City of Marianna v. Gray

248 S.W.2d 379, 220 Ark. 468, 1952 Ark. LEXIS 731
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedMay 5, 1952
Docket4-9755
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 248 S.W.2d 379 (City of Marianna v. Gray) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
City of Marianna v. Gray, 248 S.W.2d 379, 220 Ark. 468, 1952 Ark. LEXIS 731 (Ark. 1952).

Opinion

Minor W. Millwee, Justice.

Plaintiff is a retail dealer in electrical supplies, fixtures and appliances at 114 West Main Street in Marianna, Arkansas. He brought this suit to enjoin defendants, the City of Marianna and its mayor, from installing any parking meters on the north side of the street in the block in which his business is located until a suitable loading and unloading zone accessible to plaintiff is established in said block. Defendants demurred on the ground that the facts alleged in the complaint were insufficient to state a cause of action.

The chancellor overruled the demurrer. Upon defendants’ refusal to plead further a decree was entered ordering defendants to establish a suitable loading and unloading zone on the north side of the street in said business block and provide a fifteen minute time limit for its use.

In his complaint plaintiff alleged due passage by the city council on February 21, 1951, and subsequent approval by the electorate, of an ordinance authorizing the purchase and installation of parking meters at places in the city designated by defendants; that on December 12, 1949, prior to enactment of said ordinance, the city council passed a resolution approving a restricted parking zone in front of plaintiff’s store and that such resolution was in effect until rescinded by said council on June 5, 1951; and that, after passage of the parking meter ordinance, plaintiff’s petition to establish a loading and unloading zone on the north side of said business block was rejected by the council.

Other material allegations of the complaint are as follows: “Plaintiff states that the size of Ms store is approximately 30' x 11.9' as shown by a plat hereto attached and made a part hereof and marked Exhibit “A”,- that as shown by said plat, plaintiff has no means of ingress and egress to his store except through the front door thereof and that he cannot obtain any other means of ingress and egress. . . .

“. . . that defendants have caused 13 spaces to be marked off for the installation of parking meters on the north side of West Main Street in the block numbered from 106 to 124 West Main Street; that the said 13 spaces as so arbitrarily marked off and designated for the installation of parking meters fails to leave a zone restricted to loading and unloading and completely embraces the front of plaintiff’s store thereby depriving plaintiff of any means of ingress and egress to his store; that by the direction of the defendants work has commenced upon the installation of said parking meters and holes have been drilled into the concrete sidewalk. . . .
“Plaintiff states that the defendants have acted in a discriminatory manner in that defendants have designated certain parking spaces for the exclusive use of the physicians of said city without designating any loading or unloading zones or other free parking spaces for plaintiff and the citizens of the defendant city; that the spaces so marked and designated for the installation of meters are not the same size throughout the areas so designated and that said spaces as marked are excessive in length.
“Plaintiff states that he has no adequate .remedy at law, and that unless the defendants are restrained and enjoined from proceeding with the installation of said meters in accordance with the spaces so marked and designated on the north side of West Main Street in accordance with defendants present plans, plaintiff will suffer irreparable damage and injury to his business and will also suffer special injury in damages for which he has no adequate remedy at law.”

After the transcript was lodged in this court .on appeal, plaintiff filed in the trial court a motion for an order nunc pro tunc to make a plat referred to as Exhibit “A” in the complaint a part of the record. The motion alleged that said exhibit had in some manner become detached from the original complaint and lost or misplaced and that said plat was exhibited before the court at the hearing on the demurrer. The chancellor’s denial of the motion is not against the preponderance of the evidence which is to the effect that said plat was never attached to the pleadings or otherwise made a part of the record.

The only question presented is whether the complaint alleges sufficient facts to show that the action .of the city council in designating locations of parking meters and in revoking the restricted zone in front of plaintiff’s place of business was arbitrary or discriminatory. While every reasonable intendment should he indulged to support a pleading, it is also well settled that a demurrer admits only facts well pleaded and does not admit conclusions of law. Seubold v. Fort Smith Special School District, 218 Ark. 560, 237 S. W. 2d 884. Hence, we have held that allegations of a complaint that assessments by an improvement district are arbitrary, unreasonable, inequitable, or discriminatory are mere statements of conclusions and insufficient to state a cause of action for judicial review of such assessments unless facts are set out which substantiate such conclusions. Moore v. No. College Avenue Imp. Dist. No. 1, 161 Ark. 323, 256 S. W. 70; Henderson v. Rd. Imp. Dist. No. 1 of Hot Spring County, 171 Ark. 8, 283 S. W. 39.

Our statutes (Ark. Stats., §§ 19-2313, 19-2401 and 19-3801) confer on municipalities the power and duty to make reasonable provision for the safety of persons and property using the streets, and the city council or other municipal authority has a wide discretion in such matters. City of Fort Smith v. Van Zandt, 197 Ark. 91, 122 S. W. 2d 187. In the Van Zandt case a tourist court owner near the center of a block sought to enjoin the city from constructing a dividing curb along the center of a boulevard in front of his place of business. The owner demanded that an opening he left opposite his property so that north hound traffic could turn left in the center of the block and enter his property without the necessity of driving to the next intersection and returning. In ordering dismissal of the cause the court said: “We cannot agree that the resolution adopted is either arbitrary, unreasonable or discriminatory. It may be true that appellee’s property will be adversely affected, but no more so than any other property similarly situated. On the contrary, it appears to be reasonably necessary for the safety of persons and property and for the proper control or handling of traffic. . . . We, therefore, hold that, under the rules stated in the cases above cited, it cannot be said that said resolution is manifestly unreasonable or that it so interferes with appellee’s business or property as to be oppressive. He cannot be more harmed than any other property owner who owns property in the middle of the block. To sustain appellee’s contention would be virtually to give him the benefits and advantages of a corner lot which he does not own. Also, to sustain him would be either to discriminate against others similarly situated or to give them cross-overs in the middle of the other blocks, which latter would be to destroy the very purpose of the center curb.”

In the case of State ex rel. Latta v. Marianna, 183 Ark. 927, 39 S. W. 2d 301, the court said: “Such are the varied uses and conflicting interests of city life that,' as is said in Ex parte Foote, 70 Ark. 12, 65 S. W.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
248 S.W.2d 379, 220 Ark. 468, 1952 Ark. LEXIS 731, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-marianna-v-gray-ark-1952.