Skinner v. Mitchell

Citations

• 108 Kan. 861
• 197 P. 569
• 1921 Kan. LEXIS 287

Syllabus

<p>SYLLABUS BY THE COURT.</p> <p>1. Mandamus — Writ May Not Issue to One Not a Party to the Action. An action in mandamus was brought by taxpayers to compel the county treasurer to issue and the county clerk to countersign receipts for certain taxes. The alternative writ was allowed and the court, upon learning that the sheriff held tax warrants against some of the plaintiffs, issued an order restraining him from serving or collecting the warrants. The sheriff not being a party to the action, it is held that the court was without power to make an order enjoining him from performing the duties of his office.</p> <p>2. Same — Numerous Taxpayers — Community -of Interest — Suit by One for Benefit of All Similarly Aggrieved. The provisions of the civil code (§37, Gen. Stat. 1915, § 6927), that when the action is one of common or general interest to many persons, or when the parties are very numerous and it may be impracticable to bring them all before the court, one or more may sue for the benefit of all, are held to apply to a situation where a single taxpayer, in an action to compel the issuance of a tax receipt, sues for himself and on behalf of 874 other taxpayers similarly aggrieved; claiming that all had paid their taxes to a bank, which was a county depository, and that the money had been accepted and received by the treasurer in payment of such taxes— ,for the reason that (notwithstanding the individual claims were not only legally separate, but separate in time and each arose from an entirely distinct transaction) there was a community of interest among all the claimants in the question at issue and in the remedy.</p> <p>3. Same — To Compel Issuance of Tax Receipts — Pleading■—Certain Allegations Mere Conclusions of Pleader.' On December 17,1920, the plaintiffs paid to a realty company at Coffeyville, as their agent, the amount of their individual taxes, together with a small commission, to the agent. On December 20, the realty company deposited in the Peoples S