Application of Sprinkle

• Decision Date: 19 November 1940
• Docket Number: 9051.
• Citation: 11 S.E.2d 757,122 W.Va. 611
• Parties: Application of SPRINKLE et al.
• Court: West Virginia Supreme Court

11 S.E.2d 757

122 W.Va. 611

Application of SPRINKLE et al.

No. 9051.

Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia.

November 19, 1940

Wysong & Wysong, of Webster Springs, for plaintiffs in error.

No appearance for defendant in error County Court of Webster County, sitting as a Board of Equalization and Review.

HATCHER Judge.

Petitioners own two tracts of land in Webster County, containing 7,342.74 acres and 214.5 acres, respectively. For a number of years prior to 1939, both tracts had been assessed for taxation at $6 per acre. That year the assessor raised the assessment of the larger tract to $10 per acre, and of the smaller tract to $15 per acre. The landowners protested these assessments before the board of equalization and review, and evidence was taken. The board approved the assessments. An appeal was granted by the circuit court, which sustained the assessment of the larger tract and reduced that of the smaller to $10 per acre. A writ of error was granted here.

Petitioners proved that the tracts were unimproved rugged mountain lands, containing only a negligible acreage suitable for farming; that all the merchantable timber, 12 inches and up in diameter, had been removed from the tracts prior to 1930; that their surface had been extensively prospected for coal, but none merchantable was discovered that the tracts were not on or near a railroad; that purchasers had been sought for them, diligently, in vain; and that entire equality of assessments did not prevail in the region where the tracts were located. For the state, county and district it appeared that this region, generally contained valuable coal seams, some of which had been opened on lands not remote from these tracts; that geologists regarded them as having these seams; that the tracts had not been core-drilled, and until so, their barrenness was not established; that wild mountain lands, such as these tracts, having no workable coal, were generally assessed at $5 per acre; that if they had workable coal, and were not on or near a railroad, they were generally assessed at $10 per acre; and that the assessor was attempting to achieve equality of assessments in this region.

For purposes of comparison, both as to coal seams and to tax assessments, a number of lands in the general region of these tracts are referred to in the evidence. A map is filed which to a limited extent, illustrates the evidence. Nevertheless, it is difficult...