N. Platte Lodge 985, B. P. O. E. v. Bd. of Equal. of Lincoln Cnty. Sutherland Lodge 312, s. 28954-28957.

• Decision Date: 22 January 1934
• Docket Number: Nos. 28954-28957.,s. 28954-28957.
• Citation: 252 N.W. 313,125 Neb. 841
• Parties: NORTH PLATTE LODGE 985, B. P. O. E., v. BOARD OF EQUALIZATION OF LINCOLN COUNTY. SUTHERLAND LODGE 312, I. O. O. F., v. BOARD OF EQUALIZATION OF LINCOLN COUNTY. WALLA WALLA LODGE 56, I. O. O. F., v. BOARD OF EQUALIZATION OF LINCOLN COUNTY. MASONIC TEMPLE CRAFT v. BOARD OF EQUALIZATION OF LINCOLN COUNTY.
• Court: Nebraska Supreme Court

125 Neb. 841

252 N.W. 313

NORTH PLATTE LODGE 985, B. P. O. E.,

v.BOARD OF EQUALIZATION OF LINCOLN COUNTY.

SUTHERLAND LODGE 312, I. O. O. F.,

v.BOARD OF EQUALIZATION OF LINCOLN COUNTY.

WALLA WALLA LODGE 56, I. O. O. F.,

v.BOARD OF EQUALIZATION OF LINCOLN COUNTY.

MASONIC TEMPLE CRAFT

v.BOARD OF EQUALIZATION OF LINCOLN COUNTY.

Nos. 28954-28957.

Supreme Court of Nebraska.

Jan. 22, 1934.

Syllabus by the Court.

1. In cases involving general public interests, while litigants have the undoubted right to stipulate as to the facts, it is not competent for them to stipulate what the law is so as to bind the court. Such stipulations as to law, if made, will be disregarded.

2. Decisions of questions of law must rest upon the court, uninfluenced by stipulations of parties as to the existence and proper construction of a law, as to the legal conclusions from a given state of facts, and as to the legal effect of a written instrument.

3. Evidence examined, and held insufficient to sustain each of the judgments appealed from.

Appeal from District Court, Lincoln County; Nisley, Judge.

Proceedings in the matter of the application of the North Platte Lodge 985, B. P. O. E., and in the matter of the application of the Sutherland Lodge 312, I. O. O. F., and in the matter of the application of Walla Walla Lodge 56, I. O. O. F., and in the matter of the application of the Masonic Temple Craft, trustee, against the Board of Equalization in and for Lincoln County. From the judgment, the applicants appeal.

Judgment in each cause reversed, and each cause remanded with directions.

Hoagland, Carr & Hoagland, of North Platte, for appellants.

C. S. Beck, E. H. Evans, and Urban Simon, all of North Platte, for appellee.

Paul F. Good, Atty. Gen., and Edwin Vail, Asst. Atty. Gen., amici curiæ.

Heard before GOSS, C. J., ROSE, GOOD, EBERLY, DAY, and PAINE, JJ., and CLEMENTS, District Judge.

EBERLY, Justice.

The records disclose that at the regular meeting of the board of equalization of Lincoln county in June, 1931, applications were made on behalf of Walla Walla Lodge No. 56, I. O. O. F., Masonic Temple Craft, North Platte, North Platte Lodge No. 985, B. P. O. E., Sutherland Lodge No. 312, I. O. O. F., separately, to have certain property owned by them respectively in Lincoln county, Nebraska, determined to be exempt from taxation, or in the alternative to have the assessed valuation of the same as made by the proper taxing authorities in 1930 reduced. Thereafter on June 22, 1931, upon hearing, the petition of each of the corporations named was denied. Separate appeals to the district court for Lincoln county were thereupon prosecuted by each of the parties aggrieved by this order. In that court issues were framed and a trial was had on the merits, which resulted in separate final orders made and entered on June 6, 1933, which separately determined that each of the corporations named were religious, charitable, and educational institutions, and as such all property owned and used exclusively by such institutions for the purpose of conducting their business is exempt from taxation, but that the first and lower floor of the building owned by Walla Walla Lodge No. 56, I. O. O. F., located on lots 1 and 2 Independent Order of Odd Fellows subdivision of lots 1 and 2 of the original town of North Platte; the first two lower floors of a building situated on the north 88 feet of lots 3 and 4, block 133 of the original town of North Platte, owned by the Masonic Temple Craft; the first and lower floor and the north 44 feet of the second and third floors of a building owned by North Platte Lodge No. 985, B. P. O. E., situated on the south 110 feet of lot 5, and the west 14 feet of the south 110 feet of lot 6, in block 133 of the original town of North Platte; the first and lower floor of the building situated on lots 1 and 2, block 5, original town of Sutherland, Lincoln county, Nebraska, owned by Sutherland Lodge No. 312, I. O. O. F., being each rented by the respective owners thereof, were not exempt, but subject to taxation as provided by law, and that all of the rest of the property thus described was, and is, exempt from general taxation; and the trial court further directed that a certified copy of the orders thus entered be served upon the county commissioners of Lincoln county, and also upon the county treasurer of Lincoln county, Nebraska. However, thereafter on June 30, 1933, on the district court's own motion, an order was entered wherein the total assessed valuation of the property owned by Sutherland Lodge No. 312, I. O. O. F., was reduced from the sum of $3,100, as returned for assessment in 1930, to the sum of $2,600.

In this connection section 77-1503, Comp. St. 1929, with reference to the taxation of mortgaged real estate, provides: “The total assessed value of any real property, including the interests of the mortgagor and mortgagee, shall not be changed except when all the real property of the county is assessed, unless its value is changed by reason of altered conditions.”

Quære: Is the relief granted by the trial court consistent with the limitation quoted?

From the final orders thus entered appellants severally appeal, and each insists in this court that the district court erred in adjudging that any portion of their respective properties was subject to taxation; that the valuations of each of these properties as made by the taxing authorities was excessive as compared to the assessments of like properties in North Platte to such a degree that appellants are entitled to have such excess determined and its valuations lowered to that extent, and particularly would this be true if any portions of the premises under consideration were ultimately determined to be exempt from taxation.

The bills of exceptions disclose that in behalf of each appellant there was tendered as proof certain stipulations made in open court, being in substance that the appellants were and are the owners of the properties described in their several petitions, and claimed to be exempt from taxation, and that each is a charitable, educational, and religious institution within the meaning of the terms as defined and determined by the supreme court of Nebraska in the case entitled, “Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry v. Board of County Commissioners of Lancaster County, Nebraska.” Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite v. Board of County Commissioners, 122 Neb. 586, 241 N. W. 93, 81 A. L. R. 1166. The last paragraph of this stipulation contains the following, viz.: “It is further stipulated that the above * * * lodge property owners, if owning their property under the same circumstances and conditions as the property owner of the...