Kaehler v. Dobberpuhl

14 N.W. 644, 56 Wis. 480, 1883 Wisc. LEXIS 415
CourtWisconsin Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 9, 1883
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 14 N.W. 644 (Kaehler v. Dobberpuhl) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wisconsin Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kaehler v. Dobberpuhl, 14 N.W. 644, 56 Wis. 480, 1883 Wisc. LEXIS 415 (Wis. 1883).

Opinion

Tayloe, J.

The respondent brought this action in the circuit court of Ozaukee county, against the treasurer of the town of Gedarburg and the town of Gedarbwrg, to restrain such treasurer from collecting a tax designated on the tax roll of said town for the year 1881 as a “ total reassessed, special tax, $695.79,” from returning said tax as delinquent to the county treasurer, and to have said tax and the whole thereof declared a nullity and of no effect, and for a temporary injunction. This tax was charged on the tax roll of 1881 against seventy-five acres of the W. % of the N. W. J of section ten, town ten, range twenty-one east. An ex parte injunctional order was granted as prayed for in the com[483]*483plaint, bearing date January 4, 1882. The defendants demurred to the complaint generally, on the ground that it did not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action. Eebruary 13, 1882, the defendants moved to dissolve the preliminary injunction upon the pleadings, and the affidavit of the defendant Dobberpuhl on the part of the defendants, and the affidavit of the plaintiff in opposition. The motion of the defendants to dissolve the injunction was denied with costs, and from the order denying such motion the defendants appeal to this court. The learned counsel for the appellants insists (1) that the plaintiff’s complaint does not state a cause of action which would justify a court of equity in granting the preliminary injunction; apd (2) if a cause of action be stated, the affidavit of Dobberpuhl, upon which the motion to dissolve the injunction was in part founded, conclusively shows that a large portion of such reassessed tax charged upon the tax roll against said lands and real estate of the plaintiff was legally and equitably chargeable to such lands; and that for these reasons the learned circuit judge erred in overruling the motion to dissolve such preliminary injunction.

It is a fundamental rule that a court of equity will not interfere to declare a tax invalid and restrain its collection, unless the objections to the proceedings are such as go to the very groundwork of. the tax, and necessarily affect materially its principle, and show that it must necessarily be unjust and unequal. Mills v. Gleason, 11 Wis., 470, and cases cited in the notes to that case; Hart v. Smith, 44 Wis., 213, and cases cited on p. 218. The rule established by the cases above cited in this court has never been changed, and we find it supported by a long list of cases cited in the learned note to the case of Second Nat. Bank v. Caldwell, 13 Fed. Rep., 433, cited by the learned counsel for the respondent. The cases of Pierce v. Schutt, 20 Wis., 423; Kimball v. Ballard, 19 Wis., 601; Mills v. Johnson, 17 Wis., 598; Hersey v. Supervisors, 16 Wis., 185; Bond v. Kenosha, 17 Wis., 284; [484]*484Myrick v. La Crosse, 17 Wis., 442; Siegel v. Supervisors, 26 Wis., 70; and perhaps others may be found where tax deeds and tax proceedings have been set aside by the courts of this state for irregularities not going to the groundwork of the tax itself; but in these cases, except the case of Pierce v. Schutt, the plaintiff, either before suit brought had tendered the taxes justly chargeable to his land, or in his complaint offered to pay the same. If the case of Pierce v. Schutt is to be followed, we think it ought to be restricted to cases of like kind. In that case the action was commenced to set aside a tax deed, and the complaint stated facts showing that such deed was clearly void at law for a sum illegally added to the rightful tax by the county treasurer. In that case it was held that although the plaintiff did not allege in his complaint an offer to pay the rightful tax, nor that he had tendered it before suit brought, he was entitled to relief upon condition that he pay such lawful taxes. We think this rule ought not to be extended to a case like the present, where the plaintiff seeks to restrain the collection of the tax by the town treasurer. In a case of this kind he ought to be required either to tender the taxes rightfully due, or at least offer to pay them in his complaint, as a condition upon which the injunction should issue; otherwise the transaction which took place between these parties might be repeated from year to year, and the lawful taxes remain unpaid. If the preliminary injunction be granted, the law’s delay would usually prevent the collection of the tax, or the return of the same as uncollected to the county treasurer, until it would be too late either to collect the same on the tax warrant or by return of them as delinquent to the county treasurer. Having effected this purpose, the complaint might then be dismissed, and when the taxes made their appearance on the tax roll the next succeeding year, the same proceedings might again be gone through with, and thus the collection of the lawful tax be postponed indefinitely.

[485]*485It is, however, unnecessary to pursue this discussion further, as the allegations of the complaint either show that the whole reassessed tax is void, and none of it chargeable, either at law or in equity, against the plaintiff’s lands, or else they do not show that any part of it is void or inequitable. After a careful examination of the complaint, we are unable to discover any allegations therein which clearly show that the sum charged upon the tax roll of 1881, as reassessed taxes on the plaintiff’s land, are not properly chargeable to such lands. It is true, the complaint sets out that certain taxes were levied on said lands in 1864 and in 1870, and that such taxes were not paid, and the land was sold and tax deeds issued upon such sales, and that afterwards and in 1880 the circuit court of Milwaukee county declared said taxes and the deeds issued thereon void, and that the judgment of said court remains unreversed and unappealed from, and it further alleges in general terms that neither of said taxes have ever been reassessed upon the lands of said plaintiff, but it fails to show by express averment that the taxes upon which said tax deeds were issued, and which deeds were declared illegal by the judgment of the said circuit court, were not legally or equitably chargeable to the lands of the said plaintiff, or that some part thereof was not so chargeable. And it also fails to allege that the taxes inserted in the tax roll for 1881 as reassessed taxes were in fact inserted on said roll as a reassessment of the taxes of 1S64 and 1870. The complaint also sets out that said lands of the plaintiff were assessed for certain taxes in 1872,1873, and 1874, and that such taxes were not paid, and that said lands were sold in the years 1873, 1874, and 1875, by the county treasurer, for the payment of such taxes, and further alleges that said lands were redeemed from said sales, or the tax certificates canceled, before the purchaser at such sales was entitled to a tax deed thereon. But it fails to allege that such redemption was made by the plaintiff, or on her behalf.

[486]*486The complaint also alleges in general terms that such taxes have never been reassessed or relevied upon said lands, but, as in the other case, it fails to allege that the taxes inserted in the tax roll of 1881 as reassessed taxes, were so inserted as a pretended reassessment of these taxes of 1872, 1873, or 1874, nor does she make any complaint that such taxes of 1872, 1873, and 1874 were not lawfully chargeable to said lands, but alleges affirmatively that they were lawfully levied thereon.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Mariner v. City of Milwaukee
131 N.W. 442 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 1911)
Williams v. J. L. Gates Land Co.
130 N.W. 880 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 1911)
Douglas v. City of Fargo
101 N.W. 919 (North Dakota Supreme Court, 1904)
Horton v. Driskell
77 P. 354 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 1904)
Wells v. Western Paving & Supply Co.
70 N.W. 1071 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 1897)
Graham v. Florida Land & Mortgage Co.
33 Fla. 356 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1894)
Hixon v. Oneida County
52 N.W. 445 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 1892)
Canfield v. Bayfield County
41 N.W. 437 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 1889)
Wright v. Forrestal
27 N.W. 52 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 1886)
Oberreich v. Fond du Lac County
23 N.W. 421 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 1885)
Fifield v. Marinette County
22 N.W. 705 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 1885)
Kaehler v. Dobberpuhl
18 N.W. 841 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 1884)
Kaehler v. Halpin
17 N.W. 868 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 1883)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
14 N.W. 644, 56 Wis. 480, 1883 Wisc. LEXIS 415, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kaehler-v-dobberpuhl-wis-1883.