132 Wis. 345 | Wis. | 1907
TJpon the facts alleged tlie state asserts the-right to recover whatever portion of the license fees imposed by sec. 1213, Stats. (1898), remains unpaid for any of the' years embraced in the complaint. In view of the conflicting-claims of the parties as to the nature of this obligation, it seems essential to some of the questions presented on this appeal to first determine the nature of the obligation upon which the state claims the right to recover against the defendants.. This court has so recently considered the question in an extended examination that further elaboration is not required..,
In the case of State v. Railway Cos. 128 Wis. 449, 108 N. W. 594, the nature of the obligation so imposed on railway-companies was exhaustively treated and it was held to be an exaction imposed by the state under the taxing power. In its inception the state proceeds in the usual manner of imposing it as a burden on a privilege and franchise, which the defendant was required to assume as a condition precedent to-exercising the privilege thereby granted. It was said that these incidents to its imposition gave rise to features of a contractual nature, but it was declared that the obligation itself was clearly a tax imposed by the state under its taxing power for the purpose of raising revenue to meet expenses in administering the governmental affairs. This view was also followed in the case of Nunnemacher v. State, 129 Wis. 190, 108 N. W. 627, decided at the same time. The grounds for this conclusion were so exhaustively presented in these two-cases as to leave nothing to be added, and further discussion ait this time can serve no useful purpose. We shall treat the question as at rest, and assume for the purposes of this case that the state seeks to collect unpaid taxes due it from the defendant for the various years covered by the complaint.
The plaintiff insists that the facts stated constitute but, one cause of action, and that it must be treated as having accrued when the last instalment for the year 1904 was due the-state. The trial court seems to have so construed it. This.
Contentions are presented that tbe facts set forth constitute a basis for an action for tbe collection of a debt in which tbe defendant would be entitled to a trial by jury, and that tbe attempt on tbe part of tbe state by cb. 328, Laws of 1905 (secs. 1215 — 31-37, Stats.: Supp. 1906), to provide for an accounting and discovery of all license fees due tbe state from defendant, is an infringement of defendant’s constitutional rights, because it creates a special form of action against certain members of a class, and because it deprives them of tbe right to trial by jury and is violative of tbe constitutional guarantees of due process of law and tbe equal protection of tbe law. These questions will not arise for specific consideration in our view of tbe action. We are of tbe opinion that tbe facts alleged in tbe complaint constitute causes of action in equity for an accounting, regardless of the provisions of cb. 328, Laws of 1905. It appears from tbe complaint that tbe state seeks to recover whatever sums remain unpaid
“The most important, comprehensive, and multiform remedy of the concurrent jurisdiction which results in pecuniary recoveries is that of accounting. The variety of its uses and possible applications is practically unlimited. It can be adapted to all circumstances and relations in which an ac*356 count is necessary for tbe settlement of claims and liabilities, and for tbe doing full justice to tbe litigant parties.” 1 Pom. Eq. Jur. (3d ed.) § 186.
Besides plaintiff’s right to a discovery incident to tbe transactions involved, it is obvious that, by reason of tbe com-t plexity and length of tbe accounts, tbe remedy in equity is more appropriate, adequate, and complete than that in law. These considerations furnish a sufficient and substantial basis for tbe exercise of tbe equitable jurisdiction of tbe court upon tbe facts alleged in tbe complaint. 1 Pom. Eq. Jur. (3d ed.) §§ 139, 140, 223, 225. Tbe case of Schwickerath v. Lohen, 48 Wis. 599, 4 N. W. 805, followed this rule and declared:
“Whether tbe accounts between tbe parties are mutual or not, where a discovery is a necessary part of tbe accounting, as in this case, tbe jurisdiction of a court of equity is unquestionable.”
See, also, North Side L. & B. Soc. v. Nakielski, 127 Wis. 539, 106 N. W. 1097; Lessel v. Zillmer, 105 Wis. 334, 81 N. W. 403; Chaffee v. Conway, 125 Wis. 77, 103 N. W. 269; Somervaill v. McDermott, 116 Wis. 504, 93 N. W. 553; 6 Pom. Eq. Jur. (3d ed.) § 930; 16 Cyc. (Equity, 4, a) 41; 1 Cyc. (Accounts, d, e) 420, 421.
We deem tbe action properly within tbe equitable jurisdiction of tbe court, and find that tbe complaint alleges facts sufficient to constitute causes of action in equity for an accounting.
Tbe defendant has demurred to each cause of action in tbe complaint upon tbe ground that this action was not commenced within tbe time limited by law. This presents tbe inquiry: Are any causes of action alleged in tbe complaint barred by tbe statutes of limitation ?
By subd. 3, 4, sec. 4222, Stats. (1898), it is provided that actions must be brought within six years after tbe cause of action accrued, when tbe cause of action arises:
“(3)-. . . upon any other contract, obligation or liability, express or implied, except those mentioned in tbe last two preceding sections.
*357 “ (1) . . . upon a liability created by statute, other than a penalty or forfeiture, when a different limitation is not prescribed by law.”
Sec. 4229, prior to its amendment by ch. 1, Laws of 1905, enacted that “the limitations prescribed in this chapter shall apply to actions brought in the name of the state or for its benefit in the same manner as to actions by private parties,” 'excepting rights by adverse possession, etc., of real property. Oh. 1, Laws of 1905, amends this section, and prescribes that an action accruing to the state to recover a penalty or forfeiture, and actions for forfeitures begun under sec. 1214, Stats. (1898), must be commenced within six years after the cause of action accrued, and “any other action in favor of the state, whether created by statute or otherwise, must be commenced within ten years after the cause of action therefor has accrued.”
The language of the statute prescribing that the periods of limitation for bringing action after the cause of action has accrued shall apply to the state is plain in its meaning and clear in its terms. There is no question but that in its ordinary signification it is made to apply in the same manner as between private parties. This court has on former occasions considered the statute and so construed the legislative purpose. In Coleman v. Peshtigo Co. 47 Wis. 180, 2 N. W. 111, an action to recover damages for trespasses upon land while it belonged to the state was brought by the patentee, who claimed to have succeeded to the rights of the state to maintain the action. It was there contended that the statute did not run against this demand while the state owned the land, but the court held in construing the limitation statutes that:
“The language ... is so explicit that it is difficult of comprehension how the exception contended for by counsel [that it did not include such demands in favor of the state] could have been intended by the legislature, or could be made to ■exist by any construction of the language used, however technical or strict.”
It is said that the construction of the statutes as applied in these cases can he of no force because the instant case is one for the collection of a tax, and therefore not within the intent of the statute, even should it be comprehended in its terms in their general sense. True, this is a civil action to enforce a demand which does not arise as ordinary contract, obligations issuing out of a mere voluntary personal transaction, yet in its essential nature and characteristics it is a demand or obligation enforceable as other state claims by an action in the name of the state or for its benefit. The demand is one which is clearly embraced in the classes covered by the limitation statute providing that an action must be brought within six years after a right of action accrues “upon a liability created by statute, other than a penalty or forfeiture.” The demand sought to be enforced here under the-claim of the state is manifestly a liability created by statute, for the state asserts that the obligation is one imposed under the taxing power of the state as an incident to the grant of the privilege of operating its railroad in Wisconsin, conferred by the state on defendant. Under these conditions the claim is. obviously created by statute in the sense the legislature employed the words of this statute, and comes plainly within its terms.
We find that a like statute has been applied to a demand
We find no .justifiable ground for holding that an action for the collection of taxes is not within the operation of the; limitation statute, and that the state is not barred from collecting the taxes imposed by sec. 1213, Stats. (1898), after the expiration of the period of limitation.. ' This also is the legislative interpretation of the statute as is disclosed by ch. 1, Laws of 1905, amending it and specifically applying a
It is urged that, if the limitation statute apply to the al-3eged causes of action, then defendant will not be permitted ’to interpose the statute because it fraudulently concealed from plaintiff until the year 1903 the existence of these ■causes of action. This is urged upon the ground that it would be unconscionable to allow defendant to rely on the statute under such circumstances. This claim presupposes that plaintiff was kept in ignorance of its rights through the contrivance and concealment of the defendant. We have, however, ho such situation presented here. It is admitted that the defendant made payments under the liability imposed, and the only claim is that it fraudulently omitted to make and render a true and correct report of its annual gross earnings, on which the liability is based; There is nothing to show but that the state had full opportunity to make an investigation of the business so as to ascertain whether such reports were correct. Eurthermore, the state railroad commissioner was called upon to examine such reports in respect to their sufficiency before the annual licenses were granted. The state could not be misled as to its right to enforce any such demand and nothing was done to prevent it from ascertaining everything as to the true state of affairs respecting these claims which might have been ascertained by the exercise of reasonable diligence. We find no justification for this claim of the state in the facts alleged.
Upon the facts alleged in the complaint it is clear that the state is barred from enforcing any of the alleged claims after the expiration of six years from the time they became due, pursuant to sees. 1211, 1212, 1213, Stats. (1898), until the time was extended by ch. 1, Laws of 1905 (sec. 4229, Stats.: Supp. 1906), which was published February 4, 1905. At this time all causes of action which had accrued six years before were barred, and were as effectually extinguished as if
Treating the complaint as one in equity for an accounting disposes of the question of the right of the defendant to a trial by jury, as well as. to the validity of eh. 328, Laws of 1905, except so far as it provides in sec. 3 thereof that defendant in such, an action is required to make complete discovery in its answer under oath respecting the subject of the action, for the reason that the provisions of this act require no proceeding or pleading and grant- no relief to which either party was not entitled in equity before its passage except the discovery to be made in the answer. Aside from this provision it is declaratory only of existing rights and therefore is not repugnant to any of the constitutional provisions claimed by the defendant.
Sec. 3 imposes the duty .on defendant to set forth in its answer “a full, true and complete discovery under oath and a true and accurate account of all moneys received by it in the operation of its railroad” for the period covered by the complaint, without deduction of any of the items specified. This imposes an- obligation on defendant- in this class of actions not required in any other suits. The statute accomplishes what has usually been done by a bill of discovery.. The pro
“It is for the legislature to decide what persons' and property shall be reached by the exercise of this function [the taxing power] and in what proportions and by what processes and instrumentalities taxes shall be assessed and collected.” See, also, Blackwell, Tax Titles, § 75.
It is also well established' that the state may prescribe any appropriate remedy for this purpose which does not deprive a party of notice and reasonable opportunity for compliance, and that it may employ the usual judicial processes and proceedings, or employ them in a modified form, to regulate and enforce payment of the public revenue. This power is incident to the exercise of the taxing power. State v. Georgia Co. 112 N. C. 34, 17 S. E. 10; 1 Cooley, Taxation (3d ed.) 15-18; 21 Ency. Pl. & Pr. (Taxation) 378, 380, 381, 384.
It is furthermore asserted that the legislation is objectionable because it discriminates between members of a class. For the purposes of taxation, railroad companies throughout the history of their existence in this state have been treated as a separate class, and in the recent case of Chicago & N. W. R. Co. v. State, 128 Wis. 553, 108 N. W. 557, it was held that it is within the legislative discretion to place railway corporations in a class by themselves for the purposes of tax
We are led to the conclusion that the complaint must he sustained as good and sufficient in equity for an accounting and discovery as to the causes of action which accrued subsequent to February 4, 1899, and that the additional requirements of see. 3, ch. 328, Laws of 1905, are properly imposed on defendants in an action for the collection of any unpaid portion of the license tax. The demurrer should have been sustained to all causes of action set out in the complaint which were barred by the statute of limitation and overruled as to all causes of action not so barred.
The order overruling the demurrer to the complaint must therefore be reversed, and the cause-' remanded with directions to enter an order in accordance with this opinion.
By the Court. — It is so ordered.