Serra Retreat v. County of Los Angeles

Plaintiff brought this action to recover certain taxes paid under protest for the tax year 1946-1947. The question to be determined is the tax status of that portion of plaintiff’s building, a retreat house, used as living quarters for four priests and six lay-brothers who attend to the spiritual and temporal needs of laymen making the retreats. Plaintiff relies on the welfare tax exemption extended to “property used exclusively for religious ... or charitable purposes.” (Cal. Const., art. XIII, § 1c; Rev. & Tax. Code, § 214.) The trial court sustained the exemption, claim and overruled…