Bradbury

A petition for writ of mandate was filed in the lower court to compel respondents, Board of Supervisors of Santa Barbara County, to act upon, and either allow or reject certain claims for tax refund filed by appellant; an alternative writ was granted. Respondents demurred to the petition. Holding that the claims, although not in fact acted upon, by the board, were rejected by it through operation of law under section 29714, Government Code, on March 11, 1958, long prior to the filing of the petition, and thus the petition did not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action, the lower court ordered the demurrer sustained without leave to amend. It is from the judgment entered on the order that this appeal is taken.

The allegations of the petition, the truth of which for the purpose of the demurrer is conceded, disclose, among other things, that appellant was the owner of four leases from the state for the production of oil and gas from certain tide and submerged lands beneath the ocean in the county of Santa Barbara; that its ‘'mining rights” under the leases were assessed by the county of Santa Barbara each year from 1929 through 1955, and taxes were levied and each…