Zerbe Township School District v. Lark

67 Pa. D. & C. 104, 1948 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 445
Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Northumberland County·Decided October 15, 1948·No. No. 2; no. 774·Published

Opinion

Larrabee, P. J.,

twenty-ninth judicial district, specially presiding, and Fortney, P. J.,

An adjudication and decree was filed by the chancellor on July 21, 1948 (see 20 Northumb. 178), directing the distribution of the balance of the funds in the hands of the receiver, consisting of royalties derived from the mining of coal on certain tracts of land purchased by the Commissioners of Northumberland County at county treasurer’s sales for unpaid taxes. The chancellor awarded these royalties to the Commissioners of Northumberland County as trustees for the respective taxing districts entitled thereto, the School District of Zerbe Township and the Supervisors of Zerbe Township.

On August 12, 1948, the receiver, appointed by the court to operate the coal mines on said lands and receive royalties therefrom, filed a schedule of distribution pursuant to the direction of the chancellor, as set forth in the above-mentioned decree.

Exceptions to this adjudication and decree, as well as to the schedule of distribution, were filed by H; Marshall Reinhardt, West Line Coal Company, North [106]*106Line Coal Company, and Steam Coals, Inc., as former owners of said lands. Exceptions were also filed by the Commissioners of Northumberland County.

The commissioners and former owners contend that the distribution should be made on the basis of the respective amounts of delinquent taxes due the taxing districts rather than on a millage basis for the tax assessments for said taxing districts, and also contend that these royalties are not profits or surplus.

These exceptions were argued before the court en banc.

On May 13, 1947, the court en banc, in an opinion and decree (Zerbe Township School District v. Lark et al, 59 D. & C. 424), decided the question raised by the exceptions of H. Marshall Reinhardt as to the award of proceeds of royalties from the lands known as the Thomas Grant tract, formerly owned by Reinhardt.

The questions raised by the exceptions of North Line Coal Company and Steam Coals, Inc., were also decided by the court en banc in the opinion of May 13, 1947. A full discussion of these questions is to be found in this court’s opinion refusing to dissolve the injunction as to these lands: Zerbe Township School District et al. v. Thomas et al., 61 D. & C. 355.

The questions raised by the exceptions of West Line Coal Company to the order directing the distribution of royalties were decided by the court en banc in its opinion of May 13, 1947. The default of the West Line Coal Company in its agreement for redemption, by installment payments, makes its legal status the same as if there had been neither a redemption within the two-year primary redemption period nor an agreement for redemption by installment payments under the Act of 1941.

The exceptions filed by the Commissioners of Northumberland County and the said former owners to the [107]*107adjudication and decree of the chancellor, Larrabee, P. J., twenty-ninth judicial district, specially presiding, filed on July 21, 1948 (reported in 20 Northumb. 178) raised inter alia, the question whether the chancellor should not have directed the receiver to prepare his schedule of distribution on the basis of the rateable total amounts of unpaid taxes due on each tract producing royalties from coal mined instead of the basis used by the chancellor, namely, the proportionate tax millages in effect in Zerbe Township at the time of these county treasurer’s sales to the Commissioners of Northumberland County.

This is a new question in Pennsylvania. No decision by the appellate courts of Pennsylvania has been brought to our attention by counsel, and the court has been unable to find any decision, that declares definitely what is comprehended in the term “proportionate interests of a taxing district” or, what is of equal importance, how such proportionate interest is to be determined in making a distribution.

At the outset it should be borne in mind that these royalties in the hands of the receiver are not the proceeds derived from a sale of land under the provisions of a statute or the sale of coal made under the provision of a statute. Therefore, we feel that the provisions of any statute designating how the proceeds of the sale of land shall be distributed to the taxing districts do not apply to the question before us and there is no statute directing how such royalties shall be distributed to the taxing districts. •

We are of the opinion that a fair and equitable method of determining the proportionate interests or proportionate shares of the taxing authorities involved, would be the proportionate millages fixed for tax assessments that were levied on said lands as of the date when the county commissioners purchased the same and thereby became trustees.

[108]*108Testimony given before the chancellor, and which is undisputed, shows that the assessments for all tax purposes were the same in Zerbe Township in the years when the Commissioners of Northumberland County purchased at county treasurer’s sales the lands in question.

In arriving at this method we are mindful of the well-established principle that one redeeming lands sold at county treasurer’s sale shall not be permitted to do so “at the expense of the taxing authorities”: Erie Appeal, 159 Pa. Superior Ct. 18. Furthermore, we must keep before us the principle announced by the appellate courts of this State that in such matters the public interest is always greater than the private interest. For these reasons we conclude that if these royalties were directed to be applied proportionately on the unpaid delinquent taxes due the respective taxing districts, as contended for by exceptants it would, in effect, be handing back to the former owners, indirectly, said royalties to apply on their back taxes. It is obvious that such effect would result from a distribution made on that basis.

For illustration, if the position of exceptants were to be adopted then the former owner could allow enough royalties to come into the hands of the receiver to pay off a large part of the back taxes on his coal lands and after these royalties had been applied to the delinquent taxes he could then redeem the lands for practically little of his back taxes. He would, therefore, benefit at the expense of the taxing authorities and would receive credit for the royalties applied to back taxes although he did not redeem within two years. In so doing he would thus nullify the effect of the decision in Hunter v. McKlveen et al., 353 Pa. 357.

A further reason that appeals to us in adopting the rate of millages as a proper method of distribution is that it would not, in effect, penalize those districts [109]*109which were prompt in collection of their taxes, whereas if the distribution were to be made on the basis of the respective proportionate amounts of delinquent taxes due the taxing districts it would have the effect of directly favoring those districts that were careless or inefficient in collecting their taxes and to the manifest disadvantage of those districts that were prompt and efficient in collecting them.

It is undisputed that none of the coal lands in question have been redeemed, save in the single instance where part of the^ lands of H. Marshall Reinhardt were redeemed and where proper refund of royalties due him has been made. Therefore, we are of the opinion these royalties should be distributed as though they were. profits

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Zerbe Township School District v. Lark, 67 Pa. D. & C. 104, 1948 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 445 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1948).

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