Hansen v. Smith
| Decision Date | 29 October 1964 |
| Docket Number | 3261,Nos. 3260,s. 3260 |
| Citation | 395 P.2d 944 |
| Parties | Governor Clifford P. HANSEN, Secretary of State Thyra Thomson, State Auditor Minnie Mitchell, State Treasurer Everett Copenhaver, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Cecil Shaw, as individuals and as the Wyoming Liquor Commission, and Carl Harms, Director of the Wyoming Liquor Commission, Appellants (Defendants below), v. Eugene P. SMITH et al., individually and as representatives of all licensed Beer Wholesalers of Wyoming, a class, Appellees (Plaintiffs below). Eugene P. SMITH et al., individually and as representatives of all licensed Beer Wholesalers of Wyoming, a class, Appellants (Plaintiffs below) v. Governor Clifford P. HANSEN, Secretary of State Thyra Thomson, State Auditor Minnie Mitchell, State Treasurer Everett Copenhaver, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Cecil Shaw, as individuals and as the Wyoming Liquor Commission, and Carl Harms, Director of the Wyoming Liquor Commission, Appellees (Defendants below). |
| Court | Wyoming Supreme Court |
John F. Raper, Atty. Gen., Sterling A. Case, Asst. Atty. Gen., Dean W. Borthwick, Deputy Atty. Gen., Cheyenne, for appellants (defendants below).
Roncalio, Graves & Smyth, John R. Smyth, Cheyenne, for appellees (plaintiffs below).
Before PARKER, C. J., and HARNSBERGER, GRAY and McINTYRE, JJ.
The plaintiffs, all of whom are beer wholesalers licensed by the State of Wyoming, brought a class action for themselves and as representatives of all licensed beer wholesalers of Wyoming, against the five elective state executive officers in their capacity as the Wyoming Liquor Commission and also as individuals, joining as defendants with them the Director of the Wyoming Liquor Commission. Plaintiffs sought to restrain the liquor commission from collecting a sales tax of six cents a gallon on malt liquor and beer, and to limit the liquor commission to collecting only two cents per gallon on malt liquor and beer until a final determination was made of the constitutionality of what appears as § 12-5, W.S.1957, as amended and re-enacted by Ch. 194, § 3, S.L. of Wyoming, 1963, at pp. 359, 360, and, in the alternative, that a receiver be appointed to collect from plaintiffs four cents per gallon on all malt liquor and beer sold by them in this State, investing such collections in a depository where a reasonable rate of interest would be paid upon those funds during the pendency of the action, plaintiffs paying directly to the liquor-commission only two cents per gallon on malt liquor and beer sold by them in Wyoming until final determination was made of the constitutionality of the amendatory and re-enacted section of the statute, and for a judgment declaring unconstitutional the amendatory and re-enacted section of the statute.
Following defendants' motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief could be granted, the parties stipulated the facts, the district court made findings of fact and decreed there be reserved and sent to this court as an important and difficult question:
'Is Chapter 194, Wyoming Session Laws, 1963, unconstitutional on its face or in its passage in contravention of one of [sic] more of the following:
'Section 6, Article 1, Wyoming Constitution Section 20, Article III, Wyoming Constitution Section 23, Article III, Wyoming Constitution Section 24, Article III, Wyoming Constitution Section 28, Article III, Wyoming Constitution Section 33, Article III, Wyoming Constitution, Section 13, Article XV, Wyoming, Constitution, and Section 1, Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States?'
The district court also denied plaintiffs' application for preliminary injunction but directed defendants to retain in their depository banks four cents of every six cents of tax collected on malt liquor on and after May 18, 1963, and not to relinquish that portion of those monies until further order of the court.
By its opinion and decision, this court thereafter declared Ch. 194, S.L. of Wyoming, 1963, to be unconstitutional and in violation of Art. 3, §§ 20 and 24, Wyoming Constitution, and remanded the cause for further proceedings in the District Court of Laramie County, Wyoming, where the trial court then rendered judgment for plaintiffs and against defendants; held that Ch. 194, S.L. of Wyoming, 1963, violated Art. 3, § 20, of the Wyoming Constitution; permanently enjoined defendants from collecting more than a two-cents-per-gallon tax on malt liquor; ordered the Director of the Wyoming State Liquor Commission to return all tax on malt liquor retained in depository banks, to the persons, firms, and corporations in the amount of tax paid by each of said persons, firms, or corporations during the pendency of the action; and ordered such refunds to commence January 15, 1964, and be completed as soon as possible thereafter.
Defendants moved to amend the judgment, and an instrument entitled 'Amended Order' and a further instrument entitled 'Order Nunc Pro Tunc' were then entered, the total effect of which amounted to a denial of the motion to amend.
The defendants have appealed from that part of the judgment of the district court which ordered the Director of the Wyoming State Liquor Commission to return all of the money retained in depository banks under order of the court, during the pendency of the action, and which fixed a time to commence and complete such...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Potter v. Wayne County
...in Brown is in accord with holdings of other courts. See Southern Oregon Co. v. Gage, 100 Or. 424, 197 P. 276 (1921); Hansen v. Smith, 395 P.2d 944 (Wyo., 1964); McMillan v. Robeson County, 262 N.C. 413, 137 S.W.2d 105 (1964). See, also, 23 Am.Jur.2d, Deposits in Court, § 9, p. 742, where t......
-
Parker v. Artery
...argument is without merit. The party ultimately entitled to the judgment amount is also entitled to the accrued interest. Hansen v. Smith, 395 P.2d 944, 946 (Wyo.1964). Equity favors assigning the burden for any income taxes to the party who will enjoy the We hold the district court did not......
-
FIRST CONST. CO. v. Tri-South Mortg. Investors
...404 U.S. 940, 92 S.Ct. 280, 30 L.Ed.2d 253 (1971). Other states have awarded interest earned on court deposits. E. g., Hansen v. Smith, 395 P.2d 944 (Wyo.1964). There is a dearth of Minnesota cases on the issue of which party is entitled to interest accrued on this fund, but such authority ......
-
Blount v. City of Laramie, 4201
...the judgment similarly affecting all members of the class, and being binding thereon. Beadle v. Daniels, Wyo., 362 P.2d 128; Hansen v. Smith, Wyo., 395 P.2d 944. Actions by those assessed or taxed by a municipality are different in effect from most other actions. Here, had Mealey been succe......