TRUSTEES OF INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT FUND
v.
BASS
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The Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund sued in ejectment to recover land granted to the State under the Swamp Land Grant Act of 1850, but which had been sold for delinquent taxes in 1908 and subsequently purchased by the defendant Bass. The Florida Supreme Court affirmed a dismissal, holding that the State was estopped from challenging the defendant's title based on his long possession under a deed from the State.
The court held that the State is estopped from questioning the defendant's title based on his long possession (more than eleven years) under a deed from the State, even if his title would not otherwise be good by adverse possession.
“In its inception the tax assessment was not authorized by law and had it been moved against promptly might have been set aside, but the present owner has been in possession more than eleven years under a deed issued by the State. Under such a state of facts, even if his title is not good by adverse possession, the State is estopped to question it.”
This quote establishes the core holding: despite the invalid initial tax assessment, the State's long delay combined with the defendant's possession under a State deed and improvements to the property create an estoppel against the State's ejectment claim.
The disputed lands were granted to the State of Florida under the Swamp Land Grant Act of 1850. In 1907, the Tax Assessor improperly placed the lands …
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TERRELL, Justice.
This is a suit in ejectment by the Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund to recover possession of the Southeast quarter of the Southeast quarter of Section 34, Township 33, South, Range 29 East, located in Highlands County, Florida. A motion to dismiss the complaint was granted and the plaintiff appealed.
It is admitted that the lands in question were granted to the State under the Swamp Land Grant Act of 1850, 9 Stat. 519, and that they have not been sold by the state, but that in 1907, the Tax Assessor of De-soto County placed them oil the tax rolls for taxes of that year, that they were sold for delinquent taxes in 1908, and that they were purchased by one Wiley Saules pursuant to the Murphy Act, Chapter 18296, Acts of 1937, F.S.A. § 192.35 et seq. The present owner, Roscoe Bass, purchased them from Saules in 1941, is now in possession of them, has placed a fence around them, has improved them in other respects and has paid the taxes each year since he purchased them.
In its inception the tax assessment was not authorized by law and had it been moved against promptly might have been set aside, but the present owner has been in possession more than eleven years under a deed issued by the State. Under such a state of facts, even if his title is not good by adverse possession, the State is estopped to question it. Daniell v. Sherrill, Fla., 48 So. 2d 736, 23 A.L.R.2d 1410.
The judgment appealed from is affirmed on authority of the last cited case.
Affirmed.
ROBERTS, C. J., and SEBRING and MATHEWS, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By (17 total)
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Trs. OF Internal Improvement Fund of the State of Fla. v. Claughton, 86 So. 2d 775 (Fla. 1956)…such doctririe could be invoked against the State or its subdivisions, that doubt was completely removed by the holding of this Court in Daniell v. Sherrill, Fla.1950, 48 So. 2d 736. Later in Trustees of Internal Improvement Fund v. Bass, Fla.1953, 67 So. 2d 433, we held that although the tax assessment against lands of the Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund there involved was not authorized by law, the then owner had been in possession for more than 11 years under such deed issued by the State and “…
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Cason v. Fla. Dep't OF Mgmt. Servs., 944 So. 2d 306 (Fla. 2006)…toppel. See State Dep’t of Revenue v. Anderson, 403 So. 2d 397, 400 (Fla.1981) (stating that equitable estoppel can be applied against the State in “rare instances and under exceptional circumstances”); Trustees of Internal Improvement Fund v. Bass, 67 So. 2d 433, 433 (Fla.1953) (concluding that the State was estopped from challenging delinquent tax sale of State-owned land where the present owner had been in possession more than eleven years under a deed issued by the State). However, because the issue befo…
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Trs. OF the Internal Improvement Fund of the State of Fla. v. Lobean, 127 So. 2d 98 (Fla. 1961)…se is definitely in harmony with the clear line of authority established in Daniell v. Sherrill, supra; Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund v. Claughton, Fla.1956, 86 So. 2d 775; and Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund v. Bass, Fla.1953, 67 So. 2d 433. It is true that there are parallel factual complexes in the case at bar and in Adams v. Crews, supra, but there are some striking differences. What these differences made in litigating these cases is not necessary to discuss, but the difference in…
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- Daniell v. Sherrill, 48 So.2d 736 (Fla. 1950)