Kleban v. Morris

247 S.W.2d 832, 363 Mo. 7, 1952 Mo. LEXIS 625
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedApril 14, 1952
Docket42693
StatusPublished
Cited by53 cases

This text of 247 S.W.2d 832 (Kleban v. Morris) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kleban v. Morris, 247 S.W.2d 832, 363 Mo. 7, 1952 Mo. LEXIS 625 (Mo. 1952).

Opinion

*10 BOHLING, C.

Melvin Kleban, Harry Sager and Maurice H. Schwartz, plaintiffs, originated this action by filing a petition in the Circuit Court of Cole County, Missouri, for the purpose of recovering payments of “use taxes” on motor vehicles purchased outside the state for use on the highways of Missouri under statutory provisions thereafter held unconstitutional and invalid. Plaintiffs named as defendants the State of Missouri and the following officials of the State of Missouri in their several official capacities and also *11 as individuals, to wit: M. E. Morris, as Treasurer, W. H. Holmes, as Auditor, G. H. Bates, as Director of Revenue, and E. L. Pigg, as Comptroller, and Central Missouri Trust Company, as a private cor-„ poration and as a depository of the State of Missouri. The question for determination, as in the circuit court, is: May plaintiffs maintain this suit against the named defendants? The trial court dismissed plaintiffs’ petition and they appealed.

The parties mention a pending $200,000 appropriation for refunds to use tax payers (H. B. 496, § 10.270, 66th General Assembly) but plaintiffs say approximately $800,000 of use taxes were collected.

Briefly of the background. The Sixty-third General Assembly re-enacted the Missouri Sales Tax Act of which § 11412 was a part. Laws 1945, pp. 1865, 1870. Thereafter, the Sixty-fourth General Assembly re-enacted, among others, said § 11412 (2 Laws 1947, pp. 431, 433), which re-enacted section provided, among other things, that persons purchasing motor vehicles (for instance, outside the state) for use on the highways of this state pay an equivalent of said sales tax prior to the issuance of a certificate of [834] title for the motor vehicle (§ 11412(c)), with specified exemptions (§ 11412(d)), one provision exempting “motor vehicles having a seating capacity of ten passengers or more,” and another exempting motor vehicles upon which a sales tax had been paid to Missouri. This act became effective July 18, 1948. (2 Laws 1947, p. 461.) In State ex rel. Transport Manufacturing & Equipment Co. v. Bates, 359 Mo. 1002, 224 S. W. 2d 996 (rehearing denied Dec. 12, 1949), it was held that a use tax was a valid and constitutional tax (l.c. 999 [5]; that the General Assembly could designate for use tax purposes motor vehicles upon which sales taxes had not been paid to Missouri and which were required to be registered in Missouri (l.c. 1000); but the exemption of motor vehicles having a seating capacity of ten passengers or more was invalid (1. c. 1000 [14]); that the invalid exemption caused the “use tax” levied by said § 11412 to be unconstitutional (l.c. 1001 [18]), and we issued our writ of mandamus that respondent perform the ministerial duty of issuing a certificate of title to relator for a motor vehicle purchased in North Carolina for use on Missouri highways without requiring the payment of said use tax.

The petition is in six counts for the purpose of presenting two alternative theories as to the capacity of the parties defendant and three alternative theories as to the capacity of the parties plaintiff.

The alternative theories respecting the parties defendant are: (a) that they are suable in their official capacities (Counts I, III and Y); or (b) if not suable in their official capacities, they are suable in their individual capacities (Counts II, IY and YI).

The alternative theories respecting the parties plaintiff are: (a) that plaintiffs are representative plaintiffs in a true class action; *12 that is, an action where the right sought to be enforced is common to the whole class (Counts I and II); (b) that they are representative .plaintiffs in a spurious class action; that is, an action where the rights are several but common relief is sought (Counts III and IV); or (c) that the named plaintiffs have several causes of action which they have joined in one suit under the permissive joinder provisions of the Civil Code of Missouri (Counts V and VI) .*

Other than issues going to the right of plaintiffs' to maintain this action against the named defendants, the sufficiency of plaintiffs’ petition is not at issue and it is not necessary to state the allegations in detail.

Plaintiffs’ principal theory upon which they rely to sustain their contentions here is contained in Count I of the petition. Said count contains allegations, briefly stated, to the effect that numerous persons were forced to pay the unconstitutional use tax; that all such persons constitute a class and are so numerous it is impractical to bring all before the court; that plaintiffs sue for all persons in like situations; that they paid the use tax, which tax was thereafter held unconstitutional as aforesaid; that the State, including the defendant officers, illegally collected and received vast sums under said unconstitutional tax and delivered the same to defendant banking depository, which continues to hold the same; that the amounts so collected and-from whom collected are unknown to plaintiffs but appear upon the official records of defendants and constitute a trust fund for the benefit of' those from whom said tax was wrongfully exacted; that said payments were made involuntarily and under duress as the motor vehicles could not have been used on the Missouri highways wi’hout incurring civil and criminal liability; that the exaction of and defendants’ failure to refund said payments constitute a deprivation of property without due process of law in violation of specified State and Federal constitutional provisions; that'under § 11441, R. S. 1939 (Laws 1945, p. 1878), it is the duty of the Director of Revenue to refund said illegal exactions and of the General Assembly to appropriate funds therefor but the performance of said duties is conditioned upon a final judgment of court and a demand for refund would be futile because of said § 11441 and certain other specified statutes; that specified amounts were illegally exacted [835] from each of the named plaintiffs, in each instance less than $50, and that there are many other persons similarly situated.

The prayer of Count I seeks a judgment and decree that the State of Missouri and the defendant officials and banking depository are liable for the refund of said illegal use taxes, a judgment and decree determining the amounts due as such refunds, determining a reasonable attorneys’ fee to be paid out of the total amount of said refunds to plaintiffs’ attorneys, determining the amount of such fee .and declaring the same a lien upon said refunds, declaring the amounts *13 due a trust fund and directing its payment into the registry of the court for distribution, or, if not entitled to such relief, then in the alternative directing the State Comptroller to preapprove said refunds and issue his warrant therefor, and the State Auditor, State Director of Revenue, and State Treasurer to pay and distribute said refunds and attorneys’ fee, and for general relief.

Counts II, III, IV, V and VI contain the same basic allegations with only such modifications as are required to present plaintiffs’ various alternative theories with respect to the parties noted above.

I. Defendants contend the circuit court did not have jurisdiction because the sum demanded did not exceed $50 for any plaintiff. § 2100, R. S. 1939.

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Bluebook (online)
247 S.W.2d 832, 363 Mo. 7, 1952 Mo. LEXIS 625, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kleban-v-morris-mo-1952.