Lefevre v. Healy

• Decision Date: 02 June 1942
• Citation: 26 A.2d 681
• Parties: LEFEVRE v. HEALY et al., Board of Assessors of Manchester.
• Court: New Hampshire Supreme Court

26 A.2d 681

LEFEVRE

v. HEALY et al., Board of Assessors of Manchester.

Supreme Court of New Hampshire. Hillsborough.

June 2, 1942.

Transferred from Superior Court, Hillsborough County; Blandin, Judge.

Bill in equity by Diendonne Lefevre against Michael J. Healy and others, constituting the Board of Assessors of Manchester, to compel defendants to grant plaintiff an exemption from the taxable value of his realty. The defendants excepted to the denial of their motion to dismiss the bill, and the case is transferred to the Supreme Court.

Bill dismissed.

Bill in Equity, to compel the defendants to grant the plaintiff an exemption of $1,000. from the taxable value of his real estate in Manchester for the tax years 1940 and 1941. In the war which the nation entered in 1917 he became a soldier on October 21, 1918, and was honorably discharged on December 10, 1918. The defendants excepted to the denial of their motion to dismiss the bill. Transferred by Blandin, J.

Omer H. Amyot, of Manchester, by brief for plaintiff.

Frank R. Kenison, Atty. Gen., and Ernest R. DAmours, Asst. Atty. Gen., by brief as amici curiae and for State Tax Commission.

Joseph J. Betley, of Manchester, for defendants.

PER CURIAM.

The procedure is improper. The plaintiff's only relief is by petition for abatement. Bean, etc., Co. v. Jaffrey, 80 N.H. 343, 344, 117 A. 12. While the bill by amendment may be made a petition for abatement, it was not seasonably brought under the statute (P.L., c. 64, § 14) in respect to the 1940 assessment, and for this reason alone that assessment can have no consideration.

Without attention to other questions bearing on the claimed exemption for 1941, the statute (P.L., c. 60, § 26) reads in part: "Every soldier, * * * residing in this state who served for thirty days or more in the army of the United States in any war in which the United States has been engaged, and received an honorable discharge * * * shall be exempt each year from taxation upon his taxable property to the value of one thousand dollars; * * *." The plaintiff's claim is that he served for over thirty days in the war which commenced in 1917. The defendant's position is that while he was in military service for about seven weeks, the war terminated, within the meaning of the statute, on November 11, 1918, and therefore before he had served thirty days in the war.

In common thought and understanding the Armistice of November 11, 1918, ended the war. Not only did hostilities then...