Allied Mut. Ins. Co. v. Bell

• Decision Date: 05 February 1945
• Docket Number: 39029
• Citation: 185 S.W.2d 4,353 Mo. 891
• Parties: Allied Mutual Insurance Company, a Corporation; Central Mutual Casualty Company, a Corporation; Co-Operative Casualty Company, a Corporation; Equity Mutual Insurance Company, a Corporation; Globe Mutual Insurance Company, a Corporation, and Missouri Casualty Company, a Corporation, v. Wilson Bell, Treasurer of the State of Missouri, and Edward L. Scheufler, Superintendent of the Insurance Department of the State of Missouri, Appellants
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

185 S.W.2d 4

353 Mo. 891

Allied Mutual Insurance Company, a Corporation; Central Mutual Casualty Company, a Corporation; Co-Operative Casualty Company, a Corporation; Equity Mutual Insurance Company, a Corporation; Globe Mutual Insurance Company, a Corporation, and Missouri Casualty Company, a Corporation, v. Wilson Bell, Treasurer of the State of Missouri, and Edward L. Scheufler, Superintendent of the Insurance Department of the State of Missouri, Appellants

No. 39029

Supreme Court of Missouri

February 5, 1945

Appeal from Cole Circuit Court; Hon. Edward T. Eversole Judge.

Affirmed (with decree modified).

Preston Estep and Arthur R. Thompson, Jr., for appellant Edward L Scheufler, State Superintendent of Insurance; Roy McKittrick Attorney General, and Ralph C. Lashly, Assistant Attorney General, for appellant Wilson Bell, State Treasurer.

(1) The Act of 1939 (Laws 1939, p. 456) was not so amended in its passage through the General Assembly as to change its original purpose in contravention of Section 25, Article 4, of the Constitution of Missouri. State ex rel. McCaffery v. Mason, 155 Mo. 486; State ex rel. Aull v. Field, 119 Mo. 593; Sec. 37, Art. 4, Mo. Constitution; 59 C.J., sec. 60, pp. 554, 555. (2) The title to the Act of 1939 (Laws 1939, p. 456) was sufficiently clear and comprehensive to include each and all of the provisions contained in the body of the Act and was not imperfect and misleading, and the title of the Act clearly stated its subject and purpose and was not violative of Section 28, Article 4, of the Constitution of Missouri. State ex rel. Attorney General v. Miller, 100 Mo. 439, 13 S.W. 677; Booth v. Scott, 276 Mo. 1, 205 S.W. 633; Asel v. City of Jefferson, 287 Mo. 195, 229 S.W. 1046; State v. Mullinix, 301 Mo. 385, 257 S.W. 121; Star Square Auto Supply Co. v. Gerk, 325 Mo. 968, 30 S.W.2d 447; Hull v. Baumann, 345 Mo. 159, 131 S.W.2d 721; Edwards v. Business Men's Assur. Co. of America, 168 S.W.2d 82; State ex rel. Faust v. Thomas, 313 Mo. 160, 282 S.W. 34; State ex rel. Mullinix Baking Co. v. Calvird, 338 Mo. 601, 92 S.W.2d 184; State ex rel. Harmony Drain. District No. 3 v. Hackmann, 305 Mo. 685, 267 S.W. 608; Clark v. Atchison, T. & S.F. Ry. Co., 319 Mo. 865, 6 S.W.2d 954; State ex inf. Hadley, Attorney General v. Herring, 208 Mo. 708, 106 S.W. 984; Downey v. Schrader, 182 S.W.2d 320. (3) The Act of 1939 (Laws 1939, p. 456) is presumed to be constitutional and the burden rests upon the respondents questioning the constitutional validity to establish its unconstitutionality beyond a reasonable doubt, and if there is any doubt as to the constitutionality, such doubt must be resolved in favor of validity. Graves v. Purcell, 337 Mo. 574, 85 S.W.2d 543; State v. Sullivan-Gallagher Iron & Steel Co., 268 Mo. 178, 186 S.W. 1007; State v. Thomas, 301 Mo. 603, 256 S.W. 1028; State v. Ward, 328 Mo. 658, 40 S.W.2d 1074; Willhite v. Rathburn, 332 Mo. 1208, 61 S.W.2d 708.

William H. Allen for respondents.

(1) The provisions of Section 25 of Article IV are mandatory, and since House Bill No. 281 of the Sixtieth General Assembly was so amended in its passage through the house as to change its original purpose it violated the provisions of said section and was unconstitutional and void. The trial court was correct in so ruling. House Bill No. 281, 60th General Assembly; Committee Substitute for House Bill No. 281, 60th General Assembly; Sec. 25, Art. IV, Mo. Constitution; Wells v. Mo. Pac. Ry. Co., 19 S.W. 530, 110 Mo. l.c. 296; In re House Bill No. 231, 9 Colo. 624, 21 Pac. l.c. 472. Gronert v. People, 37 P.2d 396. (2) The title to the act of the Sixtieth General Assembly (Laws 1939, p. 456), does not clearly express the subject of said act but on the contrary is misleading in that it nowhere indicates that a tax is to be imposed on domestic mutual insurance companies which had been theretofore excluded from such tax, in violation of Section 28, Article IV, of the Constitution of Missouri. Sec. 28, Art. IV, Mo. Constitution; House Bill No. 281, 60th General Assembly; Committee Substitute for House Bill No. 281, 60th General Assembly; Williams v. A., T. & S.F. Ry. Co., 136 S.W. 304, 233 Mo. 666; State v. Burgdoerfer, 17 S.W. 646, 107 Mo. l.c. 30; State v. Distilling Co., 139 S.W. 453, 237 Mo. l.c. 106; State v. Great Western Coffee & Tea Co., 71 S.W. 1011, 171 Mo. l.c. 643.

Van Osdol, C. Bradley and Dalton, CC., concur.

OPINION

VAN OSDOL

Action for a declaratory judgment by which the plaintiffs-respondents, Mutual Insurance Companies (other than life and fire) organized under the laws of Missouri, sought to have Section 5968, R.S. 1939, Mo. R.S.A., sec. 5968, declared unconstitutional, and to declare that plaintiffs were not indebted to defendants nor to the State of Missouri for the tax in the section provided. The trial court found for plaintiffs, declaring the bill introduced in enacting the Section 5968, supra, was so amended in its passage through the House of Representatives as to change the bill's original purpose in violation of Section 25, Article IV, Constitution of Missouri; and further, the trial court declared the title to the bill "was imperfect and misleading and the purpose of said Act was not clearly stated in said title, in violation of Section 28 of Article IV of the Constitution of Missouri." Defendants, Treasurer and Superintendent of the Insurance Department of Missouri, have appealed from the judgment, contending the trial court erred in its declarations and finding.

House Bill No. 281 was introduced in the House of Representatives of the 60th General Assembly February 10, 1939, being in title and body,

"AN ACT

"To amend Section 5857, Article 7, Chapter 37, Revised Statutes of Missouri, 1929, relating to Mutual Insurance Companies Other than Life and Fire, by striking out after the word 'state' in line nine of said section the words 'deducting amounts paid for reinsurance upon which a tax has been or is to be paid to this state, and.'

"Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Missouri, as follows:

"Section 1. That Section 5857, Article 7, Chapter 37, Revised Statutes of Missouri, 1929, relating to Mutual Insurance Companies other than Life and Fire, be and the same is hereby amended by striking out after the word 'state' in line nine of said section the words 'deducting amounts paid for reinsurance upon which a tax has been or is to be paid to this state, and,' so that said section as amended shall read as follows:

"Section 5857. The taxable premiums or premium receipts of any mutual insurance company organized in or admitted to this state under this article for the purpose of taxation under any law of this state shall be gross premiums received for direct insurance upon property or risks in this state, deducting premiums upon policies not taken, premiums returned on cancelled policies, and any refund or return made to policy-holders other than for losses."

The bill was referred to the Committee on Revision, and on April 20, 1939, Committee Substitute for House Bill No. 281 was reported and recommended for passage by that Committee. The substitute bill was passed by the House of Representatives May 1, 1939, and by the Senate June 23, 1939 (Journal of the House, 60th General Assembly, Vol. II, p. 1116; and Journal of the Senate, 60th General Assembly, Vol. II, p. 2122), in the form of title and body as the Committee had recommended,

"AN ACT

"To repeal an Act of the Fifty-fifth General Assembly appearing in the Session Laws of 1929, at pages 234 and 235, and as Section 5857 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri for 1929, relating to the taxation of premium receipts of mutual insurance companies organized in or admitted to this State, and to enact a new Section in lieu thereof and relating to the same subject, and providing that this Bill contains, and is a revision bill within the meaning of Section 41, Article IV, of the Constitution of Missouri.

"Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Missouri, as follows:

"Section 1. That an Act of the Fifty-fifth General Assembly of Missouri appearing in the Session Laws of 1929 at pages 234 and 235 and being Section 5857 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri for the year 1929, relating to the taxation of premium receipts of mutual insurance companies organized in or admitted to this state, be and the same is hereby repealed and a new Section relating to the same subject is hereby enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as Section 5857, and to read as follows:

"Section 5857. Every mutual insurance company or association organized or admitted to Missouri under the provisions of this Article, shall annually pay to the State Treasurer a tax upon the direct premiums received, whether in cash or in notes, in this State, for the insurance of property or risks in this State at the rate of two per cent per annum; provided, that such companies or associations shall be credited with cancelled or return premiums actually paid during the year in this state.

"Section 2. By reason of the necessity of revising the laws of this State relative to the taxation of premium receipts of mutual insurance companies organized in this State, and this bill being a revision bill, the General Assembly hereby determines this Bill to be a Revision Bill within the meaning of Section 41, Article IV of the Constitution of Missouri." See now Laws of Missouri, 1939, pp. 456-7; and Section 5968, R.S. 1939, Mo. R.S.A., sec. 5968.

No member of either house objected nor was there a written protest noted upon the journal of either house (that any substitution, omission or insertion had occurred or that any particular clause of Article IV, Constitution of Missouri had been violated in the bill's passage) when the considered and passed ...