WILLIAM W. DEWHURST, APPELLANT,
v.
THE CITY OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA, A BODY POLITIC AND CORPORATE, AND C. G. OLDFATHER, ACTING AS CITY AUDITOR OF THE CITY OF ST. AUGUSTINE, APPELLEES
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The Florida Supreme Court reversed a lower court's dismissal of a complaint seeking cancellation of tax sale certificates. The court held that the complainant must first pay any legally owed taxes before seeking equitable relief, even if the certificates are otherwise invalid.
No, the complainant must first pay the taxes that may be legally due before invoking the aid of equity for relief, even if the tax sale certificates are alleged to be invalid.
“Even if the allegations of illegality of the tax sale certificates held by the city may be regarded as duly sustained by the law and the evidence, yet it is apaprent that the complainant, appellant here, has not paid the taxes that may be legally due upon the property covered by the alleged invalid certificates, and as the complainant has not offered to do, but should do equity before he can invoke the aid of equity for the relief he seeks”
This quote establishes the core reasoning for the court's decision, emphasizing the requirement to 'do equity' by paying taxes.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceThe complainant filed a suit to cancel tax sale certificates held by the city for unpaid city taxes, alleging illegality in the assessments. The lower…
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Per Curiam.
— In a suit praying for the cancellation of tax sale certificates held by the city for unpaid city taxes, upon grounds of alleged illegality in the assessments upon which the tax certificates are predicated, the court on final hearing dismissed the bill of complaint and an appeal was taken by the complainant.
Even if the allegations of illegality of the tax sale certificates held by the city may be regarded as duly sustained by the law and the evidence, yet it is apaprent that the complainant, appellant here, has not paid the taxes that may be legally due upon the property covered by the alleged invalid certificates, and as the complainant has not offered to do, but should do equity before he can invoke the aid of equity for the relief he seeks, it is considered, ordered and decreed that the decree herein be reversed pro forma and the cause remanded with dirctions to permit the parties by stipulation or other proper procedure to determine the amount of taxes that could legally have been assessed against the property and have not been paid, and that upon proof of the payment of such taxes the proper certificates shall be ordered cancelled; and if the taxes are not paid the bill of complaint shall be dismissed. The costs of this appeal will be taxed equally against the appellant and appellee city.
It is so ordered.
Whitfield, P. J. and Terrell and Buford, J. J. Concur. Brown, C. J. and Ellis, J. Concur in the opinion.
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Ranger Realty Co. v. Caspar Hefty, 112 Fla. 654 (Fla. 1933)…, pay or offer to pay [*661] as the court or the statute may require; all taxes that could" legally have been assessed against the property. See Sections 1008, 1038, Compiled General Laws, 1927 ; William W. Dewhurst v. City of St. Augustine, et al., 91 Fla. 314,; 107 So. 689. “Where the validity of the entire tax .is contested, the complainant will not be required to pay any part of the tax ’ as' a condition to the granting of a preliminary injuncion.” Roberts v. American National Bank of Pensacola, 97 Fl…1 / 2
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City OF Fort Myers v. Florida Reitman, 149 Fla. 203 (Fla. 1941)…y case above cited, states the effect of statutes referred to in the main opinion in the case, in modifying the pre-existing rules relating to the defects in tax assessments as made on the tax rolls, and also cites Dewhurst v. City of St. Augustine, 91 Fla. 314, 107 So. 689, which states the [*206] rules in suits in equity brought by a taxpayer to cancel erroneous tax assessments when legal taxes due on the property had not been paid. See also 80 Fla. text page 296. In West Virginia Hotel Corp. v. Foster,…1 / 3
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Adams v. Fielding, 148 Fla. 552 (Fla. 1941)…ght to be foreclosed, that the tax assessor made an erroneous statement on the tax rolls of the ownership of the assessed land, so long as the land itself was correctly described as an assessable parcel.” See also Dewhurst v. City of St. Augustine, 91 Fla. 314, 107 So. 689; Ranger Realty Co. v. Hefty, 112 Fla. 645, 152 So. 439; Devane v. Leatherman, 113 Fla. 216, 151 So. 530; City of Ft. Myers v. Heitman (now pending in this court). However, this case need not turn solely on the last question on the vali…
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