Louisville & Nashville Railroad v. Greene

Citations

• 244 U.S. 522
• 37 S. Ct. 683
• 61 L. Ed. 1291
• 1917 U.S. LEXIS 1661

Syllabus

<p>Greene v. Louisville & Interurban R. R. Co., ante, 499, followed, in holding: (1); That the federal court has power to decide all questions, its jurisdiction being properly invoked on federal grounds, (2) that this suit, to restrain subordinate state officers from enforcing an unlawful and discriminatory assessment made under color of a valid state law, is not a suit against the State, (3) that plaintiff has not an adequate remedy at law under § 162, Ky. Stats., (4) that unlawful discrimination in taxation resulting from general, systematic undervaluations of other property is remediable by the courts, and (5) that whether such an assessment violates the “equal protection” ■ clause of the Fourteenth Amendment need not be decided by the federal court when full relief is grantable under the state constitution and laws.</p> <p>The right to relief by injunction against unlawful discrimination by taxing officials exists in respect of state, as well as local, taxes; if what was said in Coulter v. Louisville & Nashville R. R. Co., 196 U. S. 599, 608, imports that an injunction can under no circumstances be awarded with respect to state taxes, it must be deemed to have been overruled by Raymond v. Chicago Union Traction Co., 207 U. S. 20.</p> <p>Proof comprising a body of official admissions and direct and circumstantial evidence from unimpeached public,and private sources, and which fully sustains a finding that the gjreat mass of property in Kentucky, embracing all tangible property except railroad property and distilled spirits — during a period Of years — was system- , atically and notoriously assessed at not exceeding 60 per cent, of its fair cash value, Held not overcome by general presumptions arising!' from the duty of assessors to assess at fair cash value, or by numerous stereotyped affidavits of former assessors asseverating their obedience thereunto..</p> <p>The findings of an official body such as the Kentucky Board of Valuation and Assessment, made after a