Cinema Heirs Defend $5 Million Tax Refund to California Court

Trusts established for descendants of Century Theaters Inc.'s founder urged a California appeals court to reject the Franchise Tax Board’s arguments and uphold their income tax refund of more than $5 million.

The fourteen-year-old case is before the California Court of Appeal, First Appellate District, for a third time, and the FTB’s “arguments are no different than the last time,” trustees Alan Steuer and Stafford Smiley said in a response brief filed Thursday.

The agency is asking the court to overturn a trial court’s ruling that the state owes the 157 trusts set up by Raymond Syufy $5.39 million, plus ...