Atlantic Oil Co. v. County of Los Angeles

Good Law

1968 Cal. LEXIS 267·69 Cal. 2d 585·72 Cal. Rptr. 886·446 P.2d 1006·31 Oil & Gas Rep. 440

Supreme Court of CaliforniaNovember 18, 1968L. A. No. 29534; L. A. No. 29535California10,012 words

Opinion

lead Opinion

Traynor, J.

In these consolidated appeals plaintiff taxpayers seek to recover taxes that they claim were based on improper assessments. Both plaintiffs and defendants in L.A. 29534, appeal from a judgment upholding 46 assessments and invalidating three assessments by the County of Los Angeles and the City of Long Beach for the tax year of 1963-64. The State Lands Commission of the State of California appears as amicus curiae in support of two of those plaintiffs. In L.A. 29535, plaintiffs appeal from a separate judgment upholding 37 assessments by the County of Orange for the tax year 1964-65.

The facts are not in dispute. By virtue of various documents, plaintiff oil operators obtained from tax-exempt governmental entities rights to drill for and extract oil, gas, and other hydrocarbons from specified public lands, together with necessary surface occupancy and access rights. The documents grant such rights for specified periods and are variously denominated leases, orders, permits, agreements, and drilling and operating contracts. Each provides that the governmental entity owning the property is to receive a percentage or fraction of production payable in cash or in kind.

Plaintiffs’…

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Parties

ATLANTIC OIL COMPANY, and
Plaintiff
COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES, and HUMBLE OIL & REFINING COMPANY, and v. CITY OF LONG BEACH, and HAMMIL OIL CORPORATION, and v. COUNTY OF ORANGE, and
Defendant

Judges

Traynor

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