Iowa & Dakota Tel. Co. v. Schamber

Citations

• 15 S.D. 588
• 91 N.W. 78
• 1902 S.D. LEXIS 54

Syllabus

<p>1. Under Comp. Laws, § 4907, requiring a complaint to contain a plain and concise statement of the facts constituting a cause of action, allegations in a complaint by a telephone company to restrain the collection of a tax that the total value of its property for which it was liable for taxation was about a certain amount, that the amount sworn to in a statement returned to the auditor was the full assessable value of its property, that the assessment placed by the board on complainant’s property was void because there was no 'meeting of the board as required by law, that no assessment was made at the time fixed by law, that the assessment was made when the board had no power to assess the property, and that the board did not sit as a board of equalization, involve conclusions of law, and cannot be considered in determining its sufficiency.</p> <p>2. A complaint by a telephone company in an action to restrain the collection of a state tax which fails to show what amount of taxes were levi.ed, or what the rate of the levy was, is insufficient.</p> <p>3. Under Laws, 1897, Chap. 28, § 59, requiring telephone companies to furnish the auditor on July 1st a sworn statement showing certain required facts, and section 60, providing that, if the statement is not received by the first Monday of August, the auditor shall obtain the necessary facts, laying them before the board of assessment, where a telephone company fails to furnish a sworn statement, and an assessment is made by the board on the day following the first Monday of August, it cannot complain of any irregularity as to the time of the assessment.</p> <p>4. Where the state board of assessment, composed of the persons designated by Laws 1897, Chap. 28, § 43, is regularly convened by operation of law when a telephone company’s property is assessed for taxation, the company cannot complain that the board was previously organized by persons who were not designated as members.</p> <p>5. A telephone company failing t