Summary
In Loomis v. The County of Los Angeles, 59 Cal. 456, (apparently followed in Brooks v. County of Tulare, 117 Cal. 465,) it was held that section 3804 does not apply.
Summary of this case from Stewart Etc. Co. v. County of AlamedaOpinion
Department Two
Appeal from a judgment for the defendant and from an order denying a new trial in the Superior Court of the County of Los Angeles. Sepulveda, J.
COUNSEL
Plaintiff's claims are " taxes illegally or erroneously collected." (Pol. C., § 3804.)
S. C. Hubbell, for Appellant.
Thomas B. Brown, for Respondent.
The claims set up by plaintiff are not for " taxes per centum or costs illegally or erroneously collected." The amounts paid by plaintiff were as the purchase prices of the lands sold. The doctrine of caveat emptor applies. He had full notice of any defect, if any, in the assessments or proceedings, or could have obtained it. He was a mere volunteer, and can not recover back what he voluntarily paid out. (Harper v. Rowe , 53 Cal. 233.)
JUDGES: Myrick, J. Sharpstein and Thornton, JJ., concurred.
OPINION
MYRICK, Judge
This action was brought to recover of the County of Los Angeles an amount of money alleged to have been paid by plaintiff under the following circumstances:
The Tax Collector sold at public auction, to plaintiff, for non-payment of State and County taxes, certain real property assessed to one Acuna, plaintiff, as purchaser, paying the amount of the taxes (which amount was by the Tax Collector paid into the County Treasury), and a certificate was duly issued to plaintiff. It subsequently appeared that the assessment was fatally defective, and plaintiff took no title to the lands attempted to be sold. He now brings his action to recover of the county the amount paid by him, basing his right to recover on Section 3804, Political Code. That section does not apply to a case of this kind. There is no rule of law authorizing the plaintiff to recover.
Judgment and order affirmed.