Orpheum Circuit, Inc. v. County of Los Angeles

SPENCE, J. This action was brought under the provisions of section 3804 of the Political Code to recover certain alleged excess taxes paid by plaintiff in the years 1927, 1928 and 1929 on certain real property located in the city of Los Angeles. From a judgment in favor of defendant, plaintiff appeals.

Said section 3804 reads in part as follows: “Any taxes, . . . heretofore or hereafter paid upon an assessment in excess of the actual cash value of the property so assessed by reason of a clerical error of the assessor as to the excess in such cases, . . . may, by order of the board of supervisors, be refunded by the county treasurer.”

It may be stated preliminarily that there is practically no dispute concerning the facts and there is no dispute on certain legal questions. Appellant concedes that unless the admitted facts brought the case within the provisions of said section, then appellant was not entitled to the refund. On the other hand, respondent concedes that if the admitted facts brought the case within the provisions of said section, then it was mandatory upon the board of supervisors to order the refund (Associated Oil Co. v. County of Orange, 4 Cal. App. (2d) 5 [40 Pac. (2d) 887]; Hayes v. County of Los Angeles, 99 Cal. 74 [33 Pac. 766]), and that the action of the board in rejecting the claim for refund was subject to review in this action. (Cunning v. County of Humboldt, 204 Cal. 31 [266 Pac. 522].) It is further conceded that the law required the assessor to assess the property at its “full cash value” (Const., art. XI, sec. 12; Pol. Code, sec. 3627), and that the term “full cash value” means “the amount at which the property would be taken in payment of a just debt from a solvent debtor”. (Pol. Code, sec. 3617.)

Turning to the facts, it is admitted and the trial court found that there was an over-assessment of the property in each of said years resulting from a clerical error of the assessor. This clerical error occurred in the computation of the cubic content of the building. The method adopted by the assessor of Los Angeles County in assessing appellant’s building and all similar buildings was to compute the cubic content thereof, determine the value per cubic foot and multiply the cubic content by the value per cubic foot. The figure thus obtained was taken as the “appraised value” and thereafter the “assessed value” or “full cash value” was [259]fixed by the assessor at fifty per cent of said “appraised value”. In determining the “full cash value” of appellant’s building for said years, it is admitted and the trial court found that the assessor made an error in his computation and determined the cubic content of said building to be 420,741 cubic feet in excess of the actual cubic content. The trial court also made the following findings in this eoniieetion: “On the basis of said erroneous computation of said cubical contents said Assessor in 1927 assessed said building at a full cash value of $719,360.00, instead of $638,580.00 as he would have done if he had based said valuation upon the true cubic contents of said building, constituting an over-assessment of $80,770.00 for said year. In 1928 and 1929 said Assessor assessed said building at a full cash value of $611,460.00 instead of $542,790.00, being an over-assessment of $68,670.00 in each of said years.” The trial court thus found that the building had been assessed in each of said years at a figure in excess of its “full cash value” and respondent concedes this to be the fact. But the trial court further found, “That the actual cash value of said building was approximately the true appraised value, or $1,277,160.00 at twelve o ’clock M. on the first Monday of March, 1927; and $1,085,580.00 at twelve o’clock M. on the first Monday of March of each of the years 1928 and 1929. The assessment of said building so made in the amount of $719,360.00 for the year 1927, and $611,460.00 for each of the years 1928 and 1929, was not an assessment in excess of the actual cash value of said building at twelve o’clock M. on the first Monday of March of the particular years. ’ ’