Howard A. Johnson

The case involved relators seeking a writ of supervisory control to compel a district court to vacate its order striking their complaint in intervention from an underlying declaratory judgment action. In that action, a plaintiff challenged the constitutionality of state license fees on oleomargarine sellers under section 2620.45, Revised Codes. The district court had granted the relators leave to intervene ex parte but later struck their complaint on the grounds that their interest was insufficient under section 9088 and was already represented by the defendants. The Supreme Court held that the plaintiff's filing of a demurrer to the complaint in intervention, alongside a motion to strike, waived any objection to the propriety of the intervention itself, as the demurrer treated the pleading as properly before the court and raised only its legal sufficiency. Consequently, the district court lacked jurisdiction to grant the motion to strike, and the court directed issuance of a peremptory writ annulling the order.

procedure

The case involved a challenge to the constitutionality of Montana's State Highway Treasury Anticipation Debenture Act of 1945, which authorized the State Highway Commission to issue up to $12 million in debentures funded by a dedicated five-cent-per-gallon gasoline license tax to support post-war highway construction, match federal grants, and retire prior debentures. The court denied the writ sought by plaintiffs, upholding the Act in full. Core reasoning was that the measure did not violate constitutional debt limits because repayment was limited to the specified tax revenues, historical collections demonstrated sufficiency over the repayment period, the debentures created a clear and enforceable contractual obligation, and no ambiguities or diversions of funds rendered the statute invalid.

taxesbusiness & regulatory

The case involved plaintiffs who purchased land under a 1929 contract and received a 1934 deed that included a 6.25% reservation of oil, gas, and minerals; they sued in 1943 to reform the deed, claiming mutual mistake or their own mistake combined with defendants' fraud, and alternatively to quiet title. The trial court ruled against them on the merits, finding they had not proven their claims, and the Montana Supreme Court affirmed. The court reasoned that the evidence, including a subsequent reduced-price agreement and 1935 documents signed by plaintiffs that expressly referenced the mineral reservation in the recorded deed, showed the reservation was intentional and known or available to plaintiffs, rather than the result of mistake or fraud.

property

The case involved a dispute over whether Montana's Store License Tax Law applied to seven stores operated by Glacier Park Company inside Glacier National Park. The State Board of Equalization sued for a declaratory judgment and $382 in unpaid license fees for 1941-1942, while the company contended the state lacked jurisdiction after ceding exclusive authority over the park area to the United States. The Montana Supreme Court reversed the district court's judgment for the defendant and directed judgment for the state. The court held that the tax applied because the 1911 cession statute explicitly reserved Montana's right to tax persons, corporations, franchises, and property within the park, the park lands remain part of the state, and the tax statute's terms cover all stores in the state without exception for the reserved powers.

taxesbusiness & regulatoryfederal power

The case concerned a dispute between former spouses over two promissory notes and accompanying mortgages on real property in Silver Bow County, Montana, with the plaintiff seeking recovery on the notes and foreclosure of the mortgages after partial payments were made over many years. The defendant denied delivery of the documents, any payments on the notes, and raised defenses including lack of personal jurisdiction, insufficiency of the published summons, and expiration of the statute of limitations under both Montana and California law. The district court entered findings and a foreclosure decree for the plaintiff, and the Montana Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the trial court's determinations were supported by substantial evidence, that jurisdiction was proper, that the summons met statutory requirements, and that payments tolled the limitations period.

propertyprocedurefamily law

The case involved the estate of Fred Giebler, a Montana resident who died intestate in 1941, with a cash residue claimed by his half-brother and half-sister, both German nationals and residents. A 1942 court decree adjudged them the sole heirs entitled to the estate with no appeal taken. The State of Montana later petitioned to claim the estate by escheat under Chapter 104, Laws of 1939, citing lack of reciprocal inheritance rights with Germany, while the Alien Property Custodian intervened to assert federal authority over the heirs' interests under the Trading With The Enemy Act. The trial court ruled for the state, but the Montana Supreme Court reversed, holding that the prior final decree of heirship was conclusive and res judicata, preventing collateral attack on the heirs' rights which vested at the time of death.

propertyfederal powerprocedure

The case concerned the final distribution of the estate of Johanna Nossen, who died in 1935 leaving five heirs who were German residents and citizens. After the U.S. entered World War II, the Alien Property Custodian issued a vesting order under the Trading with the Enemy Act to claim those heirs' shares, but Montana appealed, arguing that a 1939 state law requiring reciprocal inheritance rights for non-resident aliens caused the shares to escheat to the state instead. The court affirmed the decree distributing the property to the Custodian. It held that the 1939 statute could not apply because inheritance rights vest immediately upon the decedent's death under prior law, and applying the new reciprocity requirement retroactively would unconstitutionally deprive heirs of vested property interests without due process.

propertyfederal powerprocedure

The case involved a dispute between Musselshell County and Petroleum County over which county was responsible for paying the hospitalization costs of two indigent non-residents injured in a car accident in Petroleum County and treated in Musselshell County. The court held that under the 1937 statute, the county where the need for medical aid arises bears the responsibility for providing temporary relief to such transients, and that liability does not transfer when the patients are moved to another county for treatment. The judgment against Petroleum County was vacated and the case remanded because there was insufficient evidence regarding the feasibility of returning the patients to their states of legal residence or origin during the hospitalization period.

healthcare

The case concerned a dispute over title to 160 acres of land in Glacier County, Montana, where the county acquired the property via a 1927 tax deed and later contracted to sell it to plaintiff Manley; defendant Florence Samples Hall, an enrolled member of the Blackfeet Tribe, claimed the land remained subject to a federal trust patent issued in 1918 and was therefore exempt from state taxation. The district court quieted title in favor of the plaintiffs after requiring the defendant to deposit back taxes and penalties under section 2214 of the Revised Codes and entering default when she failed to do so. On appeal, the Montana Supreme Court remanded with directions to vacate the deposit order, the default, and the decree, holding that the statutory order was erroneous in light of the defendant's affirmative defenses regarding the validity of the fee patent and tax proceedings, and that the default had therefore been improperly entered. The court further noted that the record was insufficient to sustain the district court's denial of the defendant's motion to vacate on other grounds. The core issues centered on the interplay between federal Indian trust restrictions and state tax-deed procedures.

propertytaxesprocedurefederal power

The case involved a dispute over whether unpaid charges for the maintenance of an irrigation system created liens on a specific lot that could be foreclosed against a subsequent owner. The trial court found that the water rights were appurtenant to the land and that the obligation to pay proportional maintenance costs created a lien on the property. The Montana Supreme Court affirmed the judgment, holding that the conveyance of the water rights as an appurtenance to the lot imposed the maintenance burden on the land, which passed to later owners with notice from the chain of title, allowing enforcement by foreclosure even for prior unpaid amounts.

property

The case involved a dispute over whether a fractional oil and gas royalty interest assigned to the plaintiff constituted a separate fee-simple mineral interest that required separate taxation from the surface estate owned by DeGroat. The county assessor had valued and taxed the entire land, including probable oil production, as a single unit for the years 1927-1940; after nonpayment, the county acquired a tax certificate and sought a tax deed, prompting the plaintiff to obtain an injunction on grounds that the combined assessment was void. The court held that such royalty rights are not fee-simple interests in minerals in place but instead represent a share of production or profit, which is dependent on the underlying fee title and is extinguished by a valid tax deed that creates an independent new title. It further reasoned that Montana statutes generally require assessment of land itself without separate valuation of lesser interests like royalties unless expressly provided, and that the proper remedy for royalty owners is redemption rather than enjoining the deed. The judgment was reversed with directions to dismiss the complaint.

propertytaxes

This case concerns a negligence-based damage action against the City of Butte. The concurring justices agree with the outcome but express doubt about an earlier decision in Koppang v. Sevier that appeared to permit jury instructions on subrogation rights under section 2839. They explain that any such subrogation rights are irrelevant because the sole issue is the correct pecuniary measure of damages caused by the defendant's negligence.

torts & liabilityprocedure

This case arose from an equity suit on a promissory note secured by a mortgage on oil and gas operating rights, where the defendant corporation had already lost its interest in the mortgaged property through prior litigation. The trial court awarded the plaintiff recovery on the note and attorney fees but denied foreclosure of the mortgage, and later denied a stockholder's post-judgment motion to intervene and set aside the judgment. On appeal, the Montana Supreme Court affirmed both rulings. It reasoned that an equity court properly retains jurisdiction to decide all issues, including legal ones like the debt, without a jury trial, and that the stockholder was not a party to the action and failed to show grounds for relief under statute or the court's inherent equitable powers.

procedure

This case involved a relator in a divorce action seeking a writ of prohibition to prevent a district judge from hearing a motion for attorney's fees and costs on appeal after the relator filed an affidavit to disqualify the judge for bias. The divorce proceedings had already involved multiple judge disqualifications under Montana statute, with the respondent judge called in to preside and later settling a bill of exceptions. The court held that the disqualification affidavit was untimely under Sec. 8868, Revised Codes, because the right to disqualify judges for bias is purely statutory, applies to the action as a whole rather than separate motions, and must be exercised within the specified time limits after a judge assumes jurisdiction. The court also noted that the third disqualification attempt exceeded the statutory limits per party. The writ was therefore denied.

family lawprocedure

The case concerned whether a federal government premium or bonus paid to mine operators for exceeding production quotas of lead and zinc should be included in the gross value of minerals when calculating Montana's net proceeds tax on mines. Plaintiffs had paid the tax under protest after including the $35,546.48 bonus in their gross yield from metal sales, but argued that without it no tax was owed because allowable deductions exceeded the sale proceeds. The court affirmed the judgment for the plaintiffs, ruling that the bonus was not part of the gross value or bona fide sale proceeds. The core reasoning was that the tax base is limited to the money received or properly receivable from the sale of the product itself, and the subsidy was a separate collateral incentive from the Metals Reserve Company to encourage increased production, not an addition to the product's market value.

taxesbusiness & regulatory

This case involved a dispute between siblings over ownership of 60 shares of preferred stock in the Montana Power Company and funds in joint bank accounts, with the plaintiff claiming a half interest based on alleged partnership profits, trusts, and agreements with their deceased mother. The trial court ruled in favor of the defendant sister, finding she owned the assets outright. On appeal, the court affirmed the decision, holding that substantial evidence supported the trial court's findings on the conflicting testimony regarding the source of funds and ownership.

propertyfamily law

The case involved the estate of Niels P. Nielsen, a Montana resident who died intestate, with a cash residue to be distributed among his brother in Michigan and two sisters in Denmark. The State of Montana objected to distribution of two-thirds of the residue to the non-resident sisters under Chapter 104, Laws of 1939, seeking to claim it instead. After hearings, the trial court found that Denmark permitted reciprocal inheritance rights for U.S. citizens, that German occupation did not interfere with Denmark's local inheritance laws, and that the sisters remained entitled to their shares, which could be held by the Danish Consul General. The court therefore decreed that the state was not entitled to any portion of the estate by escheat or forfeiture. On appeal, the Montana Supreme Court affirmed, holding that competent evidence supported the findings on Danish law and that the state's claim failed.

property

The case involved a surety company that had issued bonds for the executor and executrix of Margaret M. Sullivan's estate, who were later found indebted to the estate. The surety sought a judicial determination of its claimed equitable assignment of the principals' distributive shares in the estate to cover its costs and attorney's fees exceeding $4,000, without first satisfying any part of the underlying obligations, by filing a petition under probate code sections for determining heirship and interests in estates. The district court sustained demurrers to the complaint and dismissed the action. The Montana Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the complaint failed to state a cause of action because neither the statutory provisions on suretyship nor the indemnity agreement created an equitable assignment of the principals' property interests in the estate, and the surety therefore had no adjudicable interest under the special proceeding statutes.

propertyprocedure

The case involved relator Sam Mercer challenging a contempt of court conviction by a justice of the peace through a writ of review in district court after Mercer was fined for disruptive behavior and refusal to obey orders during a reopened fire investigation proceeding. The district court upheld the conviction, determining that the contempt occurred in the court's presence during a legal session and that the justice had acted within jurisdiction. On appeal, the Montana Supreme Court affirmed the district court's judgment, reasoning that the justice court had authority under the relevant statutes, the contemptuous acts were properly documented as occurring before the court, and objections regarding self-incrimination, docket settings, and commitment procedures were without merit.

criminal lawprocedure

This case concerned whether premises in Great Falls, Montana, operated by the Brotherhood of Taxicab Owners and Drivers and its owners should be abated as a public nuisance due to illegal gambling activities. The trial court found that the defendants had permitted and conducted gambling in violation of state law, despite the corporation's claimed fraternal status, and issued a decree closing the premises for one year, permanently enjoining the gambling operations, and ordering the sale of related equipment. On appeal, the Montana Supreme Court affirmed the judgment, holding that the evidence was sufficient to establish the violations and that the corporation's status could not shield the illegal conduct, as prior proceedings had already established that the Attorney General could pursue abatement without a quo warranto action. The court reasoned that access to the premises was effectively open to the public through nominal membership fees, minors were allowed to participate, and games were run on concessions with rake-offs, all contrary to the anti-gambling statutes. The court directed a minor amendment to the judgment to better describe the equipment to be sold but found no reversible error in the overall ruling.

criminal lawpropertyprocedure