City Mcallen v. Ev. Lutheran Good Samaritan Society

The Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society brought this suit to enjoin the City of McAllen and the McAllen Independent School District from levying and collecting ad valorem taxes on an intermediate nursing home owned and operated by the Society in McAllen. The trial court issued the injunction prayed for upon concluding that the Societys operation of the facility met the requisites of a purely public charity and therefore was exempt from taxation under the terms of Article 8, Section 2 of the Texas Constitution and Article 7150, Section 7 of Vernons Texas Civil Statutes. The court of civil appeals affirmed, holding that profits realized were used for permissible purposes, that no one was denied admission to nor discharged from the nursing home because of inability to pay, and that the Society assumed a burden that would otherwise be an obligation of the community or the state. 518 S.W.2d 557. We affirm the judgments of the courts below.