Wilson v. Illinois Southern Ry Co, 131
| Citation | 44 S.Ct. 203,68 L.Ed. 456,263 U.S. 574 |
| Decision Date | 14 January 1924 |
| Docket Number | No. 131,131 |
| Parties | WILSON, County Collector of Taxes, et al. v. ILLINOIS SOUTHERN RY. CO. et al |
| Court | United States Supreme Court |
Mr. June C. Smith, of Centralia, Ill., for appellants.
Mr. George B. Gillespie, of Springfield, Ill., for appellees.
This is a bill in equity to restrain the collection of taxes for the years 1917, 1918, 1919 and 1920 upon the track and rolling stock then belonging to the Illinois Southern Railway Company. It alleges that the property was erroneously and fraudulently overvalued, out of all proportion to the other taxable property in the State, and invokes the jurisdiction of the District Court on the ground that the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution is infringed. It alleges further that the sums that properly could have been charged have been paid, that if the additional amounts demanded could be recovered at all after payment it would be only by a multiplicity of suits against the taxing bodies of the several counties where the collections are made. It is argued that in any proceeding at law in these counties, it would be impossible to secure a uniform or any adequate readjustment of the total valuation which is made by a state board, and so that equity only can afford adequate relief. The bill prays that the defendants, who are the collectors for five counties, may be restrained from applying to their respective county courts for judgments under the summary proceedings provided by statute for the collection of taxes on real estate (Cahill's Ill. St. 1923, c. 120, § 191), and that the Court will determine the amounts, if any, remaining equitably due and unpaid. The defendants ultimately relied upon a motion to dismiss for want of equity. The District Court granted an injunction as prayed, and the case is here on the single question whether the plaintiffs had an adequate remedy at law. When the jurisdiction of the District Court rests solely upon a claim under the Constitution, the merits are open on a direct appeal to this Court. Holder v. Aultman, M. &. Co., 169 U. S. 81, 88, 18 Sup. Ct. 269, 42 L. Ed. 669; Northwestern Laundry v. Des Moines, 239 U. S. 486, 491, 36 Sup. Ct. 206, 60 L. Ed. 396; McMillan Contracting Co. v. Abernathy, Jan. 7, 1924, 263 U. S. 438, 44 Sup. Ct. 200, 68 L. Ed. ——.
The appellants rely mainly upon Keokuk & Hamilton Bridge Co. v. Salm, 258 U. S. 122, 42 Sup. Ct. 207, 66 L. Ed. 496. In that case a bill charging fraudulent overvaluation was dismissed and the dismissal was affirmed by this Court on two grounds, that there was an adequate remedy at law and that the plaintiff had not tendered or offered to pay the amount confessedly due. The latter ground is absent here. As to the former it seems to us that the present case is to be...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Henrietta Mills v. Rutherford County, NC
...the parties. See Raymond v. Chicago, etc., Co., 207 U. S. 20, 28 S. Ct. 7, 52 L. Ed. 78, 12 Ann. Cas. 757; Wilson v. Ill. So. Ry., 263 U. S. 574, 44 S. Ct. 203, 68 L. Ed. 456. The complainant further contends that, even if the remedy at law be adequate, nevertheless section 7979 of the Nort......
-
John A. Gebelein, Inc. v. Milbourne
...R. C. L. p. 464, § 417; 61 C. J. p. 1083, § 1429. And the remedy at law must be plain, full and complete. Wilson v. Illinois So. Ry. Co., 263 U. S. 574, 44 S. Ct. 203, 68 L. Ed. 456; Greene v. Louisville R. Co., 244 U. S. 499, 37 S. Ct. 673, 61 L. Ed. 1280, Ann. Cas. 1917E, 88, and where th......
-
Western Union Telegraph Co. v. Tax Commission of Ohio, 465
...certainly be difficulties in fixing values and apportionments among the taxing units, and, as pointed out in Wilson v. Ry. Co., 263 U. S. 574, 44 S. Ct. 203, 68 L. Ed. 456, Atlantic Coast Line R. Co. v. Daughton, 262 U. S. 413, 43 S. Ct. 620, 67 L. Ed. 1051, and many other cases, the adequa......
-
Parkway, Inc. v. United States Fire Ins. Co.
...Louisville & Nashville Railroad Co., 207 U.S. 205, 226, 28 S.Ct. 91, 52 L.Ed. 171,12 Ann.Cas. 693. In Wilson v. Illinois Southern Railway Co., 263 U.S. 574, 577, 44 S.Ct. 203, 68 L.Ed. 456, an overtaxed railroad corporationwas held entitled to go into equity to prevent multiplicity of suits......