Outer Harbor Dock & Wharf Co. v. County of Los Angeles

BURNETT, J.

The action was brought to compel the defendant to refund taxes assessed and collected on a wharf and two warehouses constructed by plaintiff on certain lands at San Pedro, owned by the state of California, and leased to the plaintiff. The case, in some general respects, is similar to that by the same plaintiff against the city of Los Angeles ([Cal. App.], 193 Pac. 137), and we shall not repéat the facts therein set forth. The only contention of appellant herein is that said improvements are exempt from taxation by reason of the fact that, being attached to the land, they are in contemplation of law a part of the land, and, therefore, in the same" category as the land itself, which is not taxable, since it belongs to the state. In

San Francisco

v.

McGinn,

67 Cal. 110, [7 Pac. 187], the question, though, is directly met and unequivocally decided contrary to appellant’s claim. Therein a certain school lot in the city of San Francisco, which had been dedicated for school purposes forever (and therefore incapable of private ownership) was, pursuant to a special statute, leased to McGinn for a period of fifty years. The lease contained no provision relating to the construction of

[195]

improvements by the lessee, or entitling the lessee to remove any improvements. McGinn constructed a four-story frame building with basement, with a brick foundation, permanently imbedded in and attached to the soil. The improvements were assessed for taxation to McGinn for the year 1881-82, and the suit was brought to collect said taxes. In McGinn’s answer to the complaint, he alleged that “said property mentioned in the complaint, and the whole thereof, at the time of the making of said supposed assessments and the levying of said supposed taxes, . . . was, and the whole thereof, and still is the property of the city and county of San Francisco, and lawfully dedicated to public school purposes forever, for the public school educational purposes of said city and county, and of the state of California.

“That the improvements mentioned in the complaint are and always have been permanently attached to and are part of said real estate and lot of land described in the complaint, and themselves real estate.