Insurance Exchange Bldg. v. Board of Sup'rs of Polk County

• Citation: 300 N.W. 717,231 Iowa 133
• Decision Date: 18 November 1941
• Docket Number: 45669.
• Parties: INSURANCE EXCHANGE BLDG. et al. v. BOARD OF SUP'RS OF POLK COUNTY et al.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

300 N.W. 717

231 Iowa 133

INSURANCE EXCHANGE BLDG. et al. v. BOARD OF SUP'RS OF POLK COUNTY et al.

No. 45669.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

November 18, 1941

Appeal from District Court, Polk County; W. S. Cooper, Judge.

Action in mandamus wherein taxpayer sought to require board of supervisors to approve a refund of taxes and county auditor to issue a warrant to pay same for taxes claimed to have been overpaid. The district court dismissed plaintiff's petition. Plaintiffs appeal.

Affirmed.

Allan W. Denny and Clark, Byers & Garber, all of Des Moines, for appellants.

Charles Hutchinson, Francis J. Kuble, Co. Atty., James P Irish, and Howard M. Hall, all of Des Moines, for appellees.

WENNERSTRUM, Justice.

Plaintiffs in an action for mandamus, sought to require the Board of Supervisors of Polk County, Iowa, to approve a refund of taxes claimed to have been excessively paid on the property known as the Insurance Exchange Building in Des Moines. The taxes in question cover the 1937 taxing period and were paid under protest in 1938. The defendants asserted, by way of defense, that a decree obtained in another action and covering the assessment period beginning January 1, 1938, estopped plaintiffs from further protesting as to the 1937 taxes. The trial court dismissed plaintiff's petition, holding that the matter now in controversy had been submitted and determined by the district court in its decree relative to the 1938 taxes. The plaintiffs have appealed.

We shall not set out the facts relative to prior litigation pertaining to the 1937 tax assessments in Des Moines in this opinion. However, for a more detailed resume of the assessment and taxing difficulties growing out of the 1937 assessments in Des Moines, reference is here made to the following case: State of Iowa ex rel. State Board of Assessment and Review v. Local Board of Review of City of Des Moines, 225 Iowa 855, 283 N.W. 87.

The Insurance Exchange Building was originally assessed for the 1937 taxing period at a valuation of $548,670. In June, 1937, the city council of Des Moines, acting as a board of review, reduced all properties in the particular taxing district in which the Insurance Exchange Building is located in the amount of 7 1/2 per cent of their original assessment. This proportionate reduction of the valuation reduced the taxable value of the Insurance Exchange Building to $507,517.

During the year 1937, certain appeal proceedings were commenced before the state board of assessment and review relative to the general mode and manner of assessments in Des Moines. This board made an order relative to the several taxing districts and ordered a reduction in valuation in the particular zone or district in which the property in question is located in the amount of 18.91 per cent. The board of review refused to comply with this order of the state board but made a further general reduction of 7 per cent on all properties in the city which reduced the assessment valuation on the property in question for the year 1937 to $471,993.

These plaintiffs paid the 1937 taxes, payable in the year 1938, on the basis of the valuation of $471,993. This payment, however, was made under protest. In the year 1938 the interested plaintiffs protested to the local board of review as to the valuation of $471,993 placed on the property for the assessment period from and after January 1, 1938. An appeal was made to the local board of review relative to the 1938 valuation. However, this appeal was denied by that board and a further appeal was taken to the district court where a decree was entered on December 20, 1938, fixing the valuation of the Insurance Exchange Building at $405,000 for 1938 and subsequent years during the assessment period. No mention was made in the decree as to any change in the assessed valuation of this property for the year 1937.

The refusal of the board of review, previously referred to, to comply with the orders of the state board of assessment and review resulted in the litigation which received the consideration of this court in the case of State of Iowa ex rel. State Board of Assessment and Review v. Local Board of Review of City of Des Moines, supra. As a result of our holding in that case a writ of mandamus was finally issued which compelled the carrying out of the provisions of the order of the state board of assessment and review. The assessor of the city of Des Moines in complying with the original order of the state board of assessment and review, and as required by the mandamus proceedings, fixed the valuation of the Insurance Exchange Building as of January 1, 1937, at $411,548. Following the placing of this last valuation the plaintiffs protested to the local board of review as to this valuation and that board granted a further reduction and the valuation for taxing purposes was placed at $405,000 as of January 1, 1937. The record shows that this last valuation was placed on the assessor's books and on the tax lists for the year 1937 on or about July 1, 1939, which was after the date when the final writ of mandamus was issued in regard to the original general order of reduction as made by the state board of assessment and review.

The plaintiffs seek a refund on the taxes they paid for the year 1937 on the taxable valuation of $471,993, which payment was made under protest. The plaintiffs have heretofore filed a petition for refund with the Board of Supervisors of Polk County, Iowa for the amount of tax paid which they claim is in excess of the amount due on a valuation of $405,000 for the taxable period of 1937. This claimed refund for the amount asserted to have been excessively paid is made under the provisions of section 7235 of the 1939 Code, which is as follows: " 7235 Refunding erroneous tax. The board of supervisors shall direct the treasurer to refund to the taxpayer any tax or portion thereof found to have been erroneously or illegally exacted or paid, with all interest and costs actually paid thereon."

The board of supervisors refused to act on plaintiff's petition for a refund and plaintiffs have brought this action, seeking by a writ of mandamus to require the board to approve the refund claimed and to further require the county auditor to issue the warrant in payment of the amount claimed to have been excessively paid.

It was apparently the contention of the defendants in the district court in this present litigation that, by reason of the decree entered relative to the 1938 valuation, the plaintiffs are now estopped to litigate the question of the 1937 valuation. There has been certified to this court the decree in the litigation relative to the 1938 valuation and from our study of it, we have reached the conclusion that the decree applied only to the 1938 valuation. Appellants do not concede that they are estopped by reason of the decree as to the 1938 valuation but maintain that this last mentioned decree has no application to the matter in controversy. In their brief they make the following statement: " In addition, it is the contention of the plaintiff that any evidence relating to the decree above mentioned is redundant matter and irrelevant and immaterial to every issue in this case, as it is the taxes for the year 1937 only that are involved. The taxes for the year 1937 were not involved in the litigation in which the decree above mentioned was entered, and therefore that decree could not apply as an estoppel for the recovery of the refund due on the 1937 taxes. The 1937 taxes were not a part of the subject matter of that litigation and there was no intentional abandonment of an existing right by the plaintiffs, so no estoppel could operate on that basis. This is particularly true when we consider that no...