31 Cal. 480 | Cal. | 1866
Action for a street assessment. In most respects it is like the case of Taylor v. Palmer et al., ante, 240. The tax was assessed against Donner only. The answers of Bradford and Hawley, the only defendants who appeal, deny that Donner is the owner of the land or was at the commencement of the proceedings alleged in the complaint; and set up that Bradford and Hawley are and were the sole owners each of distinct and divided portions. The plaintiff’s motion for judgment on the pleadings confessed these facts. The case is therefore within the rule in Smith v. Davis, 30 Cal. 536.
But it is argued on the part of the respondent that it is not the intention of the statute to make the validity of the assess
Where an assessment names a party as the owner, it creates no liability against anybody else, and not against him unless he is the owner. Hence it was not necessary to their defense that the appellants should have raised the question of ownership, for upon the face of the assessment they are not liable for the tax, and no relief can be had against them.
Judgment is reversed as against the appellants, and the cause remanded.