Seattle Wins Its Yesler Avenue Grade Assessment in the State Supreme Court
The state Supreme Court reverses a lower court and holds that a regular assessment roll alone makes the city's case to collect the Yesler Avenue grade assessment — the defense must now prove any defect.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The city of Seattle has scored a great legal victory in the decision of the supreme court, which sustains the appeal of the city in the case City of Seattle vs. Smith. It upholds the validity of the Yesler avenue grade assessment. The case is sent back for trial. The decision is as follows:
"Plaintiff city appeals from a judgment of nonsuit entered in a suit to foreclose a street assessment. At the proper time the city offered in evidence the assessment roll, but its admission was refused on the ground that evidence had not been produced that notice of the proceedings leading up to the assessment had been given to property owners. After counsel had stated that they did not intend to follow up the introduction of the roll with evidence showing notice, the court sustained the objection.
"Unless there are statutes which obviate the necessity of strict proof, the general rule is that tax and assessment cases must be proven by showing a compliance with all the requirements leading up to the levy of the assessment. But in this instance there was such a statute, viz., section 96 of the charter of Seattle, laws of 1885, page 209, reading:
'In any action, suit or proceeding in any court concerning any assessment of property or levy of taxes authorized by this act, or the collection of any such tax, or proceedings consequent thereon, such assessment, levy, consequent proceeding and all proceedings connected therewith shall be presumed to be regular and duly done or taken, until the contrary is shown.'
"The practical effect of this law, the validity of which is not questioned here, is to supplement section 10 of the same act and make it necessary for the city, in an assessment foreclosure, to go no further than the production of a roll regular on its face, in order to make a prima facie case. All defects in the proceeding are to be established by the defense."
Argument on behalf of the city was made by Assistant Corporation Counsel Howe.
“Such assessment, levy, consequent proceeding and all proceedings connected therewith shall be presumed to be regular and duly done or taken, until the contrary is shown.”
Property assessments and the city's power to collect them — and who gets the benefit of the doubt when a bill goes unpaid — are still a fixture of Seattle civic life. Yesler Avenue still cuts through Pioneer Square and the International District, and the same procedural questions about local improvement districts remain surprisingly unchanged.
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