Source: http://www.chanrobles.com/usa/us_supremecourt/266/94/case.php
Timestamp: 2019-10-15 16:48:48
Document Index: 186121249

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 266', '§ 266', '§ 1305', '§ 1350', '§ 1336', '§ 1334', '§ 266']

These two bills in equity, one by the Chicago Great Western Railway Company, a corporation of Illinois, and the other by the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Company, a corporation of Illinois and Iowa, were brought against the Governor, the Secretary of State, the Auditor, and the Treasurer of Iowa, and another, constituting the Executive Council of the state, to enjoin the assessments for taxation of the railway properties of the complainants in Iowa as fixed by the Council. The injunction was sought on the ground that, although under the laws and constitution of Iowa, all property, real and personal, including railways must be assessed at its actual value, there was an intentional discrimination by the Executive Council against complainants, in that farm lands in the state were assessed at slightly over 38 chanroblesvirtualawlibrary
per cent. of their actual value, while the railway of the Great Western Railway Company in the state was intentionally assessed at 111.5 percent of its actual value, and that of the Rock Island at 75 percent. There were averments that the amounts involved in the cases were more than $3,000 in each. It was charged that such action was a denial to the railroad companies of the equal protection of the laws, in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. The complainants asserted their right to relief in equity by injunction, because if the Executive Council certified their assessments and distributed them to all the counties through which the railways ran, it would entail on the companies a multiplicity of suits to vindicate their constitutional rights. Complainants moved for temporary injunctions under § 266 of the Judicial Code. The court, consisting of a circuit judge and two district judges, on the evidence adduced, found that it did not disclose intentional discrimination by the state taxing tribunals, and denied the motions. Appeal was taken in both cases to this Court under § 266, and a continuance of the restraining orders originally granted on the filing of the bill was asked pending a hearing of the appeal. This was resisted, but was finally allowed to the extent of enjoining, upon a proper bond, the Executive Council from certifying for collection, to the taxing officials of the counties through which the railways ran, assessments more than 92 percent in value of the assessments the subject of complaint. When these causes were called for hearing in this Court, application was made for a continuance on the plea that, since November, 1922, when this appeal was allowed, the issue on the complete pleadings in the district court had been referred to a master, who had found that there was intentional discrimination, and an early final hearing on the merits was probable. It was suggested that this Court would save time by awaiting the coming of a second chanroblesvirtualawlibrary
Jurisdiction of the bill in the Rock Island case depends on the averment that the attempted assessment of complainant's railroad property in Iowa complained of was at a rate and upon a basis greater than the assessment of other property of the same class subjected to taxation in Iowa, and that the suit arises under the Fourteenth Amendment of the federal Constitution forbidding any state to deprive any person of his property without due process of law or to deny him the equal protection of the laws. We think this averment in view of the allegations of the bill invoked a substantial controversy under the federal Constitution, and gave the district court jurisdiction. Its jurisdiction, thus established, gave the district court the authority to determine all questions involved, chanroblesvirtualawlibrary
including questions of state law, irrespective of the disposition of the federal question, and, as the relief to which the complainant might be entitled would be the same as that which should be allowed him by the federal court upon a construction of the state constitution and laws such as he contends for, the question whether the acts complained of violated the federal Constitution need not be decided. Greene v. Louisville & Interurban R. Co., 244 U. S. 499, 244 U. S. 508; Ohio Tax Cases, 232 U. S. 576, 232 U. S. 586; Siler v. Louisville & Nashville R. Co., 213 U. S. 175, 213 U. S. 191. It follows therefore that, in both the cases under consideration, the district court has jurisdiction to consider and decide whether the complainants in these cases are so injured by a violation of the state constitution and laws in the taxation of their property as to entitle them to the equitable remedy of injunction against the taxing officials made defendants. The averments of both bills make a case of unjust discrimination against complainants' property in that there is an intentional systematic undervaluation by state officials of Iowa of other taxable property of the same class, when the complainant's property is assessed and taxed at a much higher rate. In such cases, the federal authorities render it clear that the complainants may have the remedy by injunction in equity to prevent the taxation of their property at any higher rate than that imposed upon the property of those in whose favor the discrimination exists. Cummings v. National Bank, 101 U. S. 153, 101 U. S. 160; Greene v. Louisville & Interurban R. Company, 244 U. S. 499, 244 U. S. 516; Taylor v. Louisville & Nashville R. Co., 88 F.3d 0. See also Sioux City Bridge Co. v. Dakota County, Nebraska, 260 U. S. 441, 260 U. S. 445; Sunday Lake Iron Co. v. Wakefield Tp., 247 U. S. 350, 247 U. S. 352. It is not enough, in these cases, that the taxing officials have merely made a mistake. It is not enough that the court, if its judgment were properly invoked, would reach a different conclusion as to the taxes chanroblesvirtualawlibrary
In Iowa, the value of farm lands is assessed by local assessors, who fix the value of the properties under § 1305 of the Code Supplement of 1913 in the various taxing districts. Their assessments are submitted to the local board of review of the taxing district, and that board hears the complaints on the part of the property owner or the part of the public, and makes its findings. This action is submitted to the county board of supervisors, which, as a board of equalization, adjusts and equalizes the findings between the taxing districts of the county. The results of action by the county supervisors are sent to the State Auditor, and by him are laid before the Executive Council sitting as a state board of equalization, which equalizes them so that there may be as nearly as possible uniformity as between the counties. By § 1350 of the Code, real estate is listed and valued each odd numbered year. Railway properties are valued for assessment in a different way from real estate under the provisions of § 1336 of the Code of 1897. They are made upon the taxable value of the entire railway within the state, and are made every year, and are distributed proportionately to the counties. In case a railway lies partly in the state and partly without it, the estimate of the value of its entire rolling stock and movable property is made after taking into consideration the proportion which the business of that part of the railway lying within the state bears to the business of the railway without the state. By § 1334 of the Code Supplement of 1913, a railway is obliged to submit to the Council for its information many details concerning its property, tangible and intangible, upon which to base an estimate of the value of the total property. These include the par and market values of the stocks and bonds, its net income, and many other circumstances. chanroblesvirtualawlibrary
It would take a very clear case upon the record to justify this Court in setting aside the conclusion of a court of three judges under § 266 upon what is solely a chanroblesvirtualawlibrary