Justice v. Robinson

Action to Recover Taxes Paid—Fatally Defective Protest—Insufficient Complaint—Amendment—Dismissal of Action.—In an action to recover taxes paid, where the complaint was radically defective, and not amendable so as to state a cause of action, by reason of a fatal defect in the notice of protest made part thereof, the court properly refused to admit the notice of protest in evidence, and dismissed the action, and the plaintiff could not have been prejudiced in not allowing him leave to amend the complaint, for which he did not. ask, and which could not have benefited him.

Id.—Taxes in Drainage District—Protest—Common-Law Rule— Voluntary Payment.—The Drainage Act of 1897 did not adopt the Political Code in reference to the collection of taxes, and did not provide that a payment of taxes in a drainage district under protest should be regarded as voluntary; and the general common-law rule as to the payment of taxes under protest, in the absence of statutory provision, applies to such payment. Where the notice of protest merely assailed the legality of the drainage district and the validity of the assessment and levy of the tax, and did not show any acts amounting to duress or coercion, it is insufficient to divest the payment of its voluntary character; and one who is deemed to have made such voluntary payment has no right of action to recover the same.