Connecticut General Life Insurance v. Johnson

This cause is styled a consolidated action by plaintiff, a life insurance corporation, organized under the laws of the state of Connecticut, to recover from the state of California, through the treasurer thereof, certain sums alleged to be overpayments of taxes, made involuntarily under article XIII, section 14 (b) of the California Constitution, which states the rate base for the calculation of such taxes to be the total gross premiums received by the corporation during the period involved from insurance business done in this state. Defendant’s demurrer to the complaint in each case was sustained without leave to amend and judgment passed for him. Plaintiff appealed.

The controversy arises over the propriety of the state’s action in including within the tax base certain payments made without the state by original insurers to plaintiff at its home office, for reinsurance respecting risks assumed and policies issued and delivered in California. The case brings to the foreground the proper interpretation of the above-mentioned section of the Constitution, which, so far as here material, reads:

Appellant states the question involved as follows: “Is the money paid to plaintiff in…