State v. Edwards

• Decision Date: 21 May 1901
• Parties: STATE ex rel. BAUER v. EDWARDS.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

63 S.W. 388

162 Mo. 660

STATE ex rel. BAUER v. EDWARDS.

Supreme Court of Missouri, Division No. 2.

May 21, 1901.

MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS—TAXATION—DELINQUENT MUNICIPAL TAXES—SUIT TO COLLECT—JURISDICTION —EVIDENCE—LIMITATIONS.

1. Acts 1895, pp. 243, 244, providing that the collector shall accept the original amount of taxes assessed against a person, returned as delinquent prior to January 1, 1895, in full payment thereof, without penalties or interest, if paid prior to December 31, 1895, but requiring a delinquent to pay all costs in suits brought to collect such taxes, does not prevent the bringing of suit therefore before December 31, 1895, but only gives the taxpayer an opportunity to escape penalties and interest.

2. Under Const. art. 6, § 23, giving the circuit court superintending control over probate courts, and section 22, giving the circuit court concurrent jurisdiction with inferior courts, the circuit court has jurisdiction of a suit for delinquent taxes against the executor of the taxpayer.

3. Act April 19, 1893, art. 4, § 63, relating to cities of the third class, provided that the delinquent assessment list in such cities should be returned by the city collector, who should collect the same in the same manner and under the same regulations as provided for state and county delinquent taxes. Rev. St. 1889, § 7626, provided that a certificate of the collector setting out delinquent taxes should be prima facie evidence of the correct amount thereof, in a suit brought to collect the same. Held, that a delinquent tax bill, certified by the collector of a city of the third class, was admissible in a suit to collect such taxes.

4. Formal defects in such certificate are cured by the production of the original assessments.

5. Rev. St. 1889, § 7692, requiring actions to enforce taxes on real estate to be brought within five years, does not apply to actions to recover delinquent personal taxes.

Appeal from circuit court, Cole county; D. W. Shackleford, Judge.

Action by the state, on the relation of A. J. Bauer, as collector of revenue of Jefferson City, against Joseph R. Edwards, as executor of E. L. Edwards, deceased, to recover certain delinquent taxes. From a judgment in favor of plaintiff, defendant appeals. Affirmed.

Edwards & Edwards, for appellant. Conrad Waldecker, for respondent.

GANTT, J.

This is an action by the state, at the relation of the collector of the revenue of Jefferson City, to collect certain delinquent personal taxes alleged to be due and owing by the estate of E. L. Edwards, deceased, amounting, principal and interest, to $78, and for attorney's fees and collector's commissions, amounting to $10.92 additional, the total being $88.92, for the years 1889, 1890, 1891, 1892, and 1893. The suit was commenced November 5, 1895. The petition alleges the qualifications of the plaintiff as collector of the revenue of Jefferson City; the assessment and levy upon and against the deceased, E. L. Edwards, of the taxes on his personalty for the years 1889, 1890, 1891, 1892, and 1893, amounting in the aggregate to $68.59, all of which it was alleged would appear by the duly-authenticated certificates of the collector within and for said city, and marked "Exhibits A, B, C, D, and E," and filed with the petition; that said taxes were due and unpaid, and the neglect and refusal of the executor to pay the same; that Jefferson City is a city of the third class, under the laws of this state, with all the rights and privileges thereunto appertaining; the return of the taxes sued for, as delinquent, by the collector, and the making out and delivery of a delinquent back tax book by the city clerk, and that said taxes are still on said back tax book unpaid; and the making of a contract with Mr. Waldecker, as attorney, to collect said back taxes for a fee of 10 per cent. upon the amount collected and paid into the treasury, and its approval by the mayor. The answer is as follows: "State ex rel. A. J. Bauer, Collector, etc., vs. Joseph R. Edwards, Executor of the Estate of E. L. Edwards, Deceased, Defendant. Now at this day comes J. R. Edwards, the defendant herein, by his attorneys, and, for answer to the plaintiff's petition, admits that he is the executor of the estate of E. L. Edwards deceased, but denies every other allegation in said petition; and, for a further answer and defense herein, defendant says that if true, as alleged in the petition, that Conrad Waldecker has been contracted with by the City of Jefferson, or the collector thereof, to bring this suit and prosecute the same, that said contract is illegal and void, under the provisions of section 32 of the charter of plaintiff, the City of Jefferson, and the institution of said suit by him was without authority of law, and he cannot prosecute the same; and, for a further answer herein, defendant says that the plaintiff herein had no authority, at the time they commenced this suit, to begin or prosecute the same, and that the same was done in open violation of the statute of 1895 relating to `Personal Delinquent Lists,' approved April 1, 1895, and defendants now plead such statutes in bar to plaintiff's action, and, having fully answered, pray to be discharged, with costs." The reply denied the new matter alleged in the answer. A jury was waived, and the cause was tried to the court sitting as a jury. The plaintiff offered in evidence the duly-certified tax bills referred to in the petition for the years 1890, 1891, 1892, and 1893; to which defendant objected, and, his objections being overruled, duly excepted. Plaintiff also offered the contract of the collector with the attorney for collecting the delinquent taxes, which...