holding that state constitution required assessment of property on basis of current market value and ordering statewide reassessment
How later courts described this case
- holding that state constitution required assessment of property on basis of current market value and ordering statewide reassessment
- holding the preparation of a libelous credit report to be inherently undiscoverable
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
Darrell Hickman, Justice, concurring in part, dissenting in part. I agree with the majority in every respect except one: the effective date of the judgment.
The trial judge originally entered his order, as a judge should, without regard to the mechanics of its implementation. Then, upon the urging of some of the parties (and I might add that the most important parties, the taxpayers, individual, corporate or farmer, and recipients of those taxes, were not privy to this arrangement), the court delayed implementation of the judgment over a period of 5 years. That is, beginning in 1981, 15 counties, the lowest in assessment-ratio, will comply first; then 15 counties the next year, and so on until all counties comply.
This means that for 5 years, 15 counties, and the taxpayers in those counties, will enjoy immunity from complying with the law. Conversely, 15 counties, and the taxpayers in those counties, will have to comply 5 years before 15 other counties.
This was done, at the urging of the Public Service Commission, to aid it in implementing a law that has existed for over 100 years. Discrimination and unequal treatment in any form cannot be condoned or facilitated by the courts. (The trial judge said he was entering this modified order against his better judgment.) The legislative and executive branches of government are uniquely equipped and authorized to enact laws and carry them out - the judicial branch of government is not. We, as a court, should not ever consciously cross that line of the limits of our authority. The majority has done so, as did the trial judge, with good intentions; good intentions are often the reason for abuses of power.
It is the duty of the courts to make decisions; the other branches of government implement them. The trial judge was originally correct and should not have succumbed to the temptation to bail out the Public Service Commission from a problem it must solve.
I would modify the trial court's judgment to be effective as originally ordered.