operations, even if conducted on land owned by a public body and providing services that the public body could otherwise provide, may n…

Previewing 2 of 3 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Key Quotes

“The issue to be resolved is whether, under the facts of this case, appellee's use of its leasehold constitutes a governmental use entitling it to be exempt from taxes.”

Establishes the central legal question on appeal

Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

R. G. Hobelmann & Company, Inc., a private for-profit corporation, leased land owned by the Jacksonville Port Authority (a public body). The corporati…

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.


Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

Appellants, the property appraiser of Du-val County, the tax collector of Duval County, the Board of Tax Adjustment of Duval County and the Director of the Department of Revenue of the State of Florida, who were defendants in the trial court, here seek review of a final judgment in favor of appellee, plaintiff in the trial court, granting an exemption from ad valorem tax.

Appellee is a private corporation for profit which leases land owned by the Jacksonville Port Authority (JPA), a public body organized under Chapter 63-1447, Laws of Florida. Appellee’s operations consist primarily of the storage (warehousing) and servicing of imported motor vehicles, for which it is paid by the importer. The JPA provides warehousing, sampling, loading and unloading, handling, weighing and other services demanded by a shipper in connection with docking ships. Appellant Mallard assessed ad valorem tax against plaintiff resulting in a suit for declaratory and injunctive relief.

At trial appellee contended that it engaged in an activity which is defined as a “project” under the act creating the JPA; without the plaintiff performing its present functions and operations such functions and operations could and would of necessity be performed by the JPA; to perform such functions and operations presently performed by appellee, JPA would be required to utilize public funds; and that the legislature has declared the operations and functions of the JPA to be for a public purpose. Essentially, appellee contended that its use of the property sought to be taxed is a public or governmental purpose entitling it to an exemption. Appellants argued that appellee is merely another commercial enterprise and that its leasehold is subject to taxation in the same manner as any other private property. The learned trial judge entered a final judgment in favor of appellee holding that its leasehold interests are exempt from ad va-lorem taxation pursuant to F.S. 196.- 199(2)(a) and F.S. 196.012(5).

This appeal followed.

The issue to be resolved is whether, under the facts of this case, appellee’s use of its leasehold constitutes a governmental use entitling it to be exempt from taxes.

At the time the learned trial judge heard and decided this case he did not have the benefit of Lykes Brothers, Inc. v. City of Plant City, et al., 354 So. 2d 878 (Fla.1978); Thomas E. Archer, et al., v. Seymour J. Marshall, et al., 355 So. 2d 781, (Fla.1978) nor St. John’s Associates v. Mallard, et al., (Fla. 1st DCA 1978), Case No. HH-235, Opinion filed October 3, 1978. Although the two Florida Supreme Court cases above cited are not dispositive their holdings are relevant. However, St. John’s Associates v. Mallard, supra, is dispositive and controlling. The law and reasoning found in that decision is equally applicable sub judice and mandates reversal. Accordingly, for the reasons set forth by this court in the last cited opinion the final judgment here appealed is

REVERSED.

McCORD, C. J., and BOYER and MILLS, JJ., concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • R. G. Hobelmann & Co., Inc. v. Mallard, 378 So. 2d 280 (Fla. 1979)
    …PER CURIAM. This cause is before us on a petition for writ of certiorari to review a decision of the First District Court of Appeal, 363 So. 2d 1176 (Fla. 1st DCA 1978). The writ was premised upon conflict certiorari, article V, section 3(b)(3), Florida Constitution. We discharge the writ pursuant to our recent decisions in St. Johns Associates v. Mallard, 373 So. 2d 912 (Fla.1979), and Walden v…

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw