Farmers' Co-Operative v. Thresher

Appeal by plaintiff from judgment of the Superior Court of the County of San Joaquin. Paterson, J.

Petition for writ of prohibition. The petition shows: The petitioner is a corporation engaged in the warehouse business at Stockton, in this State. On the first Monday of March, 1881, it was the owner of certain real and personal property, and also had certain wheat, barley, etc., in its warehouses upon storage; the property so on storage had been received from various persons, to each of whom the petitioner had issued a warehouse receipt for the grain by him stored, which receipts were transferable, and carried the ownership of the property represented thereby.- In the early part of said month of March, the Assessor of San Joaquin County presented to petitioner a blank form of a statement, or “assessment list,” with directions that it fill out and return the same on or before the thirtieth day of that month. Pursuant to this request the corporation, by its Secretary, made out, verified, and returned to the Assessor said list, containing a statement of all its property, real and personal, by it owned on said first Monday in March, and to which the Assessor gave the value of thirty-three thousand two hundred and ninety-five dollars. At the request of said Assessor, it made a further statement that there were certain lots of wheat, barley, rye, and beans in its warehouse on said first Monday, giving the amounts thereof, and which had been left there on storage by various persons, to whom transferable receipts had been given for each lot separately, and that it could not tell who then owned any of said property, or what was its value, and that it did not own of claim any part of said property; and then requested said Assessor that if he proposed to assess any of said property to it, that he would assess the same to it as bailee, that it might have its remedy against the owners for taxes paid thereon. The Assessor refused to make the assessment to it as bailee, and arbitrarily entered an assessment against it for the property, valued at two hundred and ninety-nine thousand six hundred and thirty-four dollars, and upon which the tax amounted to three thousand eight hundred and ninety-five dollars and twenty-four cents. The property was all assessed to petitioner individually, and not as bailee or trustee, etc., and constituted but one assessment; but on the assessment roll the assessor entered the following remark opposite the property held on storage, viz.: “The grain herein assessed to the Farmers’ Co-operative Union was in their possession on the first Monday of March, at twelve o’clock M., A. D. 1881, and they, the said Farmers’ Co-operative Union, refused to give any information in regard to the ownership thereof or by whom it was stored.” When the time arrived for paying the taxes of 1881, petitioner tendered the amount of taxes assessed upon its property, which the Collector refused to receive; whereupon the petitioner instituted this proceeding to prohibit a sale of its property for the tax alleged to be illegal. The application for a writ in the Court below was denied, on the ground that the Court had no jurisdiction to grant the writ, and a general demurrer to the petition was sustained.