Caldwell Parish Police Jury v. Columbia

930 So. 2d 65, 2006 La. App. LEXIS 1146, 2006 WL 633668
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 17, 2006
Docket40,865-CA
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 930 So. 2d 65 (Caldwell Parish Police Jury v. Columbia) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Caldwell Parish Police Jury v. Columbia, 930 So. 2d 65, 2006 La. App. LEXIS 1146, 2006 WL 633668 (La. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

930 So.2d 65 (2006)

CALDWELL PARISH POLICE JURY, Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
TOWN OF COLUMBIA, et al., Defendants-Appellants.

No. 40,865-CA.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit.

March 15, 2006.
Opinion Granting Rehearing May 17, 2006.

*66 Mixon & Carroll by James E. Mixon, Columbia, for Appellant Town of Columbia.

Iley H. Evans, Columbia, for Appellee Caldwell Parish Police Jury.

Before STEWART, GASKINS and CARAWAY, JJ.

STEWART, J.

Appellant, the Town of Columbia, appeals the trial court's judgment denying its exceptions of no right of action and prescription and nullifying an annexation ordinance adopted by its Board of Aldermen. For the following reasons, the judgment of the trial court is hereby affirmed.

FACTS

On or about February 27, 2003, the Town of Columbia ("Columbia") received a petition for annexation from Vernel and Alice R. Riser proposing the annexation of certain property owned by them into the town's corporate limits. The property which the Risers proposed be annexed was south of the town and not contiguous to its existing boundaries. Accordingly, the Risers' petition proposed that U.S. Highway 165 and La. Highway 849 be used as a corridor to accomplish the annexation.

By correspondence from Columbia's counsel dated February 27, 2003, the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development ("DOTD") was advised of the proposed annexation and Columbia's intent to use U.S. Highway 165 and La. Highway 849 as a corridor to connect the property being annexed to the existing town. By letter dated March 17, 2003, DOTD informed counsel for Columbia that it had no objection to the proposed annexation.

An ordinance providing for the annexation was introduced and seconded at the June 19, 2003, regular session of Columbia's town council and a public hearing thereon was scheduled for July 8, 2003. The minutes of the council meeting were then published in the Caldwell Watchman, a weekly newspaper published in Caldwell Parish, on July 9, 2003. The hearing on the proposed ordinance was subsequently *67 deferred to the council's regular meeting scheduled for August 12, 2003, and a notice of same was published in the local paper on July 30, 2003. The ordinance was subsequently adopted by the council on September 23, 2003. The ordinance adopted and published in the local paper on October 1, 2003 reads verbatim:

BE IT ORDAINED by the council of the Town of Columbia, that the Town of Columbia introduces to annex property beginning at the point where the West right-of-way of U.S. Highway 165 intersects the most southern boundary of the Town of Columbia, thence in Southwesterly direction along the West right-of-way Of U.S. Highway 165 to a point opposite its intersection with the South right-of-way Line of Louisiana Highway No. 849; thence Southeasterly along the South right-of-way line Louisiana Highway 849 to the intersection of the South right-Of-way Line of Louisiana Highway 849 and the East line of the NW/4 of SW/4 of Section 29, T13N, R4E; thence North along the East line of the NW/4 of SW/4 of Section 29, T13N, R4E to a point 60.7 feet South of the NE/corner of NW/4 of SW/4 of Section 29; thence North along the East line of the NW/4 of SW/4 of Section 29; thence East along the SE/4 of NW/4 a distance of 31.55 feet; thence North 213.11 feet; Thence East 382.31 feet to the North right-of-way of Louisiana Highway 849; Thence along the North right-of-way of Louisiana Highway 849; Thence along the North right-of-way of Louisiana Highway 849 in a Northwesterly Direction to the intersection of the North right-of-way line of Louisiana Highway No. 849 with the East right-of-way line of U.S. Highway No. 165; thence Northeasterly along the East right-of-way line of U.S. Highway No. 165 to its intersection with the southern boundary of the Town of Columbia; thence along the southern boundary of the Town of Columbia in a westerly direction to the Point of Beginning property.

On December 23, 2003, the Caldwell Parish Police Jury ("CPPJ") filed a petition naming as defendants the Town of Columbia, Jim Sherman (Columbia's mayor), and the following members of Columbia's Board of Aldermen: Ken Brockner, Bruce Frazier, Melvin Robinson, Charlie Simons and Darron McGuffee. In the petition, CPPJ objected to the annexation ordinance on the basis that Columbia adopted it without complying with the requirements of La. R.S. 33:180. As a result, the petition requested that the ordinance be declared null and void. On January 8, 2004, the CPPJ filed an amended petition to add the following allegations in support of their request to annul the ordinance: (1) Neither the U.S. Department of Justice nor DOTD petitioned Columbia for or consented to annexation of U.S. Highway 165 and La. State Highway 489; and, (2) La. R.S. 33:180 does not allow for the annexation of a public right-of-way to serve as a corridor connecting the municipality to privately owned non-contiguous property which the municipality seeks to annex.

The defendants filed an answer along with exceptions of no cause of action, no right of action and prescription. They alleged that the CPPJ had no cause of action against the mayor and the members of the board of aldermen as individuals, that the CPPJ had no right of action to contest the ordinance, and that the time within which a contest to the ordinance must be filed had already passed at the time the CPPJ's original petition was filed.

The merits and the exceptions came for hearing on July 13, 2005. At the hearing, the parties stipulated that the exception of no cause of action as to the mayor and the *68 members of the board of aldermen should be granted. After hearing arguments on the remaining issues, the trial court took the matter under advisement. On July 21, 2005, the trial court issued written reasons for judgment finding that the CPPJ did have a right of action to object to the ordinance and that because the objection raised by the CPPJ is to the absolute nullity of the ordinance, the action is not subject to liberative prescription. Accordingly, the remaining exceptions of no right of action and prescription were denied.

The trial court's reasons also reflect its ruling that La. R.S. 33:180 is a special annexation statute which can only be used for the annexation of public lands and thus, the annexation of the corridor to accommodate the annexation of private lands was ultra vires. The trial court also found that the ultimate ordinance adopted by Columbia annexed property different from that described in the original petition filed by the Risers. Accordingly, the trial court found that Columbia failed to comply with the statutory requirements for annexation and, therefore, the annexation ordinance was void. A judgment declaring the ordinance null and void ab initio was signed on August 16, 2005. The instant appeal followed.

DISCUSSION

Columbia assigns error to the trial court's denial of its exceptions of prescription and no right of action, to its finding that La. R.S. 33:180 does not provide for the annexation of public rights of way to serve as corridors for the annexation of non-contiguous private property, and to its finding that the annexation ordinance was null ab initio. We will begin by addressing the merits of the exceptions, since their disposition governs the necessity to address the merits of the action itself.

Prescription

Columbia alleges that under La. R.S.

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Bluebook (online)
930 So. 2d 65, 2006 La. App. LEXIS 1146, 2006 WL 633668, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/caldwell-parish-police-jury-v-columbia-lactapp-2006.