59 Iowa 226 | Iowa | 1882
Lead Opinion
The lands upon which the taxes were paid are situated in Webster county, and the taxes in controversy were paid to the treasurer of that county. The county is made a party defendant, but as we understand the record, it is not claimed that the county is liable to the plaintiff. The relief prayed is that an account be taken of the amount of taxes that defendant should pay, and that a decree for the proper amount be entered up against the defendant in the name of the plaintiff, or in the name of Webster county, for the use and benefit of the plaintiff, and made a lien on the lands upon which the said taxes were paid. The actual controversy then is between the plaintiff and the defendant Litchfield, and the ultimate question to be determined is, should the defendant reimburse the plaintiff for the taxes so paid.
The case in its general features is similar to Goodenow v. Moulton, 51 Iowa, 555. Roth involve reimbursement for taxes paid upon lands held by the same title, and if it were not for the defense of former adjudication we are unable to see why the decision in that case is not conclusive of this. Relieving, however, that this case must be determined upon the question of former adjudication, and upon that alone, we will proceed at once to a consideration of that question.
That action was commenced in the Webster District Court, in this State, in October, 1868. The substance of the petition was that the plaintiff therein, the Homestead Company, was the owner of certain described lands and that the defendant made some claim thereto. It was prayed that the title of the plaintiff might be quieted. One paragraph of the petition was as follows: “The said plaintiffs have been in possession of the lands claimed by them, themselves or their vendees in contract since 1861. They have paid the taxes thereon to the State of Iowa since, in all amounting to $80,000, and if their title has failed they are entitled to have their taxes refunded since 1861 by the holder of the legal title who has not paid them.” The following clause is in the prayer of the petition: “That in the event of the decree that the plaintiff’s present title, or any part of it, has failed, that the said Des Moines Navigation and Eailroad Company and its assignees may be decreed to repay to the plaintiff all the taxes which he has paid on said lands and interest thereon.”
The answer in that action, among other averments, contains the following: “And this defendant further averring says: that as to whether or not the said complainant and its vendees have been in possession of, and paid taxes on the lands claimed by them since 1861, to the amount of $80,000, this defendant is ignorant and uninformed, save by the said complainant’s bill of complaint, but he expressly avers that .the possession of the said lands by the said complainant and its vendees since 1861, is, and has been unauthorized and wrongful, and that the said complainant should be required to account for the use and rents* and profits thereof, to the proper owners respectively, during the time they have been in such possession, and he expressly alleges and avers that all taxes whatever, paid by said complainant, have been paid by complainant voluntarily, with a knowledge of all the facts, and
The cause having been transferred to the Circuit Court of the United States was submitted upon the evidence, among which was a stipulation in these words: “It is agreed that the only questions submitted on the hearing are:
“1st. In wThich of the parties is the paramount title in controversy?
“2d. If the title shall be adjudged to be in the defendant, the Des Moines Navigation and Railroad Company, is the plaintiff entitled to be reimbursed for taxes which it has paid on the lands?
“The amount of taxes is admitted to be $2,000. If the court shall find that plaintiff is entitled to be reimbursed, the question of the amount to be reimbursed shall be referred to a master, and the defendant shall have a right to show any counter-claim or other matter which should be considered as reducing the amount to be reimbursed.”
The decree of said court after reciting that the cause was “heard upon the bill and amendments, answers, replications, agreements of counsel, exhibits and depositions,” concludes as follows:
“And thei*eupon, it was ordered, adjudged and decreed, that the plaintiff’s bill as to the lands in townships 86, 87 and 88, ranges 27, 28, 29 and 30, east and west of the Des Moines River and south of the second correction line, and townships 89, 90, 91 and ■ 92, ranges 28 and 29, east of the Des Moines River, and the bill for relief for indemnity lands in lieu thereof, be dismissed. And the bill for relief as to the lands in townships 89 and 90, north, range 28 and 29, west, on west side of Des Moines River, be dismissed without prejudice, and that the plaintiffs pay the costs.”
The decree of the Supreme Court of the United States upon appeal was as follows: “This cause came on to be heard on the transcript of the record from the Circuit Court of the
The defendant, Litchfield, was made a party defendant in the suit. He was then the owner of all the lands, the taxes upon which are now in controversy, and all of said lands were embraced in that action. It will thus be seen that the controversy in this action is between the same parties as that in the former suit.
We think the foregoing discussion disposes of all questions necessary to a disposition of this case, and we unite in the conclusion that the decree of the Circuit Court should be.
Affirmed.
Rehearing
ON REHEARING.
I. On the petition of the plaintiff a rehearing was granted to the end we might again examine the question determined in the foregoing opinion. Such questions have been ably argued by counsel and in relation thereto we desire to say:
"While counsel for the plaintiff does not concede the correctness of the foregoing he earnestly contends such cannot be the rule as to the taxes paid subsequent to the former action. That question will now be considered.
II. The prior action was commenced in 1868 and was not determined by the Supreme Court of the United States until 1872. The plaintiff’s assignor paid the taxes for the years 1868 to 1871 inclusive, and it is sought to recover the money so paid in this action. Counsel on both sides have cited a large number of cases as bearing upon the question as to what constitutes an adjudication that will estop the parties from again litigating the question determined in another action. There is no real conflict in the cases thus cited. The real difficulty is to ascertain whether the case is brought within the adjudicated cases and the rules established as to
Counsel for the plaintiff insist each payment of taxes for each year constitute a separate and distinct transaction or cause of action, and therefore . an adjudication as to the taxes paid in one year cannot estop or have any bearing upon' the right to recover for taxes j>aid in a subsequent year. It is said a levy of taxes must be made for each year and that as payments are made at different times and may be predicated on different and distinct rights, therefore the right to recover for one payment can in no manner be affected by an adjudication made as to some other year and payments. This, we think, may ordinarily be so, and in The City of Davenport v. C., R. I. & P. R. Co., cited in the foregoing opinion, it was said in argument that taxes for each year constitute separate causes of action. It is conceded in the foregoing opinion this was in conflict with the views therein expressed. Reflection has satisfied us this concession should not have been made, for the reason no such conflict in fact exists.
It is undoubtedly true that the taxes of each year ordinarily constitute separate and distinct rights or causes of action. But where an action is brought to recover taxes paid in one year, and an action is afterward brought to recover for the taxes paid in a subsequent year, an<f the adjudication in the first is pleaded as a bar to the recovery in the second action, the question whether the estoppel is effectual will de- < pend upon the issues in the two actions.
But it conclusively appears, we think, the subsequent payments were made under the same claim of right as those previously made. There is no difference in the circumstances under which the payments were made as contemplated and adjudged by the Supreme Court of the United States. It was said by that court the right to recover was based on the ground the taxes were paid “in good faith and in ignorance of the law.” That is all that is claimed as to the subsequent taxes. The very right of the present litigation has been determined by a court of competent jurisdiction and therefore it cannot be again litigated. Many cases may be supposed which have more or less bearing on the case at bar. But as to all of them it can justly be said, if the right and title upon which the right to recover depends has been put in issue, and been determined, the same right and title cannot’be liti
Adhered to.
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting.- — -The circumstances under which the taxes were paid in this case were substantially the same as those under which the taxes were paid in Goodnow v. Moulton, 51 Iowa, 555. In that case a recovery for the payment was allowed upon the ground that the circumstances were such as to justify the court in holding that the payment was made at the land owner’s request. The payments then in the case at bar were made at the land owner’s request, and there is no question but that the plaintiff is entitled to recover unless he is barred by a prior adjudication. It is not to be denied that a claim was made in Homestead Co. v. Valley R. R. Co., 17 Wall., 153, to recover for a portion of the payments, and through inadvertence or a mistaken view of the law the recovery was denied. So far as the recovery for those payments is concerned, however unfortunate it may be for the plaintiff, we feel obliged to hold that the prior adjudication constitutes a bar. But we are not obliged to hold, and this court does not hold, that whoever pays taxes for a land owner, at the land owner’s request, cannot recover for such payment. The ruling' of the Supreme Court of the
In my opinion the plaintiff is entitled to recover for all payments made subsequent to the bringing of the first action and not embraced therein.