State v. Minnesota Power & Light Co.

75 N.W.2d 386, 246 Minn. 235, 1956 Minn. LEXIS 506
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedJanuary 27, 1956
DocketNos. 36,510, 36,511, 36,513
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 75 N.W.2d 386 (State v. Minnesota Power & Light Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Minnesota Power & Light Co., 75 N.W.2d 386, 246 Minn. 235, 1956 Minn. LEXIS 506 (Mich. 1956).

Opinion

Magney, Commissioner.

It is the claim of the State of Minnesota that certain lands in St: Louis County here involved were forfeited to it for the nonpayment of taxes. After the tax-forfeiture proceedings had been completed, the state conveyed the surface interest in and to the lands to the Huron Land Company but retained the minerals and mineral rights. The lands contain mineral deposits known as taconite. This action arises out of an application by the state to register the title under the Torrens law to the reserved minerals and mineral rights in said lands, claiming ownership of said minerals and mineral rights acquired through valid tax-forfeiture proceedings. Yarious individuals and corporations filed answers alleging that the tax-forfeiture proceedings, under which the state claims title, were so defective as to be invalid and void and that they, and not the state, are the owners of the minerals and mineral rights involved. The court found in favor of the applicant as to certain of the lands and in favor of defendants as to others. Alternative motions for amended findings or for a new trial were made by applicant and by two groups of defendants, which motions were denied. Three appeals were filed, one by the state and the other two by defendants who deem themselves aggrieved.

[239]*239As some of the questions raised do not apply to all the lands alike, for convenience they have been divided into six parcels.2 The state’s claimed title to parcel 6 was not challenged and the trial court held that as to that parcel the title to the minerals and mineral rights therein was proper for registration. Some questions raised are common to all the parcels of land except parcel 6, and they will be considered first.

On January 28, 1928, the board of county commissioners by resolution designated the Hibbing Daily Tribune as the official newspaper of the county in which the notice and list of real estate remaining delinquent should be published. The delinquent tax list for taxes for the year 1926 was published in the said newspaper according to the statute. The affidavit of publication filed by the publisher contained this statement: “Printed delinquent tax list hereto attached, cut from the columns of said newspaper, was inserted, printed and published in said newspaper for two weeks.” In fact, the delinquent tax list was not cut from the columns of the newspaper. Included in some of the 8á pages of the paper which contained the delinquent tax list is also printed other matter such as news and advertising. The affidavit of publication bears filing stamp: “Filed in my office at-o’clock-m., March 5,1928, J. P. Johnson, Clerk Dist Court, By B. G. Billing, Deputy,” and the published list bears a similar stamp.

[240]*240Defendants contend that the affidavit of publication is insufficient since it refers to the “list hereto attached, cut from the columns of said newspapers,” when as a matter of fact no such list is found. They also contend that the publication is defective in that other printed matter is inserted on pages containing part of the published delinquent tax list; also, that the published delinquent tax list and the affidavit of publication are filed as separate documents without attachment of one to the other to identify the same and their relationship. M. S. A. 279.20 provides:

“The clerk shall attach together and file the list, notice, affidavit of publication, one copy of the newspaper and supplement, if any, in which the notice and list were published, * * *.”

They became a part of the judgment roll.

The court found that the delinquent tax list was published substantially as required by statute; that the manner of publishing the same was harmless and without prejudice to the owner; and that no claimed omission or failure was fatal to the jurisdiction in the tax-forfeiture proceedings. It also found that the claim of defendants, that the published delinquent tax list and the affidavit of publication thereof were filed as separate documents without attachment of one to the other to identify the same and their relationship, is not sustained by the evidence, and that the affidavit of publication and the list are identified in their reference to each other. The court also found that in part of the judgment roll, including delinquent tax list for taxes for 1926 and judgment of 1928, there is attached to the newspaper publication of delinquent tax list, and bound in book, duly attached, an affidavit of publication of the printer. On .the 12th day of September 1949, on petition by the county auditor, followed by order of the court permitting the filing, a new affidavit of publication of the delinquent tax list was filed with the clerk of the district court setting out all the facts required by statute relative to publication.

The same situation is found relative to the publication of the delinquent tax list for the years 1927,1929, and 1930 and the affidavits of publication covering same.

[241]*241Section 279.14 provides:

“When the last publication shall have been made the notice shall be deemed to have been served and the court to have acquired full and complete jurisdiction * *

Under this statute there is nothing to indicate that the filing of the affidavit of publication is necessary for the acquisition of jurisdiction.

On January 28, 1928, as stated, the county board adopted a resolution designating the Hibbing Daily Tribune as the newspaper in which the delinquent real property list should be published. Then it “Resolved Further, that this contract * * * is awarded * * * upon the further condition that said R. W. Hitchcock * * * shall cause said delinquent real property list * * * to be printed and published the two times required by law in The Virginia Daily Enterprise * * * without additional expense to the County of St. Louis.” Similar resolutions were passed by the board for the years 1929,1930, and 1931. The clerk of court’s register of actions shows filing of “Certified Copy of Resolution of County Board Designating ‘The Hibbing Daily Tribune’ * * * as the newspaper in which the notices and list of real estate remaining delinquent * * * is to be published.” The register of actions makes no reference to the Virginia Daily Enterprise. Defendants say that the record is defective in that there is no proof showing publication for any year of the notice and list in the Enterprise. The resolution itself clearly indicates the Hibbing Daily Tribune as the only official newspaper in which the notice and delinquent list were to be published. The notice and list yere actually published in the Hibbing Daily Tribune, the newspaper so designated, and the fact that they were also published in the Virginia Daily Enterprise can have no bearing on jurisdiction and could have no prejudicial effect on the owners.

The important fact is whether the notice and list were published according to law in the designated legal newspaper for such publication. If so, such publication gives the court jurisdiction to render the judgment.

In Hoyt v. Clark, 64 Minn. 139, 142, 66 N. W. 262, 263, this court said:

[242]*242“* * * The court has jurisdiction to render it [the judgment], if, in fact, the notice and list were published according to law. It was the existence of those facts, and not the affidavit or proof thereof, that gave the court jurisdiction.

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

Related

Harris v. State
289 N.W.2d 725 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1980)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
75 N.W.2d 386, 246 Minn. 235, 1956 Minn. LEXIS 506, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-minnesota-power-light-co-minn-1956.