RAY E. GREEN, COMPTROLLER OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA, RICHARD W. ERVIN, ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA, AND J. EDWIN LARSON, TREASURER OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA, AS AND CONSTITUTING THE RAILROAD ASSESSMENT BOARD OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA, AND RAY E. GREEN, AS COMPTROLLER OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLANTS,
v.
FLORIDA EAST COAST RAILWAY COMPANY, A CORPORATION, APPELLEE

Fla. 1st DCA | 1962-05-17
No. D-254
STURGIS and RAWLS, JJ., concur.
141 So. 2d 326 Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (1962) Positive Treatment
Cited by 8 cases

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Synopsis

The Railroad Assessment Board of Florida appealed from a denial of its motion to dismiss a complaint by the Florida East Coast Railway Company challenging the board's assessment of the railroad's property as grossly excessive and discriminatory. The court affirmed, holding that the complaint stated a valid cause of action based on allegations of excessive and discriminatory valuation.


Holding

The complaint sufficiently states a claim for relief and the motion to dismiss was properly denied. Under Florida law, allegations of excessive valuation and discriminatory valuation are sufficient to state a cause of action.


Key Quotes

“the Circuit Court had and this court has to rule only on the question of whether the allegations, from the four corners of the complaint, sufficiently state a claim for relief, accepting as true all allegations well pleaded.”

Establishes the standard of review for a motion to dismiss—allegations must be accepted as true.

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Facts & Procedural History

The Florida East Coast Railway Company filed a complaint against the Railroad Assessment Board alleging that the board assessed its property at $50,73…

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Opinion of the Court
CARROLL, DONALD K., Chief Judge.

CARROLL, DONALD K., Chief Judge.

The members of the Railroad Assessment Board, the defendants below, have appealed from an order entered by the Circuit Court for Leon County denying their motion to dismiss the plaintiff’s complaint.

The essential allegations of the complaint are as follows: that the plaintiff is a railroad corporation authorized to operate as a common carrier by railroad wholly within the State of Florida; that the defendants constitute the Florida Railroad Assessment Board and have the duty of assessing and apportioning railroad property in the State of Florida for purposes of taxation; that the plaintiff had filed an amended return showing an aggregate full cash valuation of its railroad property of $20,609,959, yet *327the defendants assessed its railroad property for the year 1961 at $50,735,661; that the latter valuation is grossly in excess of the true cash value and is discriminatory in that the plaintiff’s property is assessed at a much higher valuation than other taxable property in the state and in the counties and municipalities of the state in which the plaintiff operates. The plaintiff alleges upon information and belief that the basis for the board’s assessment was one-third of the following: (1) “reproduction cost” less depreciation as determined by the Interstate Commerce Commission; (2) the average market price of the stock and debt of the plaintiff for the previous five years; and (3) the capitalization at six per cent of the average of the net railroad operating income for the previous five years. The complaint further alleges that the said method of computation is unrealistic, arbitrary, discriminatory, and productive of a valuation that bears no reasonable relationship to the full cash value of the plaintiff’s railroad property, for many reasons detailed in the complaint. The plaintiff finally alleges that in comparison to valuations placed on other railroads operating in Florida, the valuation of the Board for the plaintiff is discriminatory. The plaintiff prays that the board’s assessment for 1961 be declared null and void.

The board contends that the three-factor formula employed by it has been approved in Chicago and N. W. Ry. Co. v. Dept. of Revenue, 6 Ill.2d 278, 128 N.E.2d 722 (1955) and Chicago & N. W. Ry. Co. v. State Board of Equalization and Assessments, 170 Neb. 106, 101 N.W.2d 873 (1960), hut those decisions cannot be persuasive in our present consideration, because the Circuit Court had and this court has to rule only on the question of whether the allegations, from the four corners of the complaint, sufficiently state a claim for relief, accepting as true all allegations well pleaded.

In Schleman v. Connecticut General Life Insurance Company, 151 Fla. 96, 9 So.2d 197 (1942), the Supreme Court of Florida held that an allegation of excessive valuation is sufficient to state a claim for relief. In many cases our Supreme Court has held that an allegation of discriminatory valuation of a plaintiff’s property states a cause of action. See Louisville & N. R. Co. v. Amos, 98 Fla. 350, 123 So. 745 (1929). The complaint here alleges that the valuation of the property is “grossly in excess of the full cash value” of such property. In accordance with a long line of Florida decisions, we hold that the complaint before us sufficiently states a claim for relief and hence the Circuit Court properly denied the Board’s motion to dismiss the complaint.

It should be clearly understood that neither the Circuit Court nor this court in sustaining the plaintiff’s complaint is ruling on the merits or passing upon the validity of the formula utilized by the Board in its valuation of the plaintiff’s property.

The order appealed from, therefore, must be and it is

Affirmed.

STURGIS and RAWLS, JJ., concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • McKINNEY-Green, Inc. v. Davis, 606 So. 2d 393 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992)
    …In reviewing the trial court’s order denying appellant’s motion to dismiss, we must determine whether the allegations, from the four corners of the complaint, sufficiently state one or more claims for relief. Green v. Florida East Coast Railway Co., 141 So. 2d 326, 327 (Fla. 1st DCA 1962); Padovano, Fla.App.Prac. § 5.4B (1992 pocket part). We are obliged to accept all well-pled allegations of the complaint as true. Rishel v. Eastern Airlines, Inc., 466 So. 2d 1136, 1138 (Fla. 3d DCA 1985). With that in mind,…
  • Fla. E. Coast Ry. Co. v. Green, 178 So. 2d 355 (Fla. 1st DCA 1965)
    …ered an order denying the said motion, and the defendants took an interlocutory appeal therefrom to our court. In that appeal we entered our opinion and judgment affirming the said order, as reported in Green v. Florida East Coast Railway Co., Fla., 141 So. 2d 326 (1962). In our said opinion we took care to emphasize the fact that we were therein ruling upon “allegata” and not “pro-bata” and that we were not passing upon the merits of the assessments involved, saying: “It should be clearly understood that ne…
  • Viyella v. Jackson, 347 So. 2d 830 (Fla. 3d DCA 1977)
    …re, taking the well pled allegations as true, we hold that appellee’s complaint stated a valid claim for relief and affirm the order of the trial court denying appellants’ motion to dismiss the complaint. Green v. Florida East Coast Railway Company, 141 So. 2d 326 (Fla.1st DCA 1962). Any other points raised by appellants are without merit. Affirmed.…

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