United States Borax & Chemical Corp. V. Mitchell

Plaintiff United States Borax and Chemical Corporation (Borax) instituted the present action in August 1975 against Kern County and the Kern County Board of Supervisors seeking to obtain a refund of taxes paid under protest. The taxes at issue were levied after the board of supervisors approved an increase in the valuation of certain mineral interests above the valuation of such interests initially set forth on the county's 1974-1975 assessment roll. Although the board of supervisors authorized the increase as a "correction" of a clerical error under former section 4831, subdivision (a) of the Revenue and Taxation Code, Borax contended in its refund action that the alteration was not so authorized. The superior court ruled in Borax's favor, and the county defendants now appeal from the judgment.