Territory of Arizona At the Relation Gaines v. Copper Queen Consolidated Mining Company

• Court: U.S. Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: Day
• Citation: Territory of Arizona At the Relation Gaines v. Copper Queen Consolidated Mining Company, 233 U.S. 87, 34 S.Ct. 546, 58 L.Ed. 863 (1914)
• Decision Date: 06 April 1914
• Docket Number: No. 89,89
• Parties: TERRITORY OF ARIZONA AT THE RELATION and to the use of j. n. GAINES, Tax Collector in and for the County of Cochise, in the Territory of Arizona, Appt., v. COPPER QUEEN CONSOLIDATED MINING COMPANY

233 U.S. 87

34 S.Ct. 546

58 L.Ed. 863

TERRITORY OF ARIZONA AT THE RELATION and to the use of j. n. GAINES, Tax Collector in and for the County of Cochise, in the Territory of Arizona, Appt.,

v COPPER QUEEN CONSOLIDATED MINING COMPANY.

No. 89.

Argued March 3 and 4, 1914.

Decided April 6, 1914.

Mr. George P. Bullard, Attorney General of Arizona, and Messrs. Elias S. Clark, William G. Gilmore, and William C. Prentiss for appellant.

Messrs. Frederick N. Judson, E. E. Ellinwood, and John F. Green for appellee.

Mr. Justice Day delivered the opinion of the court:

This was a special statutory proceeding (Laws of Territory of Arizona, 1903, act No. 92, p. 148) brought in the district court of the second judicial district of the territory of Arizona in and for the county of Cochise to enforce the lien of the territory for the payment of taxes for the year 1901, assessed against certain patented mining claims in the county of Cochise, amounting to $120,039.35, the tax being assessed upon the increased valuation of the mining claims of the company, made by the board of supervisors of Cochise county. In the trial court judgment was rendered for the defendant. Upon appeal to the supreme court of the territory of Arizona the judgment was affirmed (13 Ariz. 198, 108 Pac. 960). An appeal was prosecuted to this court under the statute regulating appeals from territorial courts (18 Stat. at L. 27 chap. 80).

The supreme court of the territory of Arizona made a statement of facts in the nature of a special verdict, and upon that finding this court must consider the case on this appeal. Eagle Min. & Improv. Co. v. Hamilton, 218 U. S. 513, 515, 54 L. ed. 1131, 1132, 31 Sup. Ct. Rep. 27; Zeckendorf v. Steinfeld, 225 U. S. 445, 449, 56 L. ed. 1156, 1161, 32 Sup. Ct. Rep. 728. From the facts thus found the following appears:

The appellee, a corporation doing business and owning real and personal property in Cochise county, Arizona, listed and returned for assessment in 1901 sixty-five mining claims belonging to it, by name, but as one tract, said to contain 636 acres, and valued at $3,180, with improvements valued at $55,431.76. Some of the claims are not contiguous to the others.

On July 17, 1901, the county board of supervisors, sitting as the board of equalization for Cochise county, after notice to the company and hearing at which appellee's superintendent and agent appeared, raised the assessment upon eight of the sixty-five claims originally assessed en masse, in amounts varying from $50,000 to $1,000,000.

Prior to September, 1901, the appellee brought suit in the district court of Cochise county to enjoin the collection of the tax, alleging that the increase had been fraudulently made and the property overvalued. It tendered the sum of $14,133.12, being the amount of the tax upon all of its property before the increase. The district court found that the increase was not based upon information or evidence, but was made arbitrarily and capriciously for the purpose of imposing an unjust share of the burden of taxation upon the appellee, and granted the injunction, upon condition, however, that the appellee pay the $14,133.12 into court and also the further sum of $9,589.20, the tax upon the increase in valuation of certain personal property, which the district court found to be valid. The $14,133.12 was accepted by the county treasurer, who was ex officio tax collector, 'on account of any moneys which might ultimately be determined as due from said company for its taxes for said year.' The supreme court, upon appeal, reversed the case and remanded it for new trial (Cochise County v. Copper Queen Consol. Min. Co. 8 Ariz. 221, 71 Pac. 946). Subsequently, an agreement of compromise was made, under authority of a resolution of the board of supervisors, the appellee paying the further sum of $5,661.44 in full settlement of taxes for the year 1901, and the injunction suit being dismissed. This last amount has been retained by the county.

Thereafter a mandamus suit was instituted to compel the tax collector to commence suit against the appellee for the balance of the 1901 tax, upon the ground that the compromise was void. The supreme court held that the board of supervisors had no authority to compromise the tax, and granted the writ (Territory v. Gaines, 11 Ariz. 270, 93 Pac. 281), in pursuance of which the present action was instituted.

The uncontradicted testimony showed that the raise in the assessment of the eight claims was not based upon evidence as to value, and that it was in fact arbitrary, and also that some of the claims were assessed far in excess of their full cash value. The duplicate assessment roll made out by the assessor contained the increase made by the board of equalization, the eight claims which were raised being separately itemized by name, with the amounts of the respective increases set opposite the names, but with no statement of their original valuation or the total valuation of them or any of them.

On the third Monday of December, 1901, the tax being unpaid, the tax collector turned in the delinquent list, certified by the board, giving the property of the defendant as shown in the assessment returned by the appellee, with the increases as they appeared on the duplicate assessment roll.

Under the 1903 law delinquent property was carried into the back-tax book of that year, and this suit was brought to foreclose the territory's lien upon the pieces of property therein appearing. That book, which was put in evidence, gave the appellee's property, its total valuation, total tax, amount paid on account, and balance due. In enumerating the several tracts remaining unredeemed it showed sixty-five mining claims, containing 636 acres, valued en masse at $3,180, with improvements at $55,431, and named sixty-four claims; the number of acres, and all other valuations for real estate and improvements, were the same as in the other lists; and the list of increased valuations of the several claims and improvements was shown, but no total valuation of such separate pieces of property after the addition of the increase was given.

The discrepancies in description of the claims between the complaint and the tax documents are stated, and mention is made that in none of the latter is the total assessed valuation of any individual piece of real estate or the amount of taxes due on any of the separate claims disclosed. And it is said that the testimony of the assessor showed that there were 280 patented mining claims in Cochise county at the time the 1901 assessment was made, and that they were and had been assessed at a uniform rate of $5 per acre as a rule.

In its opinion the supreme court stated that the most important question raised upon the record was the validity of the action of the board of supervisors, sitting as a board of equalization, in raising the assessment upon eight of the group of sixty-five claims originally assessed in mass. After stating the minutes of the board's action, the court quotes § 2654 of the Revised Statutes of 1887.

'. . . The board of equalization shall have power to determine whether the assessed value of any property is too small or too great, and may change and correct any valuation, either by adding thereto or deducting there- from, if the sum fixed in the assessment roll be too small or too great, whether said sum was fixed by the owner or the assessor; . . . and the clerk of the board of equalization shall note upon the assessment roll all changes made by the board. During the session of the board of equalization the assessor shall be present, and also any deputy whose testimony may be required by the parties appealing to the board, and they shall have the right to make any statement touching such assessment, and producing evidence relating to questions before the board, and the board of equalization shall make use of all other information that they can gain otherwise, in equalizing the assessment roll of the county, and may require the assessor...