54 Wash. 624 | Wash. | 1909
Alice I. French brought this action to recover possession of a certain parcel of real property situated in King county. A demurrer to the complaint was interposed and sustained, and on her election to stand on the complaint, judgment of dismissal and for costs was entered against her. From the judgment she appeals.
In her complaint the appellant alleged that the property in
The appellant contends that the complaint alleges sufficient facts to show the invalidity of the tax foreclosure proceedings
Unquestionably, it is the rule in this state that both husband and wife are necessary parties to any proceeding brought to foreclose a hen upon their community real property which by the statute must be brought against the owners of the property, and unless both spouses are made parties to such a proceeding, and served with process, the proceeding is void. This rule was announced in the early case of Littell & Smythe Mfg. Co. v. Miller, 3 Wash. 480, 28 Pac. 1035, and has been adhered to with substantial uniformity ever since. Powell v. Nolan, 27 Wash. 318, 67 Pac. 712, 68 Pac. 389; McNair v. Ingebrigtsen, 36 Wash. 186, 78 Pac. 789; Sloane v. Lucas, 37 Wash. 348, 79 Pac. 949.
But it is not necessary in this state, in order to make a valid foreclosure of a certificate of delinquency for taxes, that the proceedings be brought against the owners of the property on which the tax is a lien. By express provisions of the statute, and by the repeated holdings of this court, such a proceeding may be prosecuted against the actual owners of the property, or against the person whose name appears upon the assessment roll as the owner, and that a foreclosure proceeding against either, if regular, is valid. Carney v. Bigham, 51 Wash. 452, 99 Pac. 21; Rowland v. Eskeland, 40 Wash. 253, 82 Pac. 599; Allen v. Peterson, 38 Wash. 599, 80 Pac. 849.
The appellant’s complaint, as we have shown, does not negative the presumption that due service of process was made on the person to whom the land was assessed on the
The judgment is affirmed.