Davault v. Essig

BARNARD, P. J.

This is an appeal from a judgment quieting title to certain lots in San Diego in the respondent.

It was stipulated that the appellants were the owners of the land unless deprived of their ownership hy virtue of the tax deeds, under which the respondent claims. One parcel was deeded to the state on August 1, 1934, because of delinquent taxes assessed for the year 1928. The other two parcels were deeded to the state on August 1, 1935, because of delinquent taxes assessed for the year 1929. All three parcels were deeded from the state to the respondent by deed dated August 28, 1944. All of these deeds were duly recorded, the deeds to the state on October 1, 1934, and August 12, 1935,

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respectively, and the deed from the state to the respondent on September 11, 1944. All of the taxes here in question included assessments for local improvements, levied under the Mattoon Act and collected with the county taxes. This action was filed on September 26, 1944, nearly 10 years after the recording of one of the deeds to the state and more than nine years after the recording of the other two deeds to the state, and over three years after June 1, 1941, the last date for the commencement of the running of the limitation provided for in section 3521 of the Revenue and Taxation Code. The action was in the ordinary form to quiet title and the respondent’s answer alleged, among other things, that the cause of action set forth in the complaint was barred by the provisions of section 3521. After a trial, the court found in favor of the respondent finding, among other things, that this action was barred by section 3521. Judgment was entered accordingly and this appeal followed.

The appellant contends that although this property was sold to the state for delinquent taxes assessed in 1928 and 1929, it was not properly advertised because it was not included in the delinquent lists for taxes assessed for 1934 and 1935, which were published in June, 1935, and June of 1936, respectively, after the respective deeds to the state; that the various tax deeds are void because the taxes levied, beginning with the year 1928, were excessive due to the fact, as claimed, that in the various years other lands within Acquisition and Improvement District No. 1, which had theretofore been deeded to the state, were improperly omitted from the assessment rolls, insofar as district assessments were concerned; that the two deeds to the state dated August 1, 1935, are void because in each instance the property was actually sold for one cent less than the amount advertised; that all of the property in question was sold for excessive amounts because the omission from the tax rolls of lands within the improvement district, which had theretofore been deeded to the state, resulted in increasing the assessment against other lands within the district assessed for district purposes; and that the special statute of limitations provided by section 3521 of the Revenue and Taxation Code has no application here.