State v. Clausen

• Decision Date: 26 September 1914
• Docket Number: 11065.
• Citation: 82 Wash. 1,143 P. 312
• Court: Washington Supreme Court
• Parties: STATE ex rel. OREGON-WASHINGTON R. & NAVIGATION CO. v. CLAUSEN, Auditor, et al.

143 P. 312

82 Wash. 1

STATE ex rel. OREGON-WASHINGTON R. & NAVIGATION CO. v. CLAUSEN, Auditor, et al.

No. 11065.

Supreme Court of Washington, En Banc.

September 26, 1914

Affirmed.

For opinion in department, see 75 Wash. 90, 134 P. 1080.

MAIN, J.

This is an appeal from a judgment of the superior court quashing a writ of review. The facts as alleged in the affidavit supporting the application for the writ are, in effect, as follows: On December 31, 1908, and for some years prior thereto, the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company owned and operated a railroad system in this state. On this date the railroad commission, of which the public service commission is the successor, made a finding fixing the value of this railroad property as of June 30, 1907, at the sum of $19,500,000. Subsequent to June 30, 1907, and prior to the month of December, 1910, there were constructed within the state at various places five or six separate railway lines. These lines were owned and operated by separate corporations. On December 23, 1910, the Oregon-Washington Railroad &amp Navigation Company, another corporation, acquired all these newly constructed lines and consolidated them into one system, together with the railroad property previously owned by the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company, which had been found by the railroad commission to be of the value of $19,500,000. The consolidated system which was owned and operated by the Oregon-Washington Railroad & Navigation Company had not been valued by the public service commission prior to the year 1912. On the 28th day of May, 1912, the state board of tax commissioners, upon the application of the Oregon-Washington Railroad & Navigation Company, granted it a hearing for the purpose of discussing the matter of assessment of all of the operating railroad properties of that corporation. At this hearing the railroad company proposed and expressed a desire to introduce evidence for the purpose of establishing a true cash value of all of its operating property in the state, except the property originally owned by the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company which had previously been valued by the railroad commission at $19,500,000. In response to this request the tax commissioners informed the representatives of the railroad company that they had received from a member of the public service commission a letter informing them that the public service commission had received information to the effect that the railroad properties constructed subsequent to June 30, 1907, and thereafter acquired by the Oregon-Washingon Railroad & Navigation Company, had cost certain sums of money, and that the board of tax commissioners would accept these sums as the true cash value of the respective properties irrespective of any evidence that might be offered by the railroad company. The reason for this attitude of the tax commissioners was that they believed they were not authorized to otherwise determine the value of the property under the decision of this court in Oregon Railroad &amp Navigation Co. v. Clausen, 63 Wash. 535, 116 P. 7. On or about the 3d day of July, 1912, the board of tax commissioners fixed upon and accepted as the true cash value of the railroad properties of the Oregon-Washington Railroad & Navigation Company the aggregate sum of $48,646,517 as a basis for assessment and taxation for the year 1912. After having determined upon this sum, it was, by the board of tax commissioners, submitted to the state board of equalization as the market value of the properties. On September 5, 1912 the state board of equalization considered the matter of the value of the operating properties owned by the Oregon-Washington Railroad & Navigation Company. This board, being constituted by the three members of the state tax commission, together with the state land commissioner and the state auditor, entertained the same view as to its right to go into the question of the property values as did the tax commission. Notwithstanding this fact, certain officers or agents of the railroad company gave evidence which tended to support the position that the railroad properties in question, including that previously found by the railroad commission to be of the value of $19,500,000, did not exceed in value the sum of $39,707,243. At this time no evidence was introduced by the board of equalization bearing upon the question of value. The board found the value of the operating properties of the combined system to be the sum of $48,646,517. No complaint is made of the fact that in this finding is included the value of the original Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company property as fixed by the railroad commission on December 31, 1907; but the controversy is over the value of the newly constructed lines for the purposes of taxation. On or about the 17th day of October, 1912, the railroad company applied to the superior court of Thurston county for a writ of certiorari to review the action of the state board of equalization. Upon the showing made, an order was entered directing the writ to issue. Thereafter a motion was interposed to quash the writ. Upon a hearing this motion was granted, and, from the judgment entered quashing the writ, this appeal is prosecuted.

From the facts stated it would appear that the state board of equalization failed to make an investigation of the facts, and failed to exercise its judgment or discretion as to the value of appellant's property, because it conceived that it had no power to do so under the holding in the Clausen Case. The board, however, permitted the appellant to present certain evidence. The record as made is an incomplete one. It does not contain, according to the allegation of the affidavit filed in support of the petition for the writ, either evidence supporting the finding or a finding based upon facts disclosed by an investigation. Had the board conceived that it had the power to do so, it is only fair to assume that in the performance of its duty it would have placed in the record evidence supporting its findings or would have made an investigation upon which it would have exercised its judgment or discretion. The record being thus incomplete, there is no way in a certiorari proceeding whereby it can be corrected or added to. The cause could not be remanded to the state board of equalization because that board has long since adjourned. If the cause came before the superior court in response to a writ of review, that court would, as is this court, be bound by the record as made before the state board of equalization. It could not receive testimony de hors the record in a cause brought before it by certiorari for the purpose of reviewing the action of the state board of equalization.

State ex rel. S & I. E. R. Co. v. State Board, etc., 75 Wash. 90, 134 P. 695. A writ of certiorari is...