City of Santa Monica v. Los Angeles County

This action was brought by the city of Santa Monica against the county of Los Angeles to recover the amount of taxes levied and assessed in September, 1903, against certain real property acquired by said city after March 1st of that year, but before such assessment was levied. The city paid such taxes under protest, and judgment was rendered in its favor against the county for the recovery of the amount so paid, from which judgment the county appeals.

The sole question involved is as to the operative effect of such levy of taxes made under the circumstances of this case. It is appellant’s contention that the lien for the taxes of 1903 attached on the first Monday of March of that year, and the subsequent fixation of the amount, through levy and assessment, was but a step necessary for the enforcement of the already established lien. This upon the authority of Couts v. Cornell, 147 Cal. 564 , [ 109 Am. St. Rep. 168 , 82 Pac. 194 ], and the cases there cited. In a construction of section 2884, Civil Code, which provides that a lien may be created by contract to take immediate effect as security for an obligation not then in existence, our supreme court, in Tapia v. Demartini, 77…