Connolly v. City & County of San Francisco

33 P. 1109, 4 Cal. Unrep. 134, 1893 Cal. LEXIS 1093
CourtCalifornia Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 22, 1893
DocketNo. 14,397
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 33 P. 1109 (Connolly v. City & County of San Francisco) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Connolly v. City & County of San Francisco, 33 P. 1109, 4 Cal. Unrep. 134, 1893 Cal. LEXIS 1093 (Cal. 1893).

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

On the eighth day of May, 1867, the plaintiff entered into a written contract with George Cofran, superintendent of streets of the city and county of San Francisco, to grade Market street, in that city, from Valencia street to Castro or Seventeenth street. Under the contract the work was to be commenced within thirty days and completed within three hundred and sixty-five days after its date, and the superintendent, ‘ ‘ acting in his official capacity, ’ ’ agreed that on its completion “he will duly make and issue an assessment, and attach a warrant thereto, as provided for in the aforesaid acts (the consolidation act and its amendments), for the expenses of the work, ” at a price named per cubic yard. The terms of the contract were further stated as follows: “And it is agreed and expressly understood by the parties to this agreement that in no case, except where it is otherwise provided in the acts aforementioned and referred to, will the said city and county of San Francisco be liable for any portion of the expense of the work aforesaid, nor for any de[136]*136linquency of the persons or property assessed.” The plaintiff commenced work and expended a considerable sum of money pursuant to the terms of his contract, but, before the time for its completion had arrived, he discovered that a portion of the line of the street to be graded was the private property of individuals, who refused to recognize the validity of his contract, or to be bound thereby; and thereupon he petitioned the board of supervisors to take such action as would save him harmless. Five extensions of the time to complete the contract were thereafter granted, aggregating 1,065 days, and extending down to April 18, 1871, but he did not in fact complete the work until November, 1871, about seven months after the expiration of the time extended, and after the contract had become extinguished by his failure. On April 2, 1870, an act was passed by the legislature entitled “An act to authorize the board of supervisors of the city and county of San Francisco to open and grade Market street, in said city, from the intersection of said street with Valencia street to its intersection with Seventeenth street, and to condemn private property for the roadway of said street”: Stats. 1869-70, p. 626. By this act the board was “authorized and required to cause Market street, .... from its intersection with Valencia street to its intersection with Seventeenth stfeet, to be opened and graded; .... and wherever the line of said Market street, as now projected upon the official map of said city, between said points of intersection, crosses or passes over land the private property of any person, and which has not heretofore been dedicated to the public as a part of said street, and any portion of such land is necessary to be included within the limits of such street, it shall be the duty of said board of supervisors to proceed as herein directed for the condemnation of said land so included within the limits of such street.” The act provides that the board shall, within twenty days after its passage, cause a petition to be filed in the county court of the city, describing the property necessary to be condemned, and stating the names of the owners. Notice to such owners and a hearing are then provided for, and if, upon such hearing, the court is satisfied that the lands are necessary or proper for the opening of said street, it is to appoint commissioners to ascertain and assess the compensation to be paid for the land condemned, such [137]*137payment to be made out of the first moneys received under the special assessment provided for by the act; and that, immediately upon the filing of the petition for condemnation, the city and county, “shall and may, by its agents, employees, or contractors, enter into and upon” the land, “and proceed to grade and open the same as a public street, as fully, to all intents and purposes, as they might, or could do after the confirmation of said commissioners’ report, and the actual payment of the compensation therein provided for”; and that “it shall be the duty of the board, .... within thirty days after the passage of this - act, to cause notice of the proposed work to be published, .... inviting sealed proposals for the work of grading Market street, .... and the duty of the superintendent of public streets and highways .... to enter into a contract with the person to whom the contract shall have been awarded.” The act defines the district deemed to be benefited by the work, and makes it the duty of the board of supervisors, after the completion of the work, to appoint commissioners to assess such benefits, and also makes it the duty of the said commissioners to determine the value of the work done upon Market street by the plaintiff under the contract of May 8, 1867, and to add thereto the expenses incurred by plaintiff in building railroad tracks, cars, and other appliances that he may have deemed necessary in the performance of his work, and to allow him interest on the whole amount found due at the rate of one and one-half per cent per month from the eighth day of May, 1868, until the filing of the report of the commissioners. The said commissioners were also required to “assess the actual amount due for the work of opening and grading authorized and directed to he done,” together with the amounts awarded as compensation for land appropriated and the costs of the proceedings upon the several lots benefited within the district defined, in proportion to the benefit deemed to have accrued to .each lot. The act also, in section 22, provides that the tax collector shall, at the end of every ten days after the receipt by him of said assessment-roll, “pay over to the treasurer of said city and county the amount of money collected by him within the preceding ten days upon said assessment; and, as soon as a sufficient sum has been received by said treasurer, he shall pay to the said Connolly the amount of money which may be [138]*138awarded to him by the commissioners’ report as aforesaid”; and, after paying the other charges as provided for, the said treasurer shall pay over to the superintendent of streets the residue, “and the said superintendent shall immediately pay the same in like gold coin to the person or persons entitled to receive the same, as hereinbefore directed, until the full amount due for said work, as per contract hereinbefore authorized, is paid and discharged.”

In November, 1870, proposals for the work to be done under ■this act of the legislature were advertised for, and upon a bid of plaintiff therefor the contract was awarded to him; and on November 22, 1870, a contract was entered into between plaintiff and M. C. Smith, superintendent of streets.

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Bluebook (online)
33 P. 1109, 4 Cal. Unrep. 134, 1893 Cal. LEXIS 1093, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/connolly-v-city-county-of-san-francisco-cal-1893.