Noyes v. King County

• Decision Date: 03 January 1898
• Citation: 51 P. 1052,18 Wash. 417
• Parties: NOYES ET UX. v. KING COUNTY ET AL.
• Court: Washington Supreme Court

51 P. 1052

18 Wash. 417

NOYES ET UX. v. KING COUNTY ET AL.

Supreme Court of Washington

January 3, 1898

Appeal from superior court, King county; William Hickman Moore Judge.

Suit by John Noyes and wife against the county of King and others. From a decree for defendants, plaintiffs appeal. Affirmed.

R. B Albertson and George Donworth, for appellants.

James F. McElroy, for respondents King county and another.

John K Brown, for respondent city of Seattle.

REAVIS J.

Plaintiffs (appellants) seek to set aside and enjoin the collection of a portion of the tax for the year 1895 standing on the assessment roll of King county. The tax was levied upon property of plaintiffs described as fractional lots 3 and 6 of block A of A. A. Denny's addition to the city of Seattle. Upon the city plat is found the description "Lots three and six of block A of A. A. Denny's addition to Seattle." These lots, as platted originally, had a frontage of 60 feet on the west side of Front street, and a depth of 120 feet, running westerly from said street, across the government meander line, to an alley intersecting the block. The premises so platted are partly upland and partly tideland, and the tideland parcels are now embraced in the plat of the Seattle tidelands filed in the office of the board of state land commissioners on the 15th day of March, 1895. The portions of the original lots 3 and 6 below the meander line are, respectively, designated on the state plat as lots 2 and 3 of block 190 thereof, and are, respectively, identical therewith. Prior to 1895 the easterly nine feet of each of the original lots 3 and 6 were appropriated by the city as a part of Front street. At the time of the assessment now in question the upland part of lot 3 embraced less than one-third of the entire original area, and that of lot 6 less than one-fourth of the entire original area. The plaintiffs have been owners for more than five years of the upland portions of lots 3 and 6, and also of all the improvements on the tideland portions thereof. The improvements consist of a four-story brick and stone building, with two basements, occupying the entire premises, including both the upland and tideland portions thereof, and running back from Front street to the alley, having a total frontage of 120 feet, and the uniform depth of 111 feet. On the 27th day of November, 1896, the plaintiffs, having theretofore applied to the state authorities for the purchase of tideland lots 2 and 3 of block 190, were awarded the preference right, and a contract for the purchase was entered into between the plaintiffs and the state. The assessor listed fractional lots 3 and 6 to the plaintiff John Noyes, as the owner, on the assessment roll for 1895, at a valuation of $21,000 upon each lot, and a valuation of $27,000 upon the improvements on each lot. No tideland property was listed on the assessment roll, and on the face of the roll the assessment is fair and regular. No application was made to the board of equalization for the correction of any error in fixing the assessed valuation of the property assessed to plaintiffs, and no application was made by plaintiffs to any officer or tribunal charged by law with the correction or review of assessments. Plaintiffs paid such portion of the tax as they deemed equitable and fully adequate to discharge the...