Cambria Steel Co. v. McCoach

Citations

• 225 F. 278
• 1 A.F.T.R. (P-H) 529
• 1915 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1251
• 1 A.F.T.R. (RIA) 529

Syllabus

<p>1. Internad Revenue <&=>38—Penalties—Payment Under Duress—Recovery.</p> <p>Plaintiff company leased for 999 years all the property constituting the manufacturing plant of another corporation, its manufacturing sites, mines, roads, and ways, and not to exceed 10,000 acres of coal and other lands, and took possession of the property, and took over the cash, contracts, and entire business of the lessor, agreeing to pay as rental 4 per cent, of the lessor’s outstanding capital stock directly to its stockholders, and a further amount to cover the cost of maintaining the lessor’s organization, and to pay all taxes on the lessor’s property. On demand against the lessor for a special excise tax, for which the lessor’s property was liable to a lien and distraint under Rev. St. § 3186' et seq. (Comp. St. 1913, § 5908 et seq.), and after the lessor’s claim for an abatement was rejected, and to avoid the penalty threatened by the defendant as collector, and distraint and sale' of the leased property, the lessee paid the taxes under protest. Held, that the payment was not voluntary, but was made under duress, so that the plaintiff was entitled to sue for its recovery, without regard to privity of contract between it and the defendant collector.</p> <p>,[Ed. Note.—For other cases, see Internal Revenue, Cent. Dig. §§ 83, 84; Dec. Dig. <§==>38.]</p> <p>2. Corporations ®=>459—Property—Lease.</p> <p>Under Act Pa. Feb. 25, 1862 (P. L. 50), expressly authorizing an iron company to sell and dispose of its real and personal property, and without such authority, in the absence of express legislative restraint, the company’s lease of all its property, after which it quit carrying on business, though it maintained its corporate organization out of an amount paid by the lessee, so that its only income was the rental, paid directly to its stockholders, was not ultra vires.</p> <p>[Ed. Note.—For other eases, see Corporations, Cent. Dig. §§ 1811, 1812; Dec. Dig. <§=459.]</p> <p>3. Internal R