O. T. Johnson Corp. v. County of Los Angeles

This is an appeal from a judgment in favor of defendant, County of Los Angeles. Plaintiffs and appellants are land owners and taxpayers owning lands within the limits of Acquisition and Improvement District No. 28 of the County of Los Angeles. This district was created uhder the provisions of the Acquisition and Improvement Act of 1925 (Stats. 1925, p. 849) for the purpose of acquiring certain lands for park purposes to be known as Alondra Park. In the proceedings looking to the acquisition of these lands the board of supervisors, under the authority of section 5 of the statute, divided the property to be assessed into two zones, designated respectively zone A and zone B, and determined that zone A should bear twenty-six per cent of the costs and zone B seventy-four per cent thereof. Appellants’ property lies in zone B and appellants paid the district tax levied upon their property for the fiscal year 1928-29 under protest and in this action seek to recover it back from the county.

Section 5 of the statute authorizes the land within the assessment district to be divided into zones according to benefits and provides that “each zone shall be composed of and include all the lands…