State v. Hereford

133 S.E.2d 86
CourtWest Virginia Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 5, 1963
Docket12277
StatusPublished

This text of 133 S.E.2d 86 (State v. Hereford) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering West Virginia Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Hereford, 133 S.E.2d 86 (W. Va. 1963).

Opinion

133 S.E.2d 86 (1963)

STATE of West Virginia ex rel. G. Thomas BATTLE, State Tax Commissioner,
v.
John W. HEREFORD, Judge of the Circuit Court of Cabell County, West Virginia, et al.

No. 12277.

Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia.

Submitted October 1, 1963.
Decided November 5, 1963.

*87 C. Donald Robertson, Atty. Gen., Edward B. Simms, Asst. Atty. Gen., Marshall G. West, Pikeville, William F. Carroll, Louise M. Barr, Charleston, for relator.

Beckett & Burford, R. H. Burford, Jenkins & Jenkins, Huntington, for respondent, American Cigarette Service, Inc.

*88 HAYMOND, Judge.

This is an original prohibition proceeding instituted in this Court on September 11, 1963. The petitioner, G. Thomas Battle, State Tax Commissioner of West Virginia, seeks a writ to prohibit the defendants, Honorable John W. Hereford, Judge of the Circuit Court of Cabell County, West Virginia, W. Merton Prunty, Special Receiver for American Cigarette Service, Inc. and American Cigarette Service, Inc., from enforcing, executing or carrying out, subject to certain specific exceptions, the provisions of an order entered by the Circuit Court of Cabell County on September 4, 1963, in a civil action instituted by the state tax commissioner against American Cigarette Service, Inc. on August 30, 1963, then pending in that court, by which order the defendant W. Merton Prunty was appointed Special Receiver for the defendant American Cigarette Service, Inc., for the purpose of operating its business with authority to make all reasonable business decisions in connection with and concerning its management and affairs and to take possession of all cigarette machines then in the possession of the state tax commissioner, which had been seized from American Cigarette Service, Inc., pursuant to Chapter 11, Article 17, Section 27, Code, 1931, as amended, except such machines as the commissioner should decide to hold for the purpose of determining any tax liability or as necessary evidence in any criminal prosecution, and to take possession of all moneys and cigarettes in such machines, except cigarettes which bore a fraudulent or false tax meter stamp impression, and to perform certain other acts in connection with the operation of the business of American Cigarette Service, Inc. set forth in such order; and to prohibit the defendant Honorable John W. Hereford, Judge of the Circuit Court of Cabell County, from enforcing another order entered by the Circuit Court of Cabell County on September 4, 1963 in the same action pending in that court, which enjoined the tax commissioner from holding a hearing scheduled for September 5, 1963, to revoke or suspend any licenses issued to the defendant American Cigarette Service, Inc., for the operation of its business by the defendant W. Merton Prunty, Special Receiver, until the further order of the circuit court.

On September 11, 1963, upon the petition and the certified copies of the orders entered September 4, 1963, filed as exhibits with the petition, this Court issued a rule returnable October 1, 1963, and by order suspended all proceedings in the circuit court until the final adjudication of this proceeding by this Court. On September 23, 1963, this Court denied the motion of the defendant American Cigarette Service, Inc. to annul and vacate the suspension order entered by this Court on September 11, 1963. On October 1, 1963, the return date of the rule, this proceeding was submitted for decision upon the petition and the exhibits filed with it; upon the separate answer of the defendant American Cigarette Service, Inc., and an exhibit with such answer consisting of a copy of a motion of that defendant in the Circuit Court of Cabell County to dismiss the proceeding instituted in that court by the state tax commissioner against that defendant; upon the motion of the defendant American Cigarette Service, Inc. to annul and vacate the suspension ordered by this Court on September 11, 1963; and upon the written briefs and the oral arguments of the respective attorneys in behalf of the petitioner and the defendant American Cigarette Service, Inc.

During the period August 13 to August 29, 1963, the petitioner, acting under authority of Section 20, Article 17, Chapter 11, Code, 1931, as amended, seized approximately 432 cigarette vending machines and their contents, owned by the defendant American Cigarette Service, Inc., in Cabell County, and on August 30, 1963, pursuant to the provisions of Section 27, Article 17, Chapter 11, Code, 1931, as amended, instituted an action in the Circuit Court of Cabell County for the confiscation of the vending machines and their contents.

*89 The complaint in that action, a copy of which is filed as an exhibit with defendant's motion to annul and vacate the suspension order by this Court, charged that the cigarette vending machines had been used in violation of Sections 4, 16 and 17, Article 17, Chapter 11, Code, 1931, as amended, and for that reason were deemed to be contraband and forfeited to the State of West Virginia; that all packages of cigarettes which bore false and fraudulent West Virginia tax meter stamp impressions violated the same provisions of the statute and were likewise deemed to be contraband and forfeited to the State of West Virginia; and that all lawful money and coins in the vending machines were in violation of the statute and were also deemed to be contraband and forfeited to the State of West Virginia.

In the prayer of the complaint the plaintiff requested as part of the relief sought that the defendant be required to answer the complaint within twenty days from the service of a copy of the complaint, that a hearing be granted, that a special commissioner or receiver be appointed to make an inventory of the vending machines and their contents and to report to the circuit court the type and the number of such machines, their capacities and serial numbers, the number of packages of cigarettes containing false and fraudulent West Virginia tax meter stamp impressions, and the number of packages of cigarettes containing lawful West Virginia tax meter stamp impressions, in each vending machine, and the amount of coins and money in each vending machine; that after such report the vending machines and all cigarettes containing false and fraudulent tax meter stamp impressions and all money and coins in each vending machine be declared to be contraband and forfeited to the State and sold for the benefit of the free school fund as provided by law; and that all property of the defendant which should be declared not to be contraband be held in escrow for the benefit of the State pending determination of the tax liability of the defendant to the State.

At the time of the institution of this proceeding in this Court the defendant had not filed any answer to the complaint of the state tax commissioner. For that reason the material allegations that the cigarette vending machines and their contents, because of their illegal use in violation of the provisions of Sections 4, 16 and 17, Article 17, Chapter 11, Code, 1931, as amended, are contraband and forfeited to the State, will be regarded as true for the purposes of this proceeding. It should also be observed that when this proceeding was instituted there had been no determination in the action instituted by the state tax commissioner in the circuit court of the questions of contraband and forfeiture or of the rights of the parties in that action to the seized property. That action is still pending and the controlling questions involved in it are presently undecided.

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Bluebook (online)
133 S.E.2d 86, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-hereford-wva-1963.