Walla Walla County v. Oregon Railroad & Navigation Co.

Citations

• 40 Wash. 398
• 82 P. 716
• 1905 Wash. LEXIS 991

Syllabus

<p>Highways — Taxes — Refund Certificates — Recovering Money Paid on Fraudulent Certificate. Where a railroad company employed a county road supervisor to work out its road tax, for the purpose of securing a refund of the taxes paid to the county, the supervisor acts as the agent of the company and not in his official capacity and the railroad company would he liable to the county for the amount of the refund received by it in good faith upon the fraudulent certificate of the supervisor, issued without having done the work; since the knowledge of the supervisor as agent of the company would be imputed to it, and in such case the county would not be estopped by reason of the act of the supervisor as its officer.</p> <p>Same — Parties. In an action by a county to recover a refund paid to a taxpayer through the fraudulent act of a county road supervisor in wrongfully issuing a certificate, the supervisor is not a necessary party defendant.</p> <p>Limitations — Fraud. The statute of limitations does not begin to run against an action by the county to recover money paid upon a fraudulent road tax refund certificate until the money was refunded and the fraud discovered.</p> <p>Taxes — Highways—Refund Certificates — Actions. An action by a county to recover a refund upon a road tax is an action for money paid and not one to recover taxes.</p> <p>Same — Defense—Validity of Tax. One who voluntarily pays a tax cannot raise objections as to its validity.</p>