Carmody v. Clayton
Carmody v. Clayton
Opinion of the Court
Appellant filed suit in the trial court to restrain appellee, the tax collector of Navarro county, from selling certain property belonging to appellant and levied upon by direction of appellee, the proceeds of such sale to be applied in payment of certain claimed taxes. The court below declined to grant the relief sought, and from that action this appeal is taken.
All the issues presented by the petition filed in the trial court are not presented here by the assignments of error; and hence it will only be necessary to state, in reference to the issues presented by the brief, that appellant had been assessed for the years 1910 and 1911, by the authorities of Navarro county, as the owner of certain money and credits situated in said county during said years, and that the appellee was attempting to sell the property levied upon in order to raise money with which to pay the assessment. The assessment, upon which the tax was sought to be collected for the year 1910, was upon $80,000 in money owned by appellant and situated in Navarro county. For the year 1911 the levy was upon $10,000 in money and $30,000 in credits, situated in Navarro county. Appellant did not render the items for taxation, but was involuntarily assessed by the county officers, after appellant had declined to make any rendition. The objections urged in appellant’s brief to the sale of the property do not attack the legality of the assessment, nor deny the ownership of the money and credits which were assessed for taxes, although the pleading and the evidence to an extent raise the issue. Conclusions of fact were not filed by the trial judge, and it devolves upon us to perform that duty.
Briefly stated, the evidence shows that appellant was born and reared in the state of New York, and removed to Texas in 1896, from Ohio, as the representative of the Oil Well Supply Company, and continued with said concern until 1906, and seems to have been in business independently since. For this company he opened up stores in the various oil fields of Texas and at Jennings, La. He also entered into business at Cor-sicana, becoming a member of the firm of Carmody & Witherspoon, and is still a member of said firm. The management of that business, however, is largely with Mr. With-erspoon. The firm has farming and oil interests, and has been in business in Corsi-cana many years, and has paid taxes regularly on all its property. Appellant was married in Corsicana., November 28, 1906, and since his marriage he has always lived at the Main Hotel in Corsicana, with the exception of two months in 1911, when he and his wife boarded with-Mr. Church, his wife’s father. On account of the delicate condition of his wife’s health, he has never owned a home in Corsicana, and it is his intention, when he does build a home, to build in a cold climate, due to the fact that the hot weather in Texas is too injurious to Mrs. Carmody. He also states that the various wedding gifts and household furniture belonging to him and his wife have been stored at the place of business of the Oil Well Supply Company, of which he is manager; since his marriage. Appellant states, however, that he has always maintained and preserved his political rights in New York state, never having voted in any other place, and vigorously claims that state to be his permanent home, and, in so far as the exercise of his political rights are concerned, the claim is sustained by the testimony. During the past 12 years, however, he has only visited New York some four or five times, as often, he says, as his business would permit. He states that during the 12 years since he came to Texas he visited Louisiana about every 2 weeks up to 1904, on business connected with his interests there, but does not appear to have done so since. He also says that during the past 12 years he has spent 6 or 7 months of his time in Oklahoma, having business interests there also. His total absence from Texas during the past 12 years is less than a year. The tax he seeks to avoid was for the years 1910 and 1911. The year 1910 he spent in Corsicana, except a short period in Dallas in attendance upon a sick relative. The months of January, February, March, and April, 1911, were spent in Oklahoma, where, as we have said, he had business interests. May, June and July were spent in Corsicana. At that time he went to his home in Cuba, N. Y., and did not return to Corsicana until November 1st During all the time he has been in Texas, he has kept his moneys, notes, and securities in a tin box.. This box he sometimes kept in the vault of the First National Bank of Corsicana, and often, he says, he kept it himself. He says that when absent from the state the notes were most always with him. Also he says he carried his notes around with him because he preferred to do so, and that it was not done to avoid taxation. Nor does he claim to be a citizen of New York to avoid taxation. He says he learned a good many years ago that notes and credits in the hands of a local agent would be subject to taxation, but not so if *1069 carried around in his possession, and that he has been careful to keep himself within such limitation, in order not to become embroiled with the Texas tax laws. His notes and mortgages were taken from the vault of the bank December 30, 1909, by Mr. Church, his father-in-law, at his request and forwarded to him at St. Louis. They were returned to him early. in January, and remained with him until about December 30 or 31, 1910, when he left the state and returned in May. He did not secure the notes for the purpose of collecting them. He said he knew it would soon be January 1st, in each instance, and for that identical reason he removed them; for he knew that if they were not in the bank the assessor would not get them. He did not render the property for taxation in New York state.
H. H. Church, father-in-law of the appellant, testified that appellant and wife never did agree on any place to live, but that Mrs. Carmody preferred California.
For the year 1911 the facts in relation to the situs of the property are somewhat different, resulting largely from appellant’s business matters. During that year appellant left the state December 30, 1910, going first to Oklahoma, where he had business interests, taking the property with him, keeping it in his possession until his return to Texas in May, 1911, where he remained during May, June, and July, leaving at that time for New York and returning to Corsicana in October. The testimony fails to disclose where he had his property while absent from the state from July to October, but it does show that in the following December he again removed it from the vault of the First National Bank, in order to avoid becoming embroiled, as he states, with the assessor. The evidence further indicates that each removal of the property from Corsicana during 1911 was temporary, and due largely to the fact that appellant’s business matters . called him oftener from the state than at any other period covering his long residence in Texas. It appears, however, that after each removal it finally made its way back to the vault of the bank at Corsicana. The evidence also discloses that appellant never removed the property from the bank at any time, except the times when he was called temporarily out of the state, or when he was on a visit to his old home in New York, or at the assessing period. Upon a careful consideration of all the testimony, we are persuaded that the permanent situs of the property for the years indicated was Navarro county, and we so conclude.
The judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Carmody v. Clayton.
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