Dranga v. Rowe

VAN DYKE, J.

This is an action to quiet title to certain lots in the city of San Diego. The defendants, other thui the city, defaulted. In the amended answer of the city it is alleged that on April 18, 1887, the said city was reincorporated as a city of the fourth class, under the provisions of the act of 1883 providing for the incorporation and government of municipal corporations, and that prior to that date had been a city of. the fifth class. That between the first day of May, 1887, and the first day of August of said year the assessor of said city made an assessment for the fiscal year 1887 on the property in said city, including the lots in suit, and the same were assessed to one George M. Wetherly, who was then the owner thereof, and was such owner during the whole of said year. That on the 18th of October, 1887, the board of equalization of said city equalized said assessment made by the assessor aforesaid, and that the board of trustees of said city thereupon, on said date, fixed the rate and levied the taxes in said city for municipal purposes for said fiscal year, and that said taxes so levied on the said lots, including improvements, amounted to the sum of one

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hundred and sixty-five dollars and ninety-nine cents, which taxes, together with interest and penalties, it is alleged, have not been paid, or any part thereof; and it is asked in said answer that no decree be rendered quieting the title of plaintiffs to said property except on condition that all said city taxes assessed against said property for the year 1887 be paid. Demurrer was interposed to said amended answer on the grounds: 1. That it does not state facts sufficient to constitute a defense to plaintiff’s cause of action; and 2. That the defense is barred by the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure (referring to sections 336, 338-40, 343).

The court sustained the demurrer, and, said defendant having elected to stand upon said amended answer, the court gave judgment for plaintiffs, from which judgment this appeal is taken.

In

San Diego v. Higgins,

115 Cal. 170, it is held that an action to recover municipal taxes or enforce the lien thereof is subject to the limitations respecting an action upon a liability created by statute, and is barred in three years after the right of action accrues. It is stated in the respondent’s brief, although it does not appear in the record, that the case referred to involved, among other property, that claimed by the plaintiffs in this action, which then belonged to said Higgins; however that may be, it seems clear that under the rule laid down in said case the taxes in question, if valid when levied, could not now be enforced by said city.