City of Louisville v. J. Zinmeister & Sons

• Decision Date: 18 June 1920
• Citation: 222 S.W. 958,188 Ky. 570
• Parties: CITY OF LOUISVILLE ET AL. v. J. ZINMEISTER & SONS.
• Court: Kentucky Court of Appeals

222 S.W. 958

188 Ky. 570

CITY OF LOUISVILLE ET AL. v. J. ZINMEISTER & SONS.

Court of Appeals of Kentucky.

June 18, 1920

Appeal from Circuit Court, Jefferson County, Chancery Branch, Second Division.

Suit by J. Zinmeister & Sons against the City of Louisville and others. From judgment for plaintiffs, defendants appeal. Affirmed.

Wm. T Baskett and Joe S. Lawton, both of Louisville, for appellants.

E. C Underwood, of Louisville, for appellees.

SAMPSON J.

One of the lines of business of J. Zinmeister & Sons, of Louisville consists in the importation of green coffee which it prepares by putting it through several different processes, for use by the consumer. This company insists that it is a manufacturer of coffee products, and consequently is entitled to exemption from taxation for city purposes under section 4019a10 Kentucky Statutes, on all machinery and products in course of manufacture and "raw material actually on hand" at its plant for the purpose of manufacture.

The city of Louisville and its assessor, Baldauf, and tax receiver, Watts, assert the coffee machinery as well as the raw material or green coffee imported by appellee, to be prepared for consumption, are subject to the city tax, and were threatening to coerce Zinmeister & Sons to pay the taxes when that firm, in January last, instituted this action against the city of Louisville, its assessor and tax receiver, to obtain an injunction restraining the city, and its said officials from listing its said coffee machinery and raw material for taxation purposes in the city and from collecting or attempting to collect or levy any tax bill on said coffee machinery or raw material.

The petition avers that Zinmeister & Sons were on the 1st of September 1918, engaged in the actual manufacture of coffee products at its plant in Louisville, Ky.; that the plaintiff imports large quantities of green coffee which in its natural state is absolutely unfit for use for any purpose whatsoever; that said coffee so imported is manufactured by it into an article of commerce and an article of food or drink by and through certain processes employed by appellee which it recites as follows:

"The plaintiff first runs the green coffee through a separating machine which classifies or separates the coffee beans according to size, the larger beans being marketed at a higher level than the smaller beans.

That, after the separation process above referred to is completed, it is necessary to thoroughly cleanse all coffee, thereby removing trash, pebbles, bag strings, and other foreign substances which through the carelessness of the planters are scooped up along with the coffee from the ground when being sacked; that to accomplish this cleansing process the plaintiff runs the coffee through a machine known as a milling machine.

That after said coffee has been separated or classified as aforesaid, and after same has been cleansed by running through the milling machine, the plaintiff then carries said coffee, by means of automatic conveyers, to the roasting machines; that these machines are large, expensive, and scientifically constructed machines for roasting coffee, which consist in part of revolving perforated cylinders containing contrivances which automatically turn and shift about the coffee therein contained, thereby enabling said coffee to be completely and uniformly roasted; that said cylinder must be operated by highly experienced employés in order to secure the even roasting of said coffee and in order that said coffee may be roasted to the proper extent, neither more nor less.

That, after said coffee is roasted, same leaves the cylinders at a tremenduously high temperature, and it is necessary that the temperature of said coffee be immediately reduced in order to prevent said coffee from burning or from continuing to roast after the proper degree of roasting has been attained; that to accomplish this purpose the plaintiff places said coffee in specially constructed contrivances for reducing the temperature of said coffee by means of passing currents of cold air through said coffee.

That after said coffee has passed through the cleansing process it is necessary to and the plaintiff does put said coffee through a further cleansing process, for which purpose the plaintiff uses specially constructed machinery which eliminates from the coffee all foreign substances whatever.

That after the said process last mentioned is completed the plaintiff runs said coffee through a finished machine which polishes the coffee beans and thereby greatly improves its appearance and marketablity.

That after the polishing of the coffee bean as aforesaid the plaintiff places said coffee in certain scientifically constructed machines known as 'steel-cutting mills'; that by means of said mills the coffee bean is not ground or crushed, as was formerly the case in the handling of coffee, but, on the contrary, the said coffee beans are actually cut into small particles of uniform size; that in the old-fashioned grinding of coffee there was a considerable waste, in that it was difficult to obtain a uniform size of the ground coffee; that to be properly handled in the boiler the coffee should be neither too fine nor too coarse.

That...