CITY OF DELAND, A MUNICIPAL CORPORATION, ORGANIZED AND EXISTING UNDER THE LAWS OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA, AND F. M. FORD, AS CITY TREASURER AND COLLECTOR OF THE CITY OF DELAND, A MUNICIPAL CORPORATION, OF VOLUSIA COUNTY, FLORIDA, APPELLANTS,
v.
ROBERT H. BOYD AND HARRIET A. BOYD, APPELLEES

Fla. | 1933-04-06
Davis, C. J., and Whitfield, Ellis, Terrell and Buford, J. J., concur., Brown, J., concurs in the conclusion.
109 Fla. 328 Florida Supreme Court (1933) Caution
Also reported at: 147 So. 575
Cited by 12 cases

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Synopsis

The Florida Supreme Court reversed an injunction that halted a municipal tax sale, holding that individual taxpayers cannot obtain equitable relief to enjoin tax sales without showing constitutional violations, exhausting statutory remedies, or offering to pay lawful taxes, and cannot enjoin tax sales affecting non-complaining property owners.


Holding

A bill in equity to enjoin a tax sale must allege unconstitutional taxation, unauthorized levies, unlawful purposes, unconstitutional discrimination, or violations of fundamental constitutional principles, and the complainant must exhaust statutory remedies and offer to pay any lawful tax amount. Courts of equity should not enjoin tax sales affecting non-complaining property owners not parties to the suit, even in class actions.


Key Quotes

“Where a bill in equity filed by a tax payer to enjoin a tax sale of his property for unpaid taxes, fails to show that the unpaid taxes complained of were levied under an unconstitutional statute, or were not authorized by statute, or were for an unlawful purpose, or that any system or rule of valuation had been adopted and followed with a design to work an unconstitutional discrimination between tax payers as to valuations by depriving the complainant tax payers of the equal protection of the laws, or that the taxes sought to be collected and remaining unpaid have been assessed in violation of any fundamental principle of the Constitution, and such bill further fails to show any alleged unjust and unlawful discrimination not otherwise remediable by proceedings at law, and fails to show that complainants have exhausted their statutory remedies to secure relief against the taxes complained of, and contains no offer to do equity by paying such amount of tax as the court finds to be legal, or the bill admits to be legal, a general demurrer to said bill should be sustained and the bill dismissed.”

Establishes the required elements for equitable relief in tax injunction cases, including constitutional defects, exhaustion of remedies, and willingness to pay lawful taxes.

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Facts & Procedural History

The City of DeLand sought to conduct a tax sale for unpaid 1927 municipal taxes on property owned by Robert and Harriet Boyd. The Boyds filed an equit…

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Opinion of the Court
Per Curiam.

Per Curiam.

A bill in equity was filed by appellees, seeking to enjoin the sale of complainant’s property in the City of DeLand for unpaid city taxes thereon, and to have the entire assessment declared illegal and void.

There is no showing in the bill that complainants had *329ever returned their property for taxation, or that they had ever' made any complaint on the day set for hearing tax complaints, -or that complainants were without notice, actual or constructive, as to the day set for- hearing complaints, nether -was it negatived that tax complaints of any who desired to be heard, were not heard as required by law. The Circuit Court, upon the. application of complainants, a man and his.wife, as property owners of property in the City of DeLand, enjoined the entire tax sale by the municipal authorities, not only as to the property of complainants, but as to all other property owners in the City as well, notwithstanding the fact that complainants had neither paid nor offered to pay the municipal taxes assessed against them, or any part thereof, for the year 1927, for which the sale was to be made if not enjoined. The appeal here is from the final decree.

Where a bill in equity filed by a tax payer to enjoin a tax sale of his property for unpaid taxes, fails to show that the unpaid taxes complained of were levied under an unconstitutional statute, or were not authorized by statute, or were for an unlawful purpose, or that any system or rule of valuation had been adopted and followed with a design to work an unconstitutional discrimination between tax payers as to valuations by depriving the complainant tax payers of the equal protection of the laws, or that the taxes sought to be collected and remaining unpaid have been assessed in violation of any fundamental principle of the Constitution, and such bill further fails to show any alleged unjust and unlawful discrimination not otherwise remediable by proceedings .at law, and fails to show that complainants have exhausted their statutory remedies to secure relief against the taxes complained of, and contains no offer to do equity by paying such amount of tax *330as the court finds to be legal, or the bill admits to be legal, a general demurrer to said bill should be sustained and the bill dismissed. Harjim, Inc. v. O’Bannon, 100 Fla. 755, 129 Sou. Rep. 918; Florida Land Co. v. Graham, 97 Fla. 476, 121 Sou. Rep. 462; Crawford v. Bradford, 23 Fla. 404, 2 Sou. Rep. 782.

A court of equity should not upon a bill for injunction filed to enjoin the collection of taxes, or the enforcement of same by tax sale, upon the application of one or more individual complainant or complainants who are parties to the suit, enjoin the1 tax sale complained of as to the property of non-complaining property owners not parties to the suit. This is true even as to parties who would have been entitled to have intervened, but who did not intervene in a class suit, brought by complainant tax payers for the benefit of themselves and all-other tax payers similarly situated who might desire to avail themselves thereof, and secure the relief prayed for. Stiles v. City of Guthrie, 3 Okla, 26, 41 Pac. Rep. 383; Wyandotte & K. City Bridge Co. v. Wyandotte County, 10 Kan. 326. This Court has held, that private individuals as such, have no standing in a court of equity to sue solely for the protection of the rights of the general public. Brown v. Florida Chautauqua-Ass’n., 59 Fla. 447, 52 Sou. Rep. 802. Tax suits form no just exception to this rule.

The decree appealed from is reversed with. directions to dismiss the bill at complainant’s costs in both courts.

Davis, C. J., and Whitfield, Ellis, Terrell and Buford, J. J., concur.

Brown, J., concurs in the conclusion.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Port Royal, Inc. v. Conboy, 154 So. 2d 734 (Fla. 2d DCA 1963)
    …ance to this interlocutory appeal. There is no indication in the record as to what, if any, disposition was made of the petition. We aré aware of the decisions in Osceola Groves, Inc. v. Wiley, Fla.1955, 78 So. 2d 700; City of Deland v. Boyd, 1933, 109 Fla. 328, 147 So. 575; and Lakeland v. Chase National Company, supra. Those decisions, however, are not pertinent to the instant case. In Osceola Groves, Inc. v. Wiley, supra, several plaintiffs who had entered into contracts of sale and lease agreements wit…
  • City of Miami Beach v. Tenney, 150 Fla. 241 (Fla. 1942)
    …onstituting. the general obligation of the City and in nowise pledging special assessments for the payment of the same. The appellant insists that our opinions in the cases of Stockman v. City of Trenton, 132 Fla. 406, 181 Sou. 383; DeLand v. Boyd, 109 Fla. 328, 147 So. 575, and Abel v. Boynton, 95 Fla. 984, 117 Sou. 507; Escott v. City of Miami, 107 Fla. 273, 144 Sou. 397, are controlling of the questions here involved and upon authority of these opinions the orders appealed from should be reversed. With…
  • Devane v. Leatherman, 113 Fla. 216 (Fla. 1933)
    …s case must be decided against them on the authority of Lee v. Booker & Co., 108 Fla. 534, 146 Sou. Rep. 546; Ranger Realty Co. v. Hefty, 112 Fla. 654, 152 Sou. Rep. 439 (opinion filed November 13, 1933, at the present term); City of DeLand v. Boyd, 109 Fla. 328, 147 Sou. Rep. 575, and other cases' of similar import, where it has been held that complaints against alleged excessive tax assessments so long delayed as those here involved, are not favorites of courts of equity, which will grant relief against t…

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