199 F. 237 | D.N.J. | 1912
In view of the absence of any evidence on the part of the defendants, either in contradiction of the testimony offered by the complainant, or to support their unverified answer, a more extended reference to the pleadings than is usual is necessary for the proper understanding of this case. Complainant, a railroad corporation of the state of New Jersey, in its bill of complaint filed December 21, 1908, charges, in substance: That in the year 1899 and the subsequent years to and including 1906 the defendant, the mayor and aldermen of Jersey City, a municipal corporation of said state, by its taxing officers, intentionally and systematically undervalued for the purposes of taxation the property of individuals and others in said city, except in a few isolated instances of properties owned by railroad companies and other corporations immediately adjoining the large railroad yards in said city, at rates varying from 45 per cent, to 70 per cent, of the true value of the properties assessed, and at the same time overvalued that part of the property of complainant known as “third-class railroad property” — i. e., held for railroad purposes, but not yet so applied — whereby its s'aid lands were taxed largely in excess of the assessment against the property of others contributing to the same common burden of taxation. That the description of lands, the
Year. Block. Lot. Location. Valuation. Total Amount of Tax.
1899 2154 22 Communipaw Avenue §1,603,000.00 §45,525.20
1900 1,608,000.00 45.204.00
3901 1.603.000. 00 44.884.00
3902 1.603.000. 00 44.563.40
1908 1.003.000. 00 44.082.50
1904 1.603.000. 00 43.922.20
1905 1.803.000. 00 49,221.90
3906 2.390.000. 00 59.511.00
1907 2.937.000. 00 60,189.60
1899 1497 New York Bay 771.000. 00 21.896.40
1900 771.000. 00 21.742.20
1901 771.000. 00 21.588.00
1902 500.000. 00 13.900.00
1908 500.000. 00 13.750.00
1904 500.000. 00 13.700.00
1905 550.000. 00 15.015.00
1906 1.125.000. 00 28.012.50
1907 1.450.000. 00 28.315.00
That from the assessment for the year 1899 complainant appealed to the State Board of Taxation of New Jersey, which board had power to review and ascertain the true value of all property assessed for taxation throughout the state, ejxcept that levied against property used for railroad purposes by the State Board of Assessors of said state, and that said board after a hearing confirmed the valuation for such year. That on the application of complainant reviews of the legality of such taxes were successively made by the Supreme Court of the state of New Jersey and the Supreme Court of the United States, on the ground, among others, that said lands were not within the jurisdiction of Jersey City, nor within the jurisdiction of the sovereignty of New Jersey for the purposes of taxation. That in the year 1908 the United States Supreme Court decided that said lands were within the jurisdiction of said state and its taxing authorities for the purpose of taxation, the mandate of said court bearing date the 1st day of June, 1908. That the complainant in each of the years 1900, 1901, and 1902 appealed to said State Board from the said assessments for said years, respectively, on said lot 22, and that said board confirmed said assessments. That in each of the years 1906 and 1907 complainant appealed from the said assessments made on said lot for said years, respectively, to the State Board of Equalization of Taxes of New Jersey, said board having superseded the State Board of Taxation with all its said powers, and that said board, after taking evidence, determined the true value to be $1,603,000 and $1,743,000 for said years respectively. That in each of the years 1900 and 1901 complainant appealed to said State Board of Taxation from said assessments for said years, respectively, on said lot 1, and that said board reduced said assessments to $500,000, and that said lot was assessed that sum in the years 1902, 1903, and 1904. That in each of the years 1906 and 1907 complainant appealed from said assessments made on said lot for
The complainant, after tendering itself ready to pay such sum for taxes as the court shall direct either to Jersey City or into court, prays that this court determine the amount of taxes which the complainant should pay for said years, that the excess of such taxes be canceled, and that the defendants be restrained from collecting by the sale of said lands or otherwise any taxes in excess of the sum that shall be finally decreed to be due to such municipality. It also contains the usual prayer for general relief.
The answer, unverified, so far as is pertinent to the questions raised on this record (the defendants, as stated, not having offered any evidence either in contradiction of complainant’s case as made by the pleadings and its proofs), in substance, denies that the suit is of a civil nature in equity, arising under the Constitution of the United States; that the taxes assessed by Jersey City on the 6 acres of lot 22 are unlawful and void; that complainant has no adequate remedy at law for any of its alleged grievances; that complainant’s property is to be taken without due process of law; and that it is denied the equal protection of the law»in violation of the fourteenth amendment of the Constitution of the United States. It asserts that the United States Courts have no jurisdiction in the subject-matter of the suit; that complainant has a full and adequate remedy at law; that the New Jersey Court of Chancery affords the same relief as this court where the remedy at law is not adequate; that, if the facts set out in the hill constitute any ground of action, it is cognizable by the courts of New Jersey ; that complainant is not entitled to any relief in the courts of equity of the United States; “that the validity of the imposition of the laxes stated in the bill of complaint has been affirmed by the Supreme Court and the Court of Errors and Appeals of New Jersey and by the Supreme Court of the United States in a controversy between the same parties involving the same subject-matter; and that the matters stated in said hill of complaint are res judicata, and that the said complainant is guilty of such laches as to bar it of any relief under said bill.”
The gravamen of the bill of complaint is the intentional and systematic discrimination against complainant’s properties in the matter of taxation by overvaluing them and undervaluing the other properties comprised in the same class. The complainant concedes that, so far
Year. Block. Lot. Priginal Assessment. Reduced to.
1899 2154 22 81,003,000 affirmed,
1497 1 771.000 . affirmed,
1900 2154 22 1.603.000 affirmed.
1497 1 771.000 8500.000
1901 2154 22 1.603.000 affirmed.
(C 1497 1 771.000 8500.000
1902 2154 22 1.603.000 affirmed,
1497 1 500.000 affirmed,
1903 2154 22 1.603.000 affirmed,
u 1497 1 500.000 affirmed.
1906 2154 22 2.390.000 81.603.000
1497 1 1,125 000 8 747,820
1907 2154-22 3.720.000 81.743.000
1497 1 1.750.000
The highest court of the state having in effect questioned the power of this statutory tribunal to correct the abuses of undervaluation when carried on on as large a scale as is proven in this case, to turn the complainant out of this court, and require it to seek redress before such tribunal would be to compel it to (in the language of the complainant’s brief) “not only assume the risk of finding at the end of the litigation that the Board of Equalization had no power to relieve its difficulty, but would be obliged to give notice to each of the individual property owmers whose assessment was too low. As there are 165,-
It is essential to res judicata that the judgment pleaded as a bar should be rendered by a court not only competent to try the question, but one that obtained jurisdiction over the subject-matter or point in controversy, and in the presence of the necessary parties, investigated and determined the controversy on its merits. 2 Black on Judgments, §§ 504, 693, 713, 719; St. Romes v. Cotton Press Co., 127 U. S. 614, 8 Sup. Ct. 1335, 32 L. Ed. 289. In none of the appeals before the state boards were the parties necessary for conclusive determination of the question of undervaluation present. The only judgment rendered by such boards on that question was in complainant’s favor, but this was held ineffective, and therefore inconclusive because of the lack _ of necessary parties. This infirmity applies to all the appeals; -and, as the necessary par
Intentional and systematic discrimination in the assessments as well as the court’s power to grant, and the complainant’s right to obtain relief having been conclusively established, it only remains to determine the character of complainant’s relief and upon what
The defendant Jersey City, however, having been successful in the litigation over the basic right to tax such properties, and having been deprived of the moneys represented by the taxes that it could lawfully impose thereon, and the complainant having had the use of .such moneys pending such litigation, it is but equitable that the complainant should, in addition to the principal of such tax, pay interest thereon at the r'ate of 6 per centum per annum. It follows that, as the amounts paid by complainant on the granting of the rule to show cause and the allowance of the preliminary injunction herein do not equal the principal of the tax payable on such seventy per cent, basis of valuation, it is required to pay such difference and also interest as aforesaid on the whole amount of taxes based on such reduced valuation from the dates that taxes imposed upon similar properties in Jersey City were due and demandable in such years respectively, less interest at the same rate calculated on the sums already paid on account of such taxes from the respective dates of such payment.
Upon the payment of such taxes, principal, and interest, the remainder or excess of the taxes assessed by Jersey City shall be canceled of record upon the tax duplicates and other books of such city, and the defendants perpetually enjoined from collecting or attempting to collect any of such excess taxes. If the parties are unable to agree on the amount to be paid in conformity with the
The complainant may enter a decree in accordance with this opinion, with costs to be taxed.