State Bank v. Seward County

146 N.W. 1046, 95 Neb. 665, 1914 Neb. LEXIS 295
CourtNebraska Supreme Court
DecidedApril 3, 1914
DocketNo. 18,448
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 146 N.W. 1046 (State Bank v. Seward County) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nebraska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State Bank v. Seward County, 146 N.W. 1046, 95 Neb. 665, 1914 Neb. LEXIS 295 (Neb. 1914).

Opinion

Barnes, J.

This is an appeal from a judgment of the district court for Seward county in the matter of the assessment of the property of the State Bank of Seward, Nebraska, for taxation for the year 1913. It appears that in May of that year the bank, by its cashier, made the following return of its property to the county assessor for taxation:

[667]*667“Name. The State Bank of Nebraska.
Location. Seward, Nebraska. Capital stock ..........................$35,000.00
Number of shares ($100 each) ........... 350
Surplus.............................. 8,000.00
Undivided profits .....................■ 3,201.85
Total book value....................... 46,201.85
or $132.00 per share.
Market value per share, $-.
I, Harry D. Landis, cashier of said bank, do solemnly swear that the foregoing statement, Avith list of stockholders attached thereto, is true and correct this 1st day of April, 1913.
Harry D. Landis, Cashier.
Subscribed in my presence and sworn to before me this -day of-, 191 — .”

Attached to the schedule was the following entry in substance made by the county assessor:

Actual A7alue $46,200, assessed value $9,240, penalties $-; board of equalization $-. Attached to and made a part of the schedule of the bank is exhibit A, which is a statement of the deduction claimed by the bank in the form of mortgages on real estate, with the affidavit of the cashier as follows: “Each mortgage was given, executed, and filed after the 1st day of July, 1911, and before the 1st day of April, 1913, as aforesaid; that each of said mortgages is upon Seward county real estate, and the valué of each and every piece of real estate covered by said mortgages considerably exceeds the value of said bank’s mortgage thereon, and that each and every mortgage aforesaid provided that the mortgagor should pay the taxes levied thereon, and contained the following provision, ‘and shall pay all taxes and assessments levied upon said real estate, including all taxes and assessments levied upon this mortgage, or the debt secured by this mortgage;’ that each and every mortgagor giving and executing said mortgages aforesaid has paid or caused to be paid the taxes on said mortgage according to said agreement in said mortgage contained; that each of said mortgages represent tona -fide loans [668]*668made by the bank. Affiant further says that, according to the laws of the state of Nebraska, said bank is justly entitled to have said mortgages amounting in the aggregate to the sum of $34,026, considered as an interest in real estate for the purposes of assessment and taxation, and deducted as real estate and tangible property otherwise taxed from the said capital stock of said bank as listed in said return for said bank hereto attached for the year 1913.”

There was a copy of the last report made by the bank attached to the schedule, as requested and required by law. It appears that the assessor found the actual value of the bank stock to be $46,200, which was $1.85 less than the book value thereon returned to the assessor, and fixed the assessed value at $9,240, without making any allowance or deductions whatever on account of the $34,026 of the capital stock of the bank invested in real estate mortgages as listed in said exhibit A.

The bank, on June 11, 1913, filed a written complaint and protest duly verified against the assessment with the county board of equalization, claiming a reduction of the $34,000 loaned on real estate mortgages, as set forth in exhibit A attached to its schedule. On June 12, 1913, the county board of equalization considered the complaint and protest of the bank, and caused to be made the following record: “The protest and complaint of the State Bank of Nebraska of Seward, Nebraska, was read, asking for a deduction from the assessment as made by the county assessor. Moved and carried that the assessment as made by the county assessor on the State Bank of Nebraska remain as it is.” Thereupon the bank duly prosecuted an appeal to the district court, where it filed its petition asking the court to reverse the order of the county board of equalization, and allow the exemption claimed in exhibit* A attached to its schedule. The county filed a motion to require the bank to make its petition more definite and certain, and a motion to dismiss the appeal, both of which Avere overruled by the court, and the county excepted. Thereupon the county filed an answer, in substance, as [669]*669follows: Comes now the appellee and, for answer to the petition of the appellant herein filed, denies each and every allegation therein contained not hereinafter admitted, controverted, or modified; admits that appellant made a return to the county assessor, and alleges that said return is truly set out in the transcript in this case; admits that plaintiff filed a complaint with the county board of equalization at the time and in the manner and form set out in the transcript; and that on the 12th day of June, 1913, the board entered an order, as set out in the transcript, which is the order above referred to.

Appellant admits the allegation of paragraph 6 of the petition. Then followed certain allegations to the effect that the amount fixed by the county board of equalization and assessment as the aggregate value of the bank stock for the purposes of taxation for the year 1913 is no larger or greater sum than the actual real or true value of said stock after deducting said actual real and true value of the aggregate amount of said mortgages. Other allegations were contained in the answer touching the real value of the property of the bank, and it was alleged that the appellant was not entitled to have its assessments as fixed by the board at the sum of $46,200 reduced by the deductions therefrom of the amount of said mortgages for the reason that without such deduction the value of the stock for the purposes of taxation for the year 1913 was no more or greater than the fair, reasonable and just value of said property for the purposes of taxation and assessment.

The bank filed a motion to strike from the answer all the remaining portion thereof following the admission of the allegations of paragraph 6, because the same was redundant, irrelevant and immaterial, and tendered an issue not raised before the board of equalization. The motion was sustained, and the county excepted to the ruling. Thereupon a trial was had to the court upon the pleadings. The testimony of T. C. Beck, the county assessor, was taken, and he testified that he had made the assessment of the bank, and in so doing made no deduction whatever on account of real estate mortgages owned and held by the bank. [670]*670This was all the evidence that was introduced, and thereupon the court found the issues in favor of the bank; that it was entitled to have deducted from $46,200 the value of its capital stock for the purposes of assessment for the year 1913 the sum of $34,026, the aggregate amount of real estate mortgages owned and held by the bank. From this judgment the county has brought the case here by appeal.

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Bluebook (online)
146 N.W. 1046, 95 Neb. 665, 1914 Neb. LEXIS 295, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-bank-v-seward-county-neb-1914.