Brown v. City of Salem

444 P.2d 936, 251 Or. 150, 1968 Ore. LEXIS 436
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 5, 1968
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 444 P.2d 936 (Brown v. City of Salem) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brown v. City of Salem, 444 P.2d 936, 251 Or. 150, 1968 Ore. LEXIS 436 (Or. 1968).

Opinion

RODMAN, J.

(Pro Tempore).

This is an appeal from a decree which declared void assessments for street improvements made by the defendant City of Salem against the real property of the plaintiff and which enjoined collection of the assessments. The improvement consisted of the paving and curbing of a portion of Pigeon Hollow Road and the installation of a sidewalk along the west side of the road. The plaintiff is the owner of all of the property on the east side of the improved portion of Pigeon Hollow Road and owns one lot fronting on the west side of the improved road.

The plaintiff contends that the assessments against her property are void because the city failed to give her notice of its intention to undertake the improvement and failed to provide a hearing on the amount of the assessments. She concedes that the city followed all the procedural requirements of its charter for undertaking a street improvement and the assessment of the benefited property. She argues (1) that under the *152 circumstances of this case the character of the notice given her of the intention to undertake the improvement violated due process of law under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and (2) that the assessment procedure employed by the city violated QR-S 223.389.

The plaintiff’s property constitutes 52 per cent of the property fronting upon the portion of the road to be improved. Section 26 of the charter of the city of Salem provides that notice of intention to make a street improvement shall be given by publication once a week for two successive weeks in a daily newspaper published in the city. Section 28 of the charter provides that if the owners of a majority of the superficial área of the property liable to assessment shall file a written remonstrance against the project within 10 days after the finál publication of the notice of the intention to make the improvement, the improvement shall be defeated. Salem’s Ordinance 28.34 requires that if sidewalks are to be installed notice must be posted on the affected property at least five days before the hearing on the improvement.

On May 9, 1966, the common council of the city of Salem declared its intention to make the Pigeon Hollow Road improvement and directed that notice be published in a Salem daily newspaper. Notice was published and no remonstrance was filed. Notice of the intention to improve was also posted on each of the five lots which were subject to assessment for the improvement.

We will assume that the plaintiff did not see the posted or published notices of the declaration of intention to improve by the city council and that she had no actual knowledge of that action until after the deadline for filing remonstrances had passed.;

*153 The plaintiff does not challenge the constitutionality of the charter provisions of the defendant city which provide for notice of intention to improve by newspaper publication. This court has approved of such notice by publication. Haner v. Eugene, 95 Or 596, 187 P 841, 188 P 711 (1920).

Bather, she contends that when the city has the name and address of a property owner affected by a street improvement, due process requires that notice be given by mail. The plaintiff is a Salem resident. The city at all times had her name and address and knew she owned property liable to assessment for the improvement.

The plaintiff relies upon a line of cases which hold that due process of law requires notice by mail of proceedings which will affect one’s rights when that person’s name and address are known or are easily ascertainable.

In Mullane v. Central Hanover Tr. Co., 339 US 306, 70 S Ct 652, 94 L ed 865 (1950), notice of the judicial settlement of an accounting had been made by publication by the trustee of a common trust fund. The Court adopted a standard of notice which is reasonably calculated to inform as the test to determine if due process has been satisfied. The Court held that due process required mailed notice to beneficiaries of the trust fund whose names and addresses were known.

The Mullane rule was applied to notice of the hearing to fix damages in condemnation proceedings in Walker v. Hutchinson City, 352 US 112, 77 S Ct 200, 1 L ed 2d 178 (1956). As permitted by statute the defendant city gave notice of the hearing to determine damages for the taking of plaintiff’s land by one publication in the city’s official newspaper. The plaintiff did not see the published notice and was unaware of *154 the condemnation action against his property until the appeal period had passed. Walker’s name was known to the city and appeared in official records. The court held that since there was no compelling reason why more direct notice could not have been given, published notice of the hearing to fix compensation violated the Due Process Clause.

Posted and published notice of the appointment of commissioners to determine damages in a condemnation action by the city of New York was held to be violative of due process when the landowners’ name and address were readily ascertainable from deed records and tax rolls. Schroeder v. City of New York, 371 US 208, 83 S Ct 279, 9 L ed 2d 255, 89 ALR2d 1398 (1962).

The Mullane rule has been applied to cases involving notice of hearings to determine assessments for municipal improvements. Wisconsin Electric Power Co. v. Milwaukee, 272 Wis 575, 76 NW2d 341 (1956), cert. granted, 352 US 948, 77 S Ct 324, 1 L ed 2d 241 (1956), 275 Wis 121, 81 NW2d 298 (1957); City of Houston v. Fore, 412 SW2d 35 (1967).

None of the above cases is authority for the plaintiff’s contention that due process of law entitles her to notice by mail of the defendant city’s intention to undertake the improvement of Pigeon Hollow Road. The Mullane case dealt with the notice that must be given of judicial proceedings between private parties. Walker and Schroeder dealt with the notice that must be given by a city before damages can be assessed in condemnation proceedings. The Wisconsin Electric Power Company case and the City of Houston v. Fore case likewise dealt with the notice that must be given by a city before assessments may be made for public improvements.

*155 In her brief the plaintiff does not distinguish between the notice requirements for initiating a public improvement project and for fixing the subsequent assessments against benefited property owners. Due process does not require that a city give affected property owners notice of its intention to launch a public improvement. Utley v. St. Petersburg, 292 US 106, 54 S Ct 593, 78 L ed 1155 (1934); Chicago, etc. R.R. v. Risty, 276 US 567, 48 S Ct 396, 72 L ed 703 (1928).

“* * * There is no constitutional privilege to be heard in opposition at the launching of a project which may end in an assessment.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Hayes Oyster Co. v. DEQ
504 P.3d 15 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2021)
Mt. Sexton Properties, Inc. v. Department of Revenue
760 P.2d 1320 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1988)
State Ex Rel. Haman v. Fox
594 P.2d 1093 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1979)
City of La Grande v. Public Employes Retirement Board
576 P.2d 1204 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1978)
Dodson v. City of Ulysses
549 P.2d 430 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1976)
Patterson v. City of Bismarck
212 N.W.2d 374 (North Dakota Supreme Court, 1973)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
444 P.2d 936, 251 Or. 150, 1968 Ore. LEXIS 436, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brown-v-city-of-salem-or-1968.