Board of County Commissioners v. Miller

138 P.2d 449, 157 Kan. 132, 1943 Kan. LEXIS 153
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedJune 12, 1943
DocketNo. 35,890
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 138 P.2d 449 (Board of County Commissioners v. Miller) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Board of County Commissioners v. Miller, 138 P.2d 449, 157 Kan. 132, 1943 Kan. LEXIS 153 (kan 1943).

Opinion

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Thiele, J.:

This was an action by the board of county commissioners of Marion county, to foreclose the county’s lien for unpaid taxes, and from a judgment in favor of the defendant C. M. Clark, the county appeals.

In a preliminary way it may be said there was no dispute about the regularity of the proceedings, nor about the amount of taxes involved. The sole question was the sufficiency of the description , of the real estate on which the tax lien was claimed.

.From a plat offered and received in evidence, it appears that in the city of Peabody, as originally platted, Sycamore street north, which runs north and south, was one hundred feet wide. On the west side of Sycamore street north and just north of Second street, lay lot 57, and to the north, seriatim, were lots 59, 61 and 63.

The following facts are taken from the findings of the trial court:

1. Each of the above lots was platted 150 feet east and west and 25 feet north and south.

2. In 1879 the city by ordinance vacated 10 feet on each side of Sycamore street.

3. In 1921 defendant Clark received a conveyance by warranty deed from the owner of lots 57, 59, 61 and 63 on Sycamore street north in the city of Peabody, Marion county, Kansas, excepting the south 90 feet of the west 50 feet of said lots.

4. The county clerk instead of entering on the transfer record the description as in the above deed, entered the description as “the east 100 feet of lots 57, 59, 61, and all of lot 63 excepting the west 50 feet of the south 15 feet on Sycamore street,” etc.

5. That the property was carried on the tax rolls under the description in No. 4 and the proceedings thereafter were regular insofar as that description is concerned.

6. That the property as described in the deed to Clark is one tract of land and at no time has said property been assessed as such tract. '

“7. The total taxes, penalties and interest for the years 1936 to 1942, inclusive, shown on the tax roll in the county treasurer’s office against the property as described thereon is $722.54, but there is no showing on the tax rolls of any of the tax proceedings for the years [134]*1341936 to 1942, inclusive, of taxes, penalties or interest on the tract of land as conveyed to C. M. Clark.”

As a matter of law the trial court concluded that the taxes and assessments of 1936 to 1942 inclusive were void as against the tract of land as conveyed to Clark at finding No. 3, and that judgment should be rendered in his favor, and it was so adjudged.

The plaintiff’s motions for additional findings, to set aside findings, and for a new trial were denied, and it appealed not only from the judgment in favor of Clark, 'but, from the rulings on the motions last above mentioned.

In its abstract of the record, the appellant presents only one specification of error, which reads:

“Upon the findings of fact, and the record as a whole, the judgment of the lower court is contrary to law.”

Appellee objects to a consideration of the appeal and contends it should be dismissed; that the effect of the specification of error is only that the judgment is contrary to law; that the overruling of the motion for a new trial is not specified as error and for that reason no claimed errors are before this court for consideration. In general support of this contention, our attention is directed to many of our decisions, some of which will be referred to later. It is first noted, however, that while the appellant did appeal not only from the judgment but also from the rulings on its motions following judgment, on presentation of its appeal it has elected to stand on one proposition — that upon the findings of fact made, the judgment is contrary to law. In this case no question of time is involved. The appeal was taken within two months from the date of the judgment. Appellant is not compelled to specify error on every ruling, decision and judgment included in its notice of appeal. If it is now willing to stand on the findings of fact made by the trial court, the subsequent rulings become immaterial. In such situation we are not concerned with whether the evidence supported the findings of fact or warranted other findings, or with rulings on evidence, and such other matters as would ordinarily have to be presented in a motion for a new trial. The sole question must be and is whether the findings of fact support the judgment rendered. Was the specification of error sufficient for that purpose? In Lumber Co. v. Smith, 84 Kan. 190, 114 Pac. 372, it was held that a specification that the court erred in rendering the judgment which it rendered, merely says the judgment is wrong and does not specify [135]*135any error. That rule was applied in later cases, among them being Brewer v. Harris, 147 Kan. 197, 75 P. 2d 287; Heniff v. Clausen, 154 Kan. 717, 121 P. 2d 196. It was also referred to in Lambeth v. Bogart, 155 Kan. 413, 125 P. 2d 377, although the appeal there was dismissed because there was no specification of any kind. We are of the opinion the specification of error in the case at bar does not bring it within the rule of the above cases. It is no mere general complaint that the judgment is wrong or contrary to law. It is more specific and to the effect that as a matter of law the findings of fact dp not support the judgment. Although the specification might have been somewhat expanded we think it was sufficient.

Appellant’s principal contention is that the description of the real estate as it appears on the tax rolls and on which it is sought to foreclose a lien for taxes, covers and includes the identical land described in the deed to the defendant Clark.

The gist of appellee’s answer to that contention is that when the Clark deed was presented to the county clerk, he did not enter a proper description of the real estate upon the transfer record as required by Laws 1877, chapter 145 (G. S. 1935, 67-239), but entered another and different description covering a different tract, or which is indefinite in view of the vacation of a part of Sycamore street.

A preliminary statement may be helpful. In our discussion we shall treat only lot 57, for what is said of it is true of all the lots. This lot, as platted, was 150 feet long east and west, and ignoring effect of vacation of a part of Sycamore street, an identical tract would be described whether it was stated to be lot 57 less the west 50 feet, or the east 100 feet of lot 57. Appellant contends that the vacation of Sycamore street did not affect the lot as platted and that any description of it as platted is sufficient to convey the lot with any land that may be appurtenant to it as the result of the vacation of a part of the street. In his brief, appellee does not go into detail, but, as we understand, his contention is, the effect of the vacation was to increase the length of the lots from 150 to 160 feet, and therefore the east 100 feet of lot 57 does not coincide with lot 57 less the west 50 feet thereof.

The sufficiency of descriptions in conveyances of lots facing on streets or alleys, all or part of which have been vacated, has been considered in a number of our decisions. It is not necessary that all of such decisions be reviewed — those here mentioned are fully illustrative.

[136]*136In A. T. & S. F. Rld. Co. v. Patch, 28 Kan.

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Bluebook (online)
138 P.2d 449, 157 Kan. 132, 1943 Kan. LEXIS 153, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/board-of-county-commissioners-v-miller-kan-1943.