City of West University Place v. Martin

113 S.W.2d 295, 1938 Tex. App. LEXIS 807
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 3, 1938
DocketNo. 10720.
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 113 S.W.2d 295 (City of West University Place v. Martin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
City of West University Place v. Martin, 113 S.W.2d 295, 1938 Tex. App. LEXIS 807 (Tex. Ct. App. 1938).

Opinion

GRAVES, Justice.

The appellees — one of them the owner of a building lot located within what had been designated by the city’s zoning ordinance as its “Seventh single-family dwelling-district,” the other being his contractor for the erection of a building on that lot under agreed-upon plans between them —sought in this suit against the appellant, the city of West University Place, along with the members of its governing body, the issuance of a writ of mandamus compelling it to issue them a building permit for the erection of a frame or wooden building upon the lot as they had planned, and that during the construction thereof the city be temporarily restrained from in any way interfering therewith; they alleged they had complied in all respects with the city’s requirements, but that the latter had refused them the coveted permit for the assigned reason that their stated plans and specifications did not conform to the city’s zoning ordinance of June 11 of 1937, and' particularly with sections 21 and 2 thereof, reading as follows:

Section 21: “The main building in the seventh single-family dwelling-district shall be constructed of brick, brick veneer, or stucco within the definitions of that term hereinabove given.”

Section 2: “Brick, Brick Veneer, or Stucco: By this term is meant a building, of which 51% or more of the exterior surfaces are constructed of brick veneer, solid brick, hollow tile, stone, concrete, marble, glass, or a combination of any of these materials.”

Their prayer for such relief was as follows :

“Wherefore, plaintiffs pray that the said defendant be cited to appear and answer this petition and that upon hearing of this cause they have judgment for the issuance of a writ of mandamus and a mandatory injunction compelling and requiring the City Council of the City of West University Place to issue a building permit, permitting the erection and construction of a house according to the plans and specifications agreed upon by plaintiffs and that during the erection and construction of said house that the defendants be enjoined and restrained from harassing and molesting plaintiffs, from causing an arrest or prosecution for violation of said ordinance, and from in any manner interfering with the erection and construction of said building. That plaintiffs recover all costs in this behalf expended and that they have judgment for such other and further relief, either in law or in equity, as they may prove themselves justly entitled to.”

The appellant city filed answering pleadings, admitting the refusal of the building permit in the manner and for the reason so charged, and contesting the granting of any of the prayed-for relief to the appellees, on the main ground that its refusal of the permit had been in full compliance with the authority vested in it under the challenged zoning ordinance, which measure, in turn, was a valid exercise by the city of the powers and privileges it enjoyed under the state zoning statutes, known as Vernon’s Ann.Civ.St. arts. lOlla-lOllh, inclusive, as well as under the like fire-prevention statutes, known as Vernon’s Ann.Civ.St. arts. 1067-1070a, inclusive.

The learned trial court, after a full hearing of the controversy, at which all the parties participated in person and by their attorneys, and upon the basis of an agreed statement of facts in writing so presented to it by them as embodying what they deemed the material matters of evidence involved, entered in the form of an interlocutory order, in substance, this judgment:

“It is, therefore, ordered, adjudged and decreed by the court that a writ of Mandamus and a Temporary Mandatory Injunction be issued by the cle'rk of this court directed to Harvey Fleming, R. B. Allen, and Frank M. Mainous, as the Mayor and City Council of the City of West University Place, commanding them to issue a building-permit for the erection and construction of a building according to plaintiffs’ plans and specifications.
“It is further ordered, adjudged and decreed by the court that the defendant, City of West University Place, and Harvey Fleming, its Mayor, and R. B. Allen and Frank M. Mainous, as City Commissioners, be and are hereby temporarily enjoined and restrained from harassing and molesting plaintiffs, from causing the arrest or prosecution of plaintiffs, and from in any manner interfering with the erection and construction of said building.”

This appeal comes here on a challenge of that action by the city, upon which it *297 reiterates its positions taken below, and insists that it was well within its powers and privileges in so declining to issue the appellees the requested permit, under the power the city had then acquired both from the state zoning and the fire-prevention statutes cited supra.

As indicated, the facts so agreed upon at the hearing, which same written statement thereof has been brought up as the statement of facts upon this appeal, were full and complete; they showed thaf the appellees had met all requirements of the declared-upon zoning ordinance in their application for the building permit, except the one requirement thereof that the main building of any construction in that “seventh single-family dwelling-district” of the city should be constructed of brick, brick veneer, or stucco, wherefore the sole question presented is one of law.

That a writ of mandamus to compel the issuance of a building permit—aided by an ancillary one of temporary injunction to secure its enforcement and prevent the frustration of the right upon which it rests —is a proper, if not to say an adequate, remedy in a cause of this sort, is well settled by our authorities. 24 Tex.Jur., Injunctions, par. 82, and footnote cited cases at page 118; 28 Tex.Jur., Mandamus, par. 23, and footnote cited authorities at page 554; also same volume and title, par. 4, page 518, and footnote cited cases on pages 519 and 520; City of Dallas v. McElroy, Tex.Civ.App., 254 S.W. 599, writ dismissed; City of Dallas v. Burns, Tex.Civ.App., 250 S.W. 717, writ refused; McLaughlin v. Smith, Tex.Civ.App., 140 S.W. 248, writ refused; Old River Irr. Co. v. Stubbs, 63 Tex.Civ.App. 350, 133 S.W. 494, writ refused.

Neither, in the recited circumstances here existing—that is, the hearing looking to the issuance of the writ having been to all intents and purposes a final one, with all the material facts necessary to a determination of whether or not it should be.issued being before the court in an agreed statement thereof in writing of both parties —was it any objection that the application therefor had been an interlocutory one; this precise question in a very similar case that has already been cited, City of Dallas v. McElroy, was so determined by the Dallas Court of Civil Appeals with the approval of the Supreme Court in its refusal of a writ of error; see 254 S.W. 599, at pages 601 and 602; indeed, upon that point it is thought the contributing facts in the McElroy Case were in effect on all-fours with those obtaining here, hence no contention upon this appeal can be properly made that this challenged judgment was entered at a hearing called for an interlocutory purpose only.

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Related

City of Greenville v. Cabell's, Inc.
207 S.W.2d 898 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1947)
City of West University Place v. Martin
123 S.W.2d 638 (Texas Supreme Court, 1939)

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Bluebook (online)
113 S.W.2d 295, 1938 Tex. App. LEXIS 807, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-west-university-place-v-martin-texapp-1938.