Oregon-Washington Railroad & Navigation Co. v. Thurston County

98 Wash. 218
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 4, 1917
DocketNo. 13975
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 98 Wash. 218 (Oregon-Washington Railroad & Navigation Co. v. Thurston County) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Washington Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Oregon-Washington Railroad & Navigation Co. v. Thurston County, 98 Wash. 218 (Wash. 1917).

Opinion

Holcomb, J.

This is an independent action to enjoin the collection of taxes levied in Thurston county, upon an assessment made by the state board of tax commissioners in the year 1912, upon the operating properties of the Oregon-[220]*220Washington Railroad & Navigation Company in the state of Washington. That board found that the value of those properties as of March 1, 1912, for the entire state, was $48,-646,517, and after determining thé proper ratio to be applied in the various counties through which respondent’s properties passed, that value was cei’tified to the various counties in the manner px-escribed by law. The valuation certified to Thurs-ton county amounted to $220,215, upon which valuation a tax of $8,100.14 was duly levied and extended upon the tax rolls, the collection of which tax this action seeks to prevent.' There is no question as to the ratio applied or the certification, the only controversy being as to the total value of these operating px'operties. Respondent alleges that the tax coni-' mission and the state board of equalization proceeded in mak-. ing this valuation upon a fundamentally wrong basis, that both boards refused to consider evidence offered to them by. respondent, and that the true value of such operating prop-' erties as of March 1, 1912, was, in fact, $39,707,234. The trial court made findings in exact conformity with the allegations of the complaint, except that it found the value of respondent’s properties in Washington as of March 1, 1912, to be $43,775,000, and that the sum of $7,278.89 was, therefore, properly chargeable and collectible against the properties of respondent in Thurston county. Decree was entered accordingly. It will be observed that the'assessment found' by the court was $4,871,517 less than the assessment found by the state tax commission and state board of equalization, the difference amounting to a little more than ten per cent.

The legislature, during its 1907 session (Laws 1907, p.; 132, § 1), imposed upon the state board of tax commissioners the duty of making an annual assessment of the operating railroad properties within the state for the purpose of levying and collecting taxes thereon. At the same session, by an act passed and approved a few days later (Laws 1907, p. 545,. § 5), the legislature amended the railroad commission act of the state whereby that commission was empowered, after con[221]*221ducting hearings as prescribed by law, to ascertain the value of the railroad properties within the state. It will thus be seen that the state imposed upon two of its mandataries the duty of determining the true value of the operating railroad, properties.

The railroad commission, after a full hearing, determined the value of the operating property of the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company within the state as of June 30, 1907, to be $19,500,000. At the same time, it found the value of the operating properties of the Northern Pacific Railway-Company and the Great Northern Railway Company within the state.

A dispute arose between the two commissions as to whether the valuations found were controlling for the purpose of taxation; the tax commission contending for the right to make its assessment for the purpose of taxation independently of the values ascertained by the railroad commission. To settle the controversy between the two boards and to secure an adjudication of its authority in the premises, the board of tax commissioners selected the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company (in view of the fact that its assessment was the least of the three) as the railroad upon which to secure a test case.

To bring about the test case, the board of tax commissioners added to the valuation of $19,500,000 fixed by the new commission some $8,000,000, as the value of the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company’s property for the purpose, of assessment and taxation in the state as of March 1, 1910., This assessment was challenged by the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company by writ of review, and the case was decided by this court in State ex rel. Oregon Railroad & Navigation Co v. Clausen, 63 Wash. 535, 116 Pac. 7.

In that case it was decided that:

“Where the value of railway property has been'fixed by the state railway commission pursuant to the act of 1907-(Rem. & Bal. Code, § 8638) passed March 8th and approved March 16, 1907, which provides for a determination of the [222]*222actual value of all railroads by reference to the actual cost of reproduction and that the findings of the railway commission shall be conclusive in any proceeding in which the public and the railroad is interested, the state tax commission has no power to fix another valuation for the purposes of taxation, under the act of 1907 (Rem. & Bal. Code, § 9141), passed February 20th and approved March 6th, which provides that the state tax commission shall determine the annual assessment of the operating property of all railroads by reference to books, papers, market value of the stock, mileage and gross earnings, and personal view, if necessary; in view of both the object to be accomplished by the railway commission act and the fact that it was passed subsequently to the passage of the other act.”

In other words, it was determined that, where the railroad commission has acted in pursuance of the mandate of a statute and found the true value of the railroad operating properties, its findings of value were conclusive, and that the tax commission had no power to fix a different value.

While the controversy between these two commissions continued and the litigation was in progress, the owners of the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company’s railway were expending millions of dollars in the state in the construction of branch lines and terminals, which construction was prosecuted subsequent to the time the railroad commission rendered its findings of the value of the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company’s property, and in 1911 it became the duty of the board of tax commissioners to value these new operating properties for assessment and taxation in that year. This is true because of the decision in the Clausen case that the two acts of 1907 were not necessarily repugnant, that both might stand, the tax commission having full power to estimate the value of the property until such time as the railroad commission may conduct its hearing and return, for the benefit of the whole state and of its officers, the true value of the property. The railroad commission, or as it is now the public service commission, had not proceeded to ascertain and determine the true value of the new lines of the Oregon [223]*223Railroad & Navigation Company after the controversy over the old assessment. The public service commission, however, undertook to ascertain the total of all expenditures made by the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company and its allied companies in Washington for property improvements and betterments, new construction and new equipment, from the date of the 1907 valuation of the property to the year 1911.

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

Related

Parsons v. Detroit & Canada Tunnel Co.
15 F. Supp. 986 (E.D. Michigan, 1936)
In Re Assessment of Kansas City Southern Ry. Co.
1934 OK 281 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1934)
Skagit County v. Northern Pac. Ry. Co.
61 F.2d 638 (Ninth Circuit, 1932)
Inland Empire Railroad v. Whitman County
223 P. 6 (Washington Supreme Court, 1924)
Hatch v. Cole
222 P. 463 (Washington Supreme Court, 1924)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
98 Wash. 218, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/oregon-washington-railroad-navigation-co-v-thurston-county-wash-1917.