Powell v. Bd. Sup'rs of St. Croix Cnty.
| Decision Date | 31 January 1879 |
| Citation | 46 Wis. 210,50 N.W. 1013 |
| Parties | POWELL v. BOARD SUP'RS OF ST. CROIX COUNTY. |
| Court | Wisconsin Supreme Court |
Appeal from circuit court, St. Croix county.
Action by Powell against the board of supervisors of St. Croix county. Defendant demurred to the complaint, but its demurrer was overruled, and it appeals. Reversed.
The other facts fully appear in the following statement by LYON, J.:
The complaint alleges the following facts: Plaintiff is the owner of certain land therein described, and has owned the same for the last 10 years or more. This land was sold by the proper officer of the county, in 1870, for delinquent taxes assessed thereon, and the usual certificate of sale was issued to the purchasers. In 1875 a tax-deed of the land was executed to the holder of such certificate, who immediately thereafter commenced an action under the law of 1859, c. 22, § 35, to bar or foreclose the right, title, or interest of the plaintiff in the land. This plaintiff (the defendant in that action) deposited the sum for which the land was sold, and 25 percent. interest thereon, with the clerk of the court, as required in certain cases by section 38, and the plaintiff in that action accepted and received the money so deposited. The land was again sold in 1871, and also in 1872, for delinquent taxes thereon of the preceding years, and certificates of sale were issued to the purchasers. In 1875 the plaintiff redeemed from such sales by paying to the county clerk the sums for which the land was sold, and interest thereon at 25 per cent. When such redemption was made, the defendant board of supervisors was threatening to issue tax-deeds on such certificates. The taxes in question were levied as school-district taxes, and are alleged to be void for the reason, among others, that the clerk of the proper school-district failed to make and file with the town-clerk for the years in which the taxes were levied the statements required by section 34, c. 23, Rev. St. 1858, and amendatory acts. Tayl. St. p. 559, § 65. Judgment is demanded for the sums so deposited in the foreclosure action, and so paid to redeem from the tax-sales, with interest and costs. The defendant board demurred to the complaint as not stating a cause of action, and appealed from an order overruling the demurrer.
Moses E. Clapp and Edward P. Vilas, ( Humphrey & Clapp, of counsel,) for appellant.
Wellington Vanatta and I. C. Sloan, for respondent.
LYON, J., ( after stating the facts.)
The averments in the complaint show that the taxes in question were illegally levied for want of the required statements of the district clerk. Matteson v. Town of Rosendale, 37 Wis. 254. It is well settled in this state and elsewhere that money paid by compulsion on account of a void tax may be recovered in an action against the municipality receiving it. There are several decisions of this court to that effect. It is equally well settled that if a person voluntarily pay a void tax, with knowledge of the facts which render it void, he cannot recover back the money thus paid. See Burroughs, Tax'n, 267; Phillips v. Commissioners, 5 Kan. 412; and cases cited in briefs of counsel. No claim is made that the plaintiff made the deposit and redemptions in ignorance of the...
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... ... Story, 46 Cal. 580; Shane ... v. St. Paul, 26 Minn. 543; Powell v. St. Croix ... County, 46 Wis. 210; Sanford v. New york, 33 ... Barb ... ...
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Falvey v. Board of County Commissioners of Hennepin County
...made without availing oneself of the protection furnished by the law, is deemed to be voluntary. De Graff v. County of Ramsey, supra; Powell v. Board, supra; Shane v. City of St. Paul, The taxes for 1895 were not delinquent, and the payment was for this reason voluntary. Merrill v. Austin, ......
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...purpose, coupled with the power of levying upon and taking the property of the taxpayer unless the tax is paid. Powell v. Board of Supervisors, 46 Wis. 210, 213, 50 N. W. 1013;Parcher v. Marathon, 52 Wis. 388, 392, 9 N. W. 23, 38 Am. St. Rep. 745. The rule of these earlier cases was changed......
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...98 U. S. 541, 25 L. Ed. 196; Babcock v. Fond du Lac, supra; Rutledge v. Price Co., 66 Wis. 35, 27 N. W. 819;Powell v. Board of Supervisors, 46 Wis. 210, 50 N. W. 1013. From this well-settled doctrine it is clear that the plaintiff could not recover in an action at law the money paid to the ......