Comptoir National D'escompte De Paris v. Board of Assessors

• Decision Date: 01 May 1900
• Docket Number: 13,310
• Citation: Comptoir National D'escompte De Paris v. Board of Assessors, 27 So. 801, 52 La.Ann. 1319 (La. 1900)
• Parties: COMPTOIR NATIONAL D'ESCOMPTE DE PARIS v. BOARD OF ASSESSORS
• Court: Louisiana Supreme Court

27 So. 801

52 La.Ann. 1319

COMPTOIR NATIONAL D'ESCOMPTE DE PARIS v. BOARD OF ASSESSORS

No. 13,310

Supreme Court of Louisiana

May 1, 1900

Rehearing refused.

APPEAL from the Civil District Court, Parish of Orleans. -- St Paul, J.

Harry H. Hall, for Plaintiff, Appellant.

James J. McLoughlin, Assistant City Attorney, and Samuel L Gilmore, City Attorney, for the City of New OrleansDefendant, Appellee.

Francis C. Zacharie, for the Tax Collector and Board of Assessors, Defendants, Appellees.

Edwin T. Merrick, on Petition, for Rehearing, amicus curiae.

OPINION

NICHOLLS, C.J.

STATEMENT OF THE CASE.

The plaintiff is declared in its petition to be a corporation duly organized under the laws of the Republic of France, a citizen thereof, and therein domiciled in the City of Paris, and represented in the suit by its agent, Albert Breton.

Its allegations are that during the year 1897, petitioner, from its said domicile in Paris, through its said agent, transacted in the City of New Orleans a brokerage business, paying thereon a due and proper license tax.

That on the Assessment rolls of the First Municipal District, Third Representative, Fifth Assessment District, SquareNo. 227, it was assessed for the year 1898, as follows:

"Moneys" loaned on interest, all credits, etc.

$ 50,000.00

Money in possession

50,000.00

That all "credits" for "moneys loaned on interest" are taxable at its domicile in Paris, where it pays its taxes, and not at the domicile of its debtors in the City of New Orleans, and that, therefore, said item "money" loaned on interest, all credits, etc.," was and remains an illegal assessment.

That its moneys in possession did not, during the year 1897, exceed, on an average, more than $ 20,000.00, nor did it exceed that amount at the time for making the assessment in 1898.

That it made due and timely application to the Board of Assessors for the Parish of Orleans, and later to the Committee on the Revision of Assessments for the Common Council to cancel, from the said assessment rolls of 1898, the assessment of "money loaned on interest, all credits, etc., $ 50,000.00,"and to reduce the assessment made against it of "money in possession" from $ 50,000.00 to $ 20,000.00, and its applications to cancel and reduce said assessments were, without just cause, rejected.

Petitioner annexes copies of said applications.

Its prayer is that the Board of Assessors, by its president; the State of Louisiana, by its Tax Collector, and the City of New Orleans, by the Mayor, be cited to appear and answer this petition, and that after due proceedings had, petitioner have judgment in its favor, ordering the cancellation from the assessment rolls for 1898, of the assessment against it for "money loaned on interest, all credits, etc., $ 50,000.00"(fifty thousand dollars), and reducing the assessment against it of "money in possession," $ 50,000.00 to $ 20,000.00 (twenty thousand dollars), and for costs, and all general relief.

The defendant answered by a general denial.

The District Court rendered judgment partly in favor of the plaintiff, The Comptoir National D'Escompte de Paris, and partly against it as follows:

"It is ordered, adjudged and decreed that there be judgment in favor of the plaintiff, The Comptoir National D'Escompte de Paris, and against the defendants, The State Tax Collector for the Upper or First District of New Orleans, The Board of Assessors for the Parish of Orleans, and the City of New Orleans, ordering and decreeing that the assessment for the year 1898, against plaintiff on "money in possession," be reduced from fifty thousand dollars to twenty thousand dollars, and that as to the item "money loaned on interest, all credits, etc., fifty thousand dollars," the demand of plaintiff be rejected.

"It is further ordered and decreed that the ten per cent. attorney's fees allowed by law upon the State tax on said amount of 'money loaned at interest, all credits, etc.,' be taxed against the plaintiff, and that all costs of this suit be paid by defendants."

Plaintiff appealed.

Alfred Breton, agent of the plaintiffs in Louisiana, being upon the stand as a witness, testified substantially as follows:

The plaintiff is a French corporation domiciled in Paris.Its business in Louisiana through witness' agency was brokerage in money, stocks and bonds.It has no capital in Louisiana.If the company loans money on the agricultural products of the State, it receives for the money which it loans, what are called exchange notes, of which the following marked "C 2" are the regular forms:

$

189

promise to pay to Comptoir National D'Escompte de Paris for value received with interest at the rate of per cent. per annum.

until paid.

This note is not negotiable and is secured by pledge of the securities mentioned on the reverse hereof, and in case of its non-payment or should the drawer hereof when called on, refuse or fail to keep the margin hereon good, the Comptoir National D'Escompte de Paris is authorized to sell the said securities at public or private sale, without recourse to legal proceedings, and to make any transfers that may be required, applying the proceeds of sale towards payment of within note.

C-2:

No.

Received from the Agent of the Comptoir National D'Escompte de Paris dollars, on account of exchange on arising from shipment and from measures taken preparatory to the shipment of per for which is covered by policies of Insurance against Fire and Marine Risks and which policies are hereby bound and pledged specifically to for the fulfillment of the Contract to furnish the Exchange agreed to and for the money here advanced in case of the non-completion of the contract from any cause.

New Orleans, 189

$

The company does not loan any money except upon notes of that kind or obligations of that character.Money is loaned principally to cotton and grain people; it lends in New Orleans, Shreveport and all around the Southern States.At least one-half of the money loaned is loaned on cotton and grain in transit which is not in New Orleans.As a rule the money loaned is on cotton and grain to be exported to Europe.

Witness buys foreign drafts on the other side during the time the cotton is in transit; they want money because here as a rule they pay for the cotton as against the railroad bill of lading, and the company through witness loan thereon money that is for the cotton outside of New Orleans.

The company takes a pledge of the bill of lading and the cotton is brought to New Orleans, Mobile, and Galveston; to different parties.The foreign bill of lading is attached to the draft.The money is loaned on that bill of lading for the draft drawn for the cotton or grain.That is the company's business, for cotton in transit.For this cotton and grain that the company advance on the company takes the bill of lading first, then witness buys a foreign draft; the railroad bills of lading are exchanged for the ship's bill of lading; they simply purchase the bills of lading.

As to other advances that the company makes it takes documents such as the two marked "C-1" and "C-2", offered in evidence, different in different cases.

Supposing the company to loan ten thousand dollars to a man in the country, witness takes the receipt for the cotton where it is to be shipped in a few days, and where the cotton is not to be shipped in a few days, he takes the note, a note like the one marked "C-1".

The notes are not sent to Paris.Witness keeps them on trust; they are not negotiable; they are kept in trust for the account and benefit of the Comptoir in Paris.Witness is simply a clerk, and has no individual interest in the business.The company has no capital in Louisiana.

Being asked whether he could tell what monies he had at any time in the handling of his business and wants, he answered "that the balances were returned to Berlin, London and New York, from there."Being asked how he got it, he answered: "By drawing according to credits -- the Comptoir had arrangements for it".

He further testified that the average amount of money he had in bank, year in and year out, was twenty thousand dollars; that the company had been doing this business in Louisiana since 1895, that the highest assessment which had been placed upon it by the Board of Assessors prior to 1899, upon the company's "money in possession in bank, etc.," was twenty thousand dollars altogether; they raised in 1898 to fifty thousand dollars.

The company had no more money in 1898 than before.At the time the present assessment was made in March, 1898, the company did not have more than $ 20,000.The company made a verified application for reduction of assessment.

The company never loaned money on due bills, to cotton factors, it loaned money to factors on cotton, not due bills, on cotton in presses.Witness supposed all the cotton was exported.The factors, in many instances, came back, paid the loans and took back the cotton receipts.

The company had loaned money on domestic products not exported from the city, and things of that kind; people had borrowed money in Louisiana and paid it back without any foreign exchange appearing in the transaction, but not frequently.

Being asked on cross-examination, whether the company's entire business was confined to foreign bills of exchange, witness answered "that everything was foreign exchange with him".Being asked "whether there was any foreign exchange in loaning to cotton men?"he answered: "Yes, when he got the money from Paris."

Witness stated the company loaned money to people in Louisiana and they paid it back there; they gave the company an obligation to show that they owed the company that money; as a rule the company collected it when...