Southern LNG, Inc. v. MacGinnitie

On remand, the trial court granted summary judgment to the Georgia Revenue Commissioner on Southern LNG, Inc.'s request for the writ of mandamus, on the ground that Southern had an adequate alternative remedy in the form of tax appeals brought under OCGA 48-5-311. The court said that Southern could raise, and had raised, its statutory claim that it was a public utility required to return its property to the Commissioner rather than to Chatham County in appeals of the county’s tax assessments to the county board of equalization and then to the Chatham County Superior Court. Upon second review of this case, the Supreme Court concluded the trial court's analysis was incomplete: "the Chatham County tax appeals, as currently constituted, appear not to provide Southern with an adequate alternative to mandamus. . . . The parties have not briefed [their] issues here or below; the trial court did not address them; and this Court should not try to resolve them in the first instance." Accordingly, the Court vacated the trial court's grant of summary judgment to the Commissioner and remanded the case for further proceedings. View "Southern LNG, Inc. v. MacGinnitie" on Justia Law