Stafford v. Riverside County

GRIFFIN, J.

In a second amended complaint plaintiff alleges he owned two lots in Palm Springs Village Tract. Apparently, prior to March, 1947, there was a hotel building on these lots and plaintiff added improvements thereto. It was alleged that the nature of these improvements, for the years 1947, 1948 and 1949, were well known to the county assessor and tax collector and were open and apparent to anyone; that prior to the completion of the original building plaintiff was regularly assessed for said real property and improvements thereon and paid approximately $250 per year taxes; that after completion the taxes and assessments were doubled; that about March 5, 1955, there were further added to said assessment rolls, without notice to plaintiff, alleged escape assessments” for the regular tax years of 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, and 1954, at the rate of $368.44 per year, totaling $2,210.64; that thereafter, on December 9, 1955, plaintiff, who claimed said alleged escape assessments were void, paid the first installment of $1,888.39 to the defendant tax collector, claiming that $1,508.27 (being the portion designated as escape assessment) was paid under protest. (Exhibit A is a copy of said protest attached to the complaint.) It is then alleged said escape assessment on said land and improvements and the required payment thereof was void and illegal for the reasons set forth in the protest and that said property did not in fact escape any prior assessment; that plaintiff paid the second installment of $1,407.93 before the due date, and $1,105.32 was paid under protest. Also, the same allegations are made in the claim to the board of supervisors and board of equalization. He then alleges that on January 5, 1956, he filed with the board of supervisors a verified petition (Exhibit B attached to the complaint) ask

[476]

ing it to order the appropriate authorities to refund said sum and that all further assessments levied under the guise of escape property tax be canceled as being void. This is in accordance with the claim made in Exhibit B. Said petition was denied on February 20, 1956, without objection as to its form. He then alleges that all the property described was, at all times, known to defendants and was duly assessed on the rolls of the county as required by law; that the increased assessment, under the guise of escape assessment, was arbitrary, void, and without any basis in law, and that in fact no property of plaintiff escaped assessment. The allegation is then made that on May 17, 1956, plaintiff filed a verified petition for refund with the board of equalization (identical to Exhibit B); that said board referred said matter to the tax collector and no action was taken by it, and that the tax collector does not intend to do so; that a notice to plaintiff from said board stated that said board did not handle said matters; that on July 2, 1956, plaintiff filed his verified claim for refund with the board of supervisors, sitting as a board of equalization (Exhibit C) and it was denied upon the ground it lacked jurisdiction to consider said petition. As a second cause of action, after repeating these general allegations, plaintiff alleges in a common count that defendants became indebted to plaintiff in the sum of $2,210.64 for money had and received, plus $1,105.32 paid on April 10, 1956. A demurrer to this complaint was sustained without leave to amend and a judgment for defendants followed.