Gould v. White

Citations

• 54 Wash. 394
• 103 P. 460
• 1909 Wash. LEXIS 1005

Syllabus

<p>Taxation — Foreclosure — Summons for Publication — Sufficiency. Under Laws 1897, p. 182, § 96, subd. 3, a summons by publication requiring tbe defendant to appear within sixty days after the “service” of the summons is not in accordance with the statute, and is insufficient to confer jurisdiction to enter a judgment of default.</p> <p>Judgment — Recitals of Service — Presumptions — Evidence to Overcome — Sufficiency—Burden of Proof. In an action to set aside a default tax foreclosure judgment, the presumption of due service of summons, from a recital thereof in the judgment, is overcome, where the defendants prove that they did not appear and were not personally served, and produce the record in the tax case showing nothing beyond the publication of a void summons; and the burden is shifted to the tax title holder to show a valid service of process.</p> <p>Same. Where the record shows a judgment entered upon publication of a void summons, testimony of a very general nature tending to show the publication of summons other than the one on file, without showing the time, place, or manner of publication, is not sufficient to sustain the judgment.</p> <p>Taxation — Redemption—Laches—Actions. The neglect of a party to pay taxes for many years does not amount to laches that would bar an action to redeem the property within the statutory period.</p> <p>Same — Waiver of Tendee. A tender of the tax as a condition precedent to an action to set aside a void tax judgment is not necessary if it was waived.</p> <p>Same — Action to Redeem — Defenses. That there was no defense to a tax foreclosure is not bar to an action to set aside a void tax judgment, the statute requiring only a tender of the tax.</p> <p>Ejectment — Betterments—Taxation—Redemption—Statutes. In an action to recover land sold under a void tax judgment, the defendants can recover for improvements made upon the land since the enactment of the betterment law of 1903, but not for those made prior thereto.</p>