State Ex Rel. Rabren v. Baxter

239 So. 2d 206, 46 Ala. App. 134, 1970 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 408
CourtCourt of Civil Appeals of Alabama
DecidedJune 30, 1970
Docket3 Div. 4
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 239 So. 2d 206 (State Ex Rel. Rabren v. Baxter) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State Ex Rel. Rabren v. Baxter, 239 So. 2d 206, 46 Ala. App. 134, 1970 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 408 (Ala. Ct. App. 1970).

Opinions

THAGARD, Presiding Judge.

This case originated with the filing on June 14, 1968, of a petition addressed to the Circuit Court of Montgomery County by John T. Baxter, appellee, for a writ of mandamus requiring the Commissioner of Revenue to quash and hold for naught final assessments against him for income tax for the calendar years 1961-1964, and to also quash and hold for naught a writ of garnishment issued by appellant and served on appellee’s employer in an effort to collect the tax assessed.

The State filed its plea in abatement to said petition, alleging as grounds that petitioner had failed to avail himself of the statutory remedy by way of appeal from the final assessments. After hearing, the trial court entered a judgment denying the State’s plea in abatement, and, subsequently, after final submission, rendered a final judgment ordering the issuance of a peremptory writ of mandamus as prayed for. From that final judgment the State has appealed.

There are fourteen assignments of error. Since Assignments of Error 1 through 10, inclusive, all have to do with the alleged error of the trial court in denying appellant’s plea in abatement to appellee’s petition for the writ of mandamus, appellant [137]*137chose to argue and did argue them in bulk. We agree that these assignments are so related that appellant had the option which •he chose.

Appellant says that, “The remaining Assignments of Error Nos. 11 through 14, * * * are based upon the error of the lower court in entering a final judgment ordering the Commissioner of Revenue to quash the final assessments previously entered by him. The questions of fact and law which the lower court was called upon to decide in entering its final judgment are essentially the same as those which entered into its ruling on the Plea in Abatement; therefore, the questions presented to this Honorable Court in this Appeal, in connection with Assignments of Error Nos. 11 through 14 are essentially (the same as those presented under the ruling of the lower -court on the Plea in Abatement and assigned as error by Appellant in its Assignments of Error Nos. 1 through •10.” That appellant is mistaken in the foregoing statement we shall now try to demonstrate.

Appellee’s petition for the writ of mandamus contained a double aspect both in allegations and prayer for relief, viz: (1) That the assessments were -void and the •Commissioner of Revenue should be required to vacate them, and (2) The writ of garnishment was wrongfully issued and invalid and the Commissioner should be required to quash it. Under some circumstances the court might rightfully have upheld both the assessments and the garnishment, and under other circumstances it might rightfully have upheld the assessments and struck down the garnishment, but under no circumstances pertaining to this case -could it have struck down the assessments and upheld the garnishments, for in the absence -of valid assessments the appellee would not have been indebted to the State. We conclude, therefore, that the two aspects are different and separable, and may have been sc considered by the trial court and may be so considered by us.

Appellant’s Assignments of Error Nos. T through 10 attack in one way or. another the trial court’s interlocutory judgment dated September 30, 1968, denying appellant’s plea in abatement. These assignments in effect attack the trial court’s ruling on both aspects of the petition for the writ of mandamus. As hereinabove indicated, we think they were so related as properly to be arguable in bulk. , ...

Assignment of Error No. 11 simply says that the lower court erred in entering final judgment in favor of appellee. Assignment of Error No. 12 says that “The lower court erred in entering a final judgment dated October 30, 1968, ordering * * *” (then describing-both aspects of the judgment), thus saying the same thing, but in more detail, as Assignment No. 11. Assignments Nos. 13 and’ 14 split the two aspects of the judgment, No. 13 attacking the ordering of the issuance of the peremptory writ directing the Commissioner ,of Revenue to invalidate the assessments and No. 14 attacking .that aspect of the final judgment ordering the issuance of the peremptory writ directing the 'Commissioner to quash the issuance of the writ of garnishment. Assignment of Error No. ,14 is the only assignment that attacks only the garnishment aspect of the judgment on appellant’s plea in abatement and the garnishment aspect of the final judgment. Appelr lant’s entire argument is addressed only to the assessment aspect of the two judgments. Assignment of Error No. 14 is not argued, nor is the garnishment feature argued in the arguments addressed to the other assignments of error. Therefore, we deem that appellant has abandoned its position as to the garnishment aspect of the judgments, and that aspect of the interlocutory judgment dated September 30, 1968, and of the final judgment dated October 30, 1968, will be affirmed.

Now having disposed of what we have referred to as'the second aspect of the interlocutory and final judgments, we proceed to a discussion of^he first aspect; that is, that aspect that had to do with the validity of [138]*138the assessments. As hereinabove said, appellant’s first ten assignments of error attack the interlocutory judgment overruling and denying appellant’s plea in abatement to appellee’s petition for the writ of mandamus. Appellant insists that the remedy of mandamus was not available to appellee, because the appellee had not availed himself of the statutory right of appeal from the assessments and cited among others the case of Denson v. First National Bank of Birmingham, 276 Ala. 146, 159 So.2d 849. On the other hand, appellee contends that the assessments were void, that void assessments like void judgments will nc'- support an appeal, and that in such a situation mandamus is the proper remedy, citing Sadler v. Sessions, 261 Ala. 323, 74 So.2d 425.

It is our opinion that if the assessments were valid, the trial court should have rendered judgment in favor of appellant on its plea in abatement, because of the failure of the appellee to appeal from the assessments, and that its failure to do so was reversible error. On the other hand, we think that if the assessments were void, as contended by appellee, the judgment of the trial court in denying the plea in abatement was correct. So the crux of the case 'is the validity vel non of the assessments. And that question hinges upon whether appellee had changed his domicile prior to the years for which the assessments were made, and whether the notices given the appellee were legally sufficient.

Black’s Law Dictionary (p. 572, Revised Fourth Edition) defines domicile as “That place where a man has his true, fixed, and permanent home and principal establishment, and to which whenever he t is absent he has the intention of returning.”

From Ex parte Phillips, 275 Ala. 80, 152 So.2d 144, cited by appellant, we quote:

“In determining this question, we will review some of the rules pertaining to domicile. Since every person must have a domicile, the law assigns to persons incapable cf acquiring a domicile through choice, a domicile by operation of law. This first domicile so assigned is the domicile of origin. Beale, Conflict of Laws, Vol. 1, page 210. The place of the birth of a person is considered as his domicile of origin, if at the time of his birth it is the domicile of his’ parents. Daniel v. Hill, 52 Ala. 430.

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State ex rel. Rabren v. Baxter
239 So. 2d 214 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1970)
State Ex Rel. Rabren v. Baxter
239 So. 2d 206 (Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama, 1970)

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Bluebook (online)
239 So. 2d 206, 46 Ala. App. 134, 1970 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 408, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-rabren-v-baxter-alacivapp-1970.