French Independent School Dist. v. Howth, 2283-7428.

• Decision Date: 03 January 1940
• Docket Number: No. 2283-7428.,2283-7428.
• Citation: 134 S.W.2d 1036
• Parties: FRENCH INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DIST. OF JEFFERSON COUNTY v. HOWTH.
• Court: Texas Supreme Court

134 S.W.2d 1036

FRENCH INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DIST. OF JEFFERSON COUNTY v. HOWTH.

No. 2283-7428.

Commission of Appeals of Texas, Section A.

January 3, 1940.

Error to Court of Civil Appeals of Ninth Supreme Judicial District.

Action by the French Independent School District of Jefferson County against C. W. Howth to recover taxes and to foreclose a tax lien. Judgment for plaintiff was reversed by the Court of Civil Appeals, 115 S. W.2d 1036, and the plaintiff brings error.

Judgment of the Court of Civil Appeals affirmed, and judgment of the district court reversed and remanded.

Morris & Bennett, of Beaumont, for plaintiff in error.

G. H. Wilder, Jr., and Howth, Adams & Hart, all of Beaumont, for defendant in error.

HICKMAN, Commissioner.

In the trial court French Independent School District of Jefferson County, plaintiff in error, was awarded judgment against C. W. Howth, defendant in error, for taxes on land belonging to him and situated in the district, together with a foreclosure of its tax lien upon such land. The Court of Civil Appeals reversed the trial court's judgment and remanded the cause for another trial. 115 S.W.2d 1036.

Findings of fact and conclusions of law were filed by the trial judge, from which the opinion of the Court of Civil Appeals quotes at some length. Under the view which we entertain of the case as it comes to this court, we do not find it necessary to set out those findings in detail.

The taxable years involved were 1924 to 1934, both inclusive, except the year 1927; defendant in error having paid his taxes for that one year. He did not render his land for the years 1924-1925 and 1928-1934. For those years it was placed on the unrendered role and valued by the tax assessor as follows: For the year 1924 at $660, for the year 1925 at $2,900, and thereafter at $5,250. Two tracts of land are involved, one containing 22.3 acres, and the other 9 acres, making a total of 31.3 acres. The trial court found that the value of the 22-acre tract was $10 per acre and the nine-acre tract not more than $25 per acre; that the entire tract of land was worth less than $500, yet was rendered for $5,250. In short it found facts that would make the rendition unreasonable and confiscatory. The school district did not except to or assign errors upon such findings. We are, therefore, bound by them. The findings disclose that the trial court would have decreed the assessments void, but for the presence of certain facts which the court concluded operated as an estoppel against the land owner. The judgment of the trial court was based solely upon an estoppel. We quote the conclusions of the trial court on the question of estoppel: "That the defendant, C. W. Howth, having failed to appear before said equalization boards or any of the other taxing authorities of the said French Independent School District for said years 1924 to 1934, both inclusive, and make protest of the valuations placed on said land for said years after he had been notified of the valuations and by reason of his payment of the taxes on said land for the year 1927 upon the valuation of $5250.00 without protest, and by reason of having himself rendered said property in bulk for the years 1926 and 1927, he is now estopped to claim that said land has been excessively valued or improperly described."

The Court of Civil Appeals concluded that under the conflicting findings the judgment could not be made to rest...