Concho Camp, No. 66, W. O. W. v. City of San Angelo

231 S.W. 1106, 1921 Tex. App. LEXIS 473
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMay 25, 1921
DocketNo. 5722.
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 231 S.W. 1106 (Concho Camp, No. 66, W. O. W. v. City of San Angelo) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Concho Camp, No. 66, W. O. W. v. City of San Angelo, 231 S.W. 1106, 1921 Tex. App. LEXIS 473 (Tex. Ct. App. 1921).

Opinion

KEY, C. J.

Appellee brought this suit against appellant to recover taxes alleged to be due for the years 1909 to 1914, inclusive, on appellant’s lot and lodge building in the city of San Angelo. Appellant defended upon the ground, first, that the property was exempt from taxation under the Constitution and laws of Texas; and, second, that, if not so exempt, some of the taxes sought to be recovered were illegal, because appellee had no power to levy and collect them. The case was submitted to the court without a jury, upon an agreed statement of facts, and judgment was rendered for appellee; and appellant has brought the case to this court and insists that the judgment should be reversed.

The case has been hel^ under submission longer than usual, awaiijng the decision of the Supreme Court in City of Houston v. Scottish Rite Benevolent Association et al., 230 S. W. 978, which case has been recently decided by that court.

Under the first and second assignments of error, appellant contends that the property is exempt from taxation. As pertinent to that question, we copy from appellant’s brief the following statement:

“Appellee, in the years for which it seeks to recover taxes, was a' municipal corporation, created and existing under the general laws of Texas. The plaintiff’s first amended petition upon which- the case was tried was in the usual form, and alleged that the appellant was a voluntary benevolent association owning the real estate described therein which was held for it *1107 by its trustees. Appellant, besides its demurrers, filed a general denial and a special answer in which it denied liability for the taxes, its said special answer being as follows:
“ ‘For further and special answers herein, defendant denies that its said property in plaintiff’s petition described was, for the years therein mentioned and alleged, subject to taxation by plaintiff, but it avers that the same was, under the Constitution and laws of Texas, exempt from taxation in this, that defendant was the owner of said lot and had erected thereon a two-story brick building, the upper story being used by defendant as a place for holding its meetings, and renting to other societies the use thereof for their meetings, and the lower or ground floor thereof was rented for a store; that said building was not used by defendant with a view of profit, and that all of the rents arising therefrom were appropriated by defendant solely to pay its current lodge expenses, and for the benefit of its sick and disabled members and their families, and for the burial of its members and their families, and for the maintenance of its members when unable to provide for themselves, besides other benevolent and charitable purposes often done and performed by it. Defendant avers that it is a local camp at San Angelo of what is known as the Woodmen of the World; that as such local camp it dispenses aid to its members and others in sickness or distress or death without regard to poverty or riches of the recipient; that its funds, property, and assets are placed and bound to relieve and minister to the relief of its members when in want, sickness, and distress, and to educate and maintain the orphans of its deceased members; that the sources of its income and means of raising money with which to discharge its benevolent and charitable purposes is raised by monthly dues upon its members and the rental from said building, all of which is appropriated and used for the purposes aforesaid, that by reason of the facts the defendant is, within the meaning of the Constitution and laws of Texas, a public charity, engaged in a purely charitable work, and as such its property, money, and assets are exempt from taxation, and this it is ready to verify.’
“The admitted facts show that appellant is a local subordinate camp of the Sovereign Camp of the Woodmen of the World; that said Sovereign Camp of the Woodmen of the World is a fraternal, beneficiary, benevolent society, organized and existing under the name of the Sovereign Camp of the Woodmen of the World, with head office at Omaha, Neb., the object of the society being to combine its members into a secret, fraternal, beneficiary and benevolent society; to comfort the sick, and cheer the unfortunate by attention and ministrations in time of sorrow and distress; to promote fraternal love and unity; to create a fund out of which, on the death of a member, a sum not exceeding $3,000 may be paid to the beneficiary named by the deceased member, and to erect a monument at his grave, such fund for the payment of the death losses to the beneficiary, and the erection of a monument to the deceased member, being raised by advance assessments against each member taking insurance therein, based upon his age at nearest birthday at date of his admission as a member, according to a specified table prescribed by said Sovereign Camp according to the amount of insurance taken.
“The appellant is a local camp of said society at San Angelo, Tex., and under the jurisdiction of the Sovereign Camp having its head office at Omaha, Neb., and eoEects from each beneficiary member the advanced assessments under benefit certificates which may be issued to him, and remits the same to the Sovereign Camp at Omaha, Neb.
“The appellant, for the years 1909 to 1914, inclusive, owned the west 25 feet of lot No. 7, block 13, in the city of San Angelo, upon which it had a two-story brick building erected, the second story of which is used as a lodge room for the purpose of holding the meetings of the local society, and is also used by other societies, who pay rent to appellant for such use; the ground floor of said building is used by appellant for rental purposes, and during the years mentioned was rented and occupied as a store, monthly rentals being paid by the tenant to appellant.
“The title to said property is held and vested in appellant, and the Sovereign Camp has no title or interest in said lot and building,' and none of the rents or revenues therefrom go to or constitute any fund to the Sovereign Camp having its head office at Omaha, Neb., and no part thereof is used for the payment of death losses and monument purposes.
“Appellant levies and collects from its members monthly dues of 35 cents' per month, which, together with rents received by defendant from said building, constitute a fund wholly under the control, use, and disposition of appellant, over which' the Sovereign Camp of Omaha, Neb., has no control whatever; that said monthly dues and rents aforesaid are appropriated by appellant solely to sustain it and to pay its current expenses, and for the benefit of the sick and disabled members, and their families, and the burial of the same, and for the maintenance of members when unable to provide for themselves, and the fund so arising from said rentals and monthly dues are bound by the laws of the society to relieve, aid and minister to the relief of its members when in want, sickness and distress, and to maintain the orphans of its deceased members. If defendant did not receive the rents from said building, it would have to increase its monthly .dues in order to meet the expenses incident to dispensing aid to its members and others in sickness and distress, and to provide for its helpless and dependent members an aid in the education and maintenance of the orphans of its deceased members.

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Bluebook (online)
231 S.W. 1106, 1921 Tex. App. LEXIS 473, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/concho-camp-no-66-w-o-w-v-city-of-san-angelo-texapp-1921.