Lawrence v. City of Tacoma
Lawrence v. City of Tacoma
Opinion of the Court
— In this case the lower court sustained a general demurrer to the plaintiff’s second amended complaint. The plaintiff declined to plead further and the action was dismissed. This appeal followed.
The action is one to foreclose delinquent certificates for general taxes and for local improvements, held by the appellant. It appears from the complaint that the appellant, on July 18, 1912, purchased from Pierce county a delinquent tax certificate for general taxes delinquent for the year 1910 on a certain block in the city of Tacoma, and at the same time paid delinquent general taxes for the year 1911, and afterwards paid the taxes up to and including the year 1916. The aggregate of such taxes amounts to something over $1,-
This case is controlled by the case of Holzman v. Spokane, 91 Wash. 418, 157 Pac. 1086. That was a case where the plaintiff sought to foreclose a certificate of delinquency for general taxes as a superior lien to that of local assessment liens without proceeding as required by § 7892-40, Rem. Code. In that case we held that the section of the statute was a valid enactment “with which respondent must comply in the
That statute provides that, before commencing any action to foreclose the lien of a delinquent tax certificate, the plaintiff must pay in full all local assessments outstanding against the property, or proceed to acquire title to such property subject to certain or all local assessment liens thereon. It is plain from the complaint in this case that the appellant seeks to do neither of these things, but is claiming that the general taxes are superior liens to the local improvement assessments. It is plain from the wording of the statute that, before a foreclosure of a certificate of delinquent taxes may be had by a private owner thereof, it is necessary to pay local improvement assessments, and vice versa. This case is controlled by the Hols-' man case, supra.
The judgment is therefore affirmed.
Main, C. J., Holcomb, Chadwick, and Mackintosh, JJ., concur.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- W. P. Lawrence v. The City of Tacoma, Michael Dowd
- Cited By
- 5 cases
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- Syllabus
- Taxation — Foreclosure oe Certificates — Condition Precedent— Payment oe Local Assessments. Rem. Code, § 7892-40, requiring the private owner of certificates .of delinquency to pay in full all local assessments against the property, or acquire title subject thereto, before commencing action to foreclose the prior lien of the general tax, is a valid enactment that must be complied with.