Brown v. French

• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Montana
• Citation: Brown v. French, 80 F. 166 (D. Mont. 1897)
• Decision Date: 13 April 1897
• Docket Number: 458.
• Parties: BROWN v. FRENCH, County Treasurer, et al.

80 F. 166

BROWN v. FRENCH, County Treasurer, et al.

No. 458.

United States Circuit Court, D. Montana.

April 13, 1897

Toole &amp Wallace, for complainant.

R.R Purcell and Carpenter & Carpenter, for defendants.

KNOWLES District Judge.

This is an action on the part of complainant to enjoin the defendants from proceeding to sell certain real estate, the property of the first National Bank of Helena, for taxes claimed to be due from said bank to said county of Lewis and Clarke for the year 1896. It appears from the bill that complainant is the receiver of said bank, appointed by the comptroller of the currency of the United States, and has qualified and is acting as such officer; that said French is the treasurer of said Lewis and Clarke county, and as such the collector of taxes for the same; that said French has advertised for sale and threatens to sell, the real estate of said bank to pay said taxes; that one E. D. Edgerton, who was then the receiver of said bank duly appointed by said comptroller paid the taxes upon all of the real estate of said bank, which was advertised for sale as above stated; that said bank was a national bank, incorporated under the banking act of the United States, and was conducting business as such. The tax claimed to be due from said bank, and for which said sale was advertised and proposed to be made, was an assessment on what is claimed to be for the shares of stock of said bank, valued at $497,906. From the affidavit of W. J. Bickett and Henry T. Davis, it appears that a blank form for a return of a list of property subject to taxation for the year 1896 in the county of Lewis and Clarke, Mont., was presented to said bank, and a list of said property demanded. It is set forth in the bill that the said bank never made out a verified list of said property, but, in the latter part of June of the said year 1896, George H. Hill, then the assistant cashier of said bank, for it handed to said Bickett, as deputy assessor for said county, the following:

Capital ............	$800,000 00
Surplus .............	100,000 00
Undivided profits ....	94,000 00
	-----------
$994,149 01
U. S. bonds ........	$100,000 00
Real estate ........	-----------

It is set forth, also, in the bill, that the said bank did not for the year 1896, but that the said assessor did for that year, prepare the assessment list of property belonging to the said bank, and that he (the assessor) estimated for himself the value of the property. The assessor added the $100,000 in United States bonds, and the value of the real estate, estimated at $147,290, together, and then deducted the amount from the said $994,149.01, and then took as the value of the stock two-thirds of the amount left, which, according to the calculations of said assessor, left $497,906. For this amount the bank was assessed. The deputy, Bickett, in his affidavit claimed that this was the value of the shares of stock, and this stock was assessed to the bank.

The return, if any, of the bank, was of capital. The entry of 'stock', by the assessor opposite to the said sum of $497,906 would appear to also indicate capital stock, and not the value of shares of stock. There is no number of shares indicated. It is stated in the affidavits that the bank has been accustomed to make such returns for assessments for several years prior to 1896. This would not make it legal. Section 3691, Pol. Code Mont., provides:

'The stockholders in every bank or banking association organized under the authority of this state or the United States, must be assessed and taxed on the value of their shares of stock therein, in the county, town, city or district where such bank or banking association is located, and not elsewhere, whether such stockholders reside in such place or not. To aid the assessor in determining the value of such shares of stock, the cashier or other accounting officer of every such bank must furnish a verified statement to the assessor, showing the amount and number of shares of the capital stock of each bank, the amount of its surplus or reserve fund, the amount of investments in real estate, which real estate must be assessed and taxed as other real estate.'

Section 3692:

'In the assessment of the shares of stock mentioned in the next preceding section, each stockholder must be allowed all the deductions and exemptions allowed by law in assessing the value of other taxable personal property owned by individual citizens of this state, and the assessment and taxation must not be at a greater rate than is made or assessed upon other moneyed capital in the hands of individual citizens of this state.' It will be seen from this section that the law provides for the assessing of shares of stock to the owners, and to this end the cashier or other accounting officer of a bank must furnish a verified statement showing the amount and number of shares of the capital stock, and the surplus or reserve fund. It is not required that such officer should state the names of the shareholders. The statement is required to enable the assessor to fix the value of the shares of each stockholder. There is nothing in any of the affidavits to show that any such statement as is provided in said section 3691 was demanded of any officer of the bank. If the statement given of the amount of capital, the undivided profits, and surplus was intended to comply with this provision of the statute, this did not authorize the said

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