State ex rel. Nunnelee v. Horton Land & Lumber Co.

61 S.W. 869, 161 Mo. 664, 1901 Mo. LEXIS 138
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedMarch 29, 1901
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 61 S.W. 869 (State ex rel. Nunnelee v. Horton Land & Lumber Co.) 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
State ex rel. Nunnelee v. Horton Land & Lumber Co., 61 S.W. 869, 161 Mo. 664, 1901 Mo. LEXIS 138 (Mo. 1901).

Opinion

BE ACE, P. J.

By statute it is provided: “All manufacturers in this, State shall be licensed and taxed on all raw material and finished product, as well as all the tools, machinery and appliances used by them,.in the same manner as is or may be provided by law for taxing and licensing merchants.” [Revised Statutes 1889, section 6821.] And by section 6897 [668]*668of that revision it is provided that “any person or co-partnership of persons applying for a license to vend merchandise shall, before he or they shall receive such license, execute a bond to the State, with two or more good and sufficient sureties, who shall be freeholders at the time, conditioned that he or they will, on or before the first day of November next following, pay to the collector of the proper county the tax due upon such license; which bond shall be approved by the collector, and his approval indorsed thereon.” And by the next section the form of the bond is prescribed.

The defendants, in pursuance of these statutory provisions, and in the form prescribed, executed and delivered to the collector their bond as follows:

“Manufacturer’s License Bond.
“Know all men by these presents, that we, the Horton Land & Lumber Company as principal, and L. A. Kelsey and ~W. H. Horton as security, freeholders of the county of Ripley, are held and firmly bound unto the State of Missouri, for the payment on the first day of November next, to the said collector of said county, of all taxes which may then be due from the principal in this bond, for the twelve months ending the above-mentioned date, upon their license as manufacturers, and in default of such payment, to pay all damages and costs which may be adjudged against them by law.
“Given under our hands this sixth day of December, 1895.”

The statute further provides that, on the first Monday in June, in each year, “manufacturers shall file, separately, their sworn statement of the greatest aggregate amount of raw material and finished products which they may have on hand between the first Monday in March and the first Monday in June, of the then current year, on any one day between said [669]*669times, as well as the tools, machinery and appliances used in conducting their business or owned by them on the first day of June of each year.” [E. S. 1889, sec. 6821.]

It is then made the duty of the county clerk to enter an abstract of such statements in. a book, the amount of each statement, and the amount of each kind of taxes levied thereon, and on or before the first day of October to make out and deliver to the collector a copy of such abstract, taking his receipt therefor, and charging the collector with the 'amount of such taxes. [E. S. 1889, sec. 6899.]

The law then provides that every person to whom such license shall have been granted “who has filed a correct statement as herein required, and failed to pay the amount of revenue so owing, to the collector of the proper county, shall be deemed to have forfeited the bond given by him or them in virtue hereof, and judgment shall be rendered for the plaintiff in damages, for double the amount of such revenue and costs” (E. S. 1889, sec. 6904), and that “every such person or co-partnership of persons, who shall fail to file such statement and at the time and in the manner required, shall be deemed to have forfeited the bond given by him or them, in virtue of this chapter, and judgment shall be rendered for the plaintiff in damages for three times the amount of revenue which shall be found to be due for the year, and costs.” (Sec. 6905.) That, “Upon forfeiture of any bond as provided, it shall be the duty of the collector of the proper county to institute suit without delay, by some attorney to be selected by him, upon the bond forfeited, against the principal and all sureties, jointly or severally as may be deemed advisable; and the court in which the judgment shall be rendered, shall, if judgment shall be for the plaintiff, tax as costs in the case, to be paid as other costs, a reasonable fee in favor of the attorney prosecuting the action” (sec. 6901).

[670]*670This is an action by the collector on the bond aforesaid for damages under section 6905, the plaintiff charging in his petition that the defendant, the said Horton Land & Lumber Company obtained a manufacturer’s license on the sixth of December, 1895; that it was a corporation engaged in the business of manufacturing lumber during the months of March, April and May, 1896; that the defendants executed and delivered the bond aforesaid; that said lumber company failed to file the statement required by statute as aforesaid; that “the greatest amount of the raw materials and finished products which said defendant, the Horton Land & Lumber Company, had on hand at any one time between the first Monday in March and the first Monday in June, 1896, was of the valué of $25,000, and that the tools, machinery, and appliances used in conducting its said business by it on the first Monday in June, 1896, amounted in valuation to $24,872.35, and altogether in the aggregate amounted to $49,872.35 in valuation, of the raw material, finished products and tools, machinery and appliances. And plaintiff further states that on said greatest and aggregate amount in valuation there became due to the State of Missouri, taxes in the following sums, at the lawful and established rate of taxation from the said defendant, the Horton Land & Lumber Company, namely:

“Tear 1896, State Revenue tax........ $74 81
Tear 1896, State Interest tax........ 49 87
Tear 1896, County Revenue tax...... 249 37
Tear 1896, School tax .. . . ........ 364 07
Interest since January 1, 1897........ 14 76
$752 88

All of which taxes remain due and unpaid as fully set forth in an itemized taxbill under the hand of said Collector Nunnelee, herewith filed.

“Wherefore, the plaintiff states that the State of Missouri [671]*671is damaged by the said failure of the said defendant, the Horton Land & Lumber Company, to pay said taxes to the amount thereof, $752.88, and plaintiff prays judgment against said Horton Land & Lumber Company, and its securities on its said bond, Lewis A. Kelsey and W. H. Horton, for three times the amount of said revenue so due and unpaid, to-wit, $2,-258.64, according to the statute made and provided for such •cases, and also for the allowance to the plaintiff’s attorney of $100 as attorney’s fees in this ease, according to said statute.”

The answer was a general denial. The case was tried by the court without a jury.

(1) At the trial the defendants objected to the introduction of any evidence on the ground that the petition did not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action. The overruling of this objection is assigned as error, the point made being, that “The petition states that the defendant the Horton Land & Lumber Company was engaged as a manufacturer during the months of March, April and May, 1896, when the bond sued on covered taxes which were to accrue, if at all, during the tax year beginning June 1, 1896.”

This, as well as other points made for reversal, are founded upon a misconception of the nature of the action.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
61 S.W. 869, 161 Mo. 664, 1901 Mo. LEXIS 138, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-nunnelee-v-horton-land-lumber-co-mo-1901.