Knobloch v. Associated Oil Co.

SHAW, J.

The defendant appeals from the judgment and from an order denying its motion for a new trial.

The complaint sets forth a cause of action to quiet the title of the plaintiff in a tract of land against the unfounded claim of the defendant. The answer denies the title of the plaintiff and alleges that the defendant is the owner of the land in controversy. The defendant’s title is derived from a deed executed by the county tax-collector on behalf of the state of California to William 0. Maxwell based upon a sale of the property for delinquent taxes levied and assessed for the year 1902. Maxwell thereafter conveyed the property to the defendant. The court made findings holding the alleged tax title of defendant invalid upon the ground that the property was not duly or legally assessed

for

the year 1902, the tax upon which the delinquent tax-sale was based.

The only defect urged against the validity of the assessment is the absence of the dollar mark at the head of the column in the assessment-book headed “Value of real estate other than city and town lots.” The evidence shows that this defect existed. We think, however, that other parts of the assessment-book completely cured the omission. The essentials required in an assessment-book are set forth in section 3650 of the Political Code. That section provides that “the assessor must prepare an assessment-book, with appropriate headings as directed by the state board of equalization, in which must be listed all property within the county, under the appropriate head.” The section then proceeds to state the matters that must be specified under appropriate headings. The evidence shows that the state board of equalization prepared the form of assessment-book by requiring a number of columns with distinct headings. The column headed “value of real estate other than city and town lots” comes first after the columns provided for a description of the real property. In this column no dollar mark was printed. It is divided into perpendicular lines appropriate for the insertion of a figure between each line. In these lines were the figures “ 160, ” and the column as it appears on the book has nothing to indicate whether the figures represent dollars, cents, or mills. If this

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