Louisville & Nashville Railroad v. Public Service Commission of Tennessee

WILLIAM E. MILLER, Chief Judge.

This action presents the question whether a federal court may intervene to grant injunctive relief to a taxpayer whose property, in violation of state law, has been substantially over-assessed in relation to other taxpayers in the state. Since tax laws are ancient and unrelenting, they have spawned much litigation, and the Court is not without some guidelines in the decision of the present controversy.

Jurisdiction is invoked on the grounds of (1) federal question jurisdiction (commerce clause and Fourteenth Amendment), and (2) diversity jurisdiction. The first…