City of Atlanta v. Standard Life Ins. Co.

• Decision Date: 14 November 1919
• Docket Number: 1297.
• Citation: 101 S.E. 122,149 Ga. 501
• Parties: CITY OF ATLANTA v. STANDARD LIFE INS. CO.
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court

101 S.E. 122

149 Ga. 501

CITY OF ATLANTA v. STANDARD LIFE INS. CO.

No. 1297.

Supreme Court of Georgia

November 14, 1919

Syllabus by the Court.

"Every fire insurance company and life insurance company incorporated under the laws of this state, and doing business on the legal reserve plan, shall be required to return for taxation all of its real estate as other real estate is returned, and all of the personal property owned by such company shall be returned as other personal property is returned for taxation, and the value of the personal property owned by it shall be ascertained in the following manner From the total value of the assets held by the company, both real and personal, shall be deducted the assessed value of all the real estate owned by the company in this state, the nontaxable bonds deposited by the company with the state treasurer, and the amount of the reserve or net value of its policies required by law to be held by the company for its policy holders and which belong to such policy holders; the remainder shall be the value of the personal property owned by and taxable against such company." Civil Code 1910, § 980. Applying this statute to the facts of the case, the court did not err in granting an interlocutory injunction against the city of Atlanta, which was undertaking to collect taxes from the Standard Life Insurance Company without deducting the reserve fund from its total assets.

The demurrer wherein it was sought to bring in question the constitutionality of the above-stated statute is insufficient to raise any question for decision by this court. No clause of the Constitution is designated as the one violated. Griggs v. State, 130 Ga. 16, 60 S.E. 103.

Error from Superior Court, Fulton County; W. D. Ellis, Judge.

Actions for injunction by the Standard Life Insurance Company against the City of Atlanta. Interlocutory injunction granted, and the defendant brings error. Affirmed.

Fish C.J., dissenting.

J. L Mayson and S.D. Hewlett, both of Atlanta, for plaintiff in error.

Candler Thomson & Hirsch, of Atlanta, for defendant in error.

GILBERT, J.

Judgment affirmed.

All the Justices concur, except ATKINSON, J., absent, and FISH, C.J., dissenting as to the ruling in the second headnote.

FISH C.J.

To my mind the demurrer to the petition states with sufficient definiteness the ground upon which the Code section is claimed to be unconstitutional, and I must...