Miller v. Lindstrom
| Decision Date | 20 January 1903 |
| Citation | 33 So. 521,45 Fla. 473 |
| Parties | MILLER v. LINDSTROM. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
Error to circuit court, Volusia county; John D. Broome, Judge.
Action by Florence W. Miller against Swan S. Lindstrom. Judgment for defendant, and plaintiff brings error. Reversed.
Syllabus by the Court
1. A description of lands on an assessment roll, so faulty as not to warn the owner of the charge upon his land, or to advise possible purchasers what land is to be sold, will invalidate the assessment.
2. A description of land in the assessment roll as 'lot 1 Assessor's, Pierson,' is insufficient to support a tax deed; it being shown in evidence that there was no such map as Assessor's Pierson on record, but that there were recorded maps designated, respectively, 'Assessor's Plat of C. F. Pierson's Addition to Pierson,' and 'Assessor's Subdivision of E. 1/2 N.E. 1/4 & N.E. 1/4 of S.E. 1/4 of Sec. 33, T. 14 S. R. 28 E., at Pierson.'
COUNSEL F. C. Austin and Isaac A. Stewart (Egford Bly on the brief), for plaintiff in error.
John W Price, for defendant in error.
This cause was referred by the court to its late Commissioners who recommended that the judgment be reversed.
It appears from the abstract that the plaintiff in error instituted in the court below an action of ejectment to recover possession of a certain tract of land described by metes and bounds, and 'otherwise described according to a map on file in Assessor's Map Book 3 at page 18 of records of Volusia county, Florida, as lot 1 of Assessor's Subdivision of E. 1/2 of N.E. 1/4 & N.E. 1/4 of S.E. 1/4 of Sec. 33, T. 14 S., R. 28 E., at Pierson.' Defendant pleaded the general issue, and the cause was tried by the court, a jury having been waived. On the trial the plaintiff proved possession of the premises by her husband under a deed, and after his death by hereself as sole heir prior to the possession of the defendant, who thereupon successfully defended his later possession solely by virtue of a tax deed to land therein described as 'lot one (1) Assessor's Map of Pierson, Volusia county, Florida.'
Many objections were urged below, and are insisted upon here, to the validity of the tax title successfully asserted by the defendant in the trial court; but we shall confine ourselves to those questioning the sufficiency of the descriptions of the land found in the assessment rolls and other proceedings--a necessary predicate for any tax deed.
The description in the assessment roll, in the advertisement of sale, and in the list of lands sold for taxes, was, 'lot 1 Assessor's, Pierson;' 'lot 1 Assessor's Pierson;' and 'lot 1 Assessors,' respectively. It was shown in the evidence there was no such map as 'Assessor's Pierson' on record. There was a map entitled ...
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Booth v. Cooper
... ... 66; Curtis v. Supervisors, 22 Wis. 167; Woodall ... v. Edward, 83 Ark. 334, 104 S.W. 128; Ontario Land ... Co. v. Wilfong, 162 F. 99; Miller v. Lundstrom, ... 45 Fla. 473, 33 So. 521; Sanford v. People, 102 Ill. 374.) ... "It ... is not sufficient that a similar description, in ... ...
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Dixon v. City of Cocoa
...124, 111 So. 504. The assessment is invalid because of insufficiency of the description. Grissom v. Furman, 22 Fla. 581; Miller v. Lindstrom, 45 Fla. 473, 33 So. 521; Porter v. City of Key West, 69 Fla. 357, 68 So. F. E. C. Fruit Land Co. v. Mitchell, 80 Fla. 291, 85 So. 661. As the descrip......
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Porter v. City of Key West
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Florida East Coast Fruit Land Co. v. Mitchell
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