100 Wash. 64 | Wash. | 1918
Respondent brought this action to recover the sum of $148.16, alleged to have been wrong
The defendant’s demurrer to the complaint was overruled, and upon its refusal to plead further, judgment was entered in favor of the plaintiff. The defendant appeals.
The location of the premises within the right of way was open and apparent. It is not alleged that the taxes were paid under protest, compulsion or duress,
It is settled law that money paid in satisfaction of an illegal tax to a municipal corporation, acting under claim of right and without fraud, cannot, in the absence of a statute authorizing it, be recovered back, where the payment was not compelled by duress or coercion and there was no ignorance or mistake of fact on the part of the one making such payment. Pittock & Leadbetter Lumber Co. v. Skamania County, 98 Wash. 145, 167 Pac. 108; Phelps v. Tacoma, 15 Wash. 367, 46 Pac. 400; Dillon, Municipal Corporations (5th ed.), §1617 et seq.
Some contention is made that a portion of the sum for which the action was brought represents the amount paid by the respondent for the redemption of certain tax certificates which were outstanding against the property. In our opinion, this fact does not alter the application of the principle announced. The respondent was under no greater coercion to redeem the certificates of delinquency than he was to pay the taxes for which the certificates were issued, and such payment is within the rule. This is not a case where the purchaser of a certificate of delinquency is seeking to recover the amount paid therefor because the title to the property upon which the tax was levied has failed by reason of a forfeiture declared by the state. Such cases are governed by different principles. Conner v. Spokane County, 96 Wash. 8, 164 Pac. 517.
The cause will be reversed, and remanded with direction to sustain the demurrer to the complaint.