Craig, Etc. v. School City of Gary, Etc.

211 N.E.2d 616, 138 Ind. App. 261, 1965 Ind. App. LEXIS 525
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 24, 1965
Docket20,405
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 211 N.E.2d 616 (Craig, Etc. v. School City of Gary, Etc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Craig, Etc. v. School City of Gary, Etc., 211 N.E.2d 616, 138 Ind. App. 261, 1965 Ind. App. LEXIS 525 (Ind. Ct. App. 1965).

Opinions

Smith, P. J.

This was an action instituted by the appellant, Robert I. Craig, Jr., a taxpayer of the City of Gary, Indiana, against the appellee, School City of Gary, Indiana, a municipal corporation, to restrain the appellee from proceeding in furtherance of a proposed school bond issue and seeking judgment declaring all proceedings had before the filing of this cause of action to be null and void.

The appellee filed a demurrer to the appellant’s complaint which was sustained by the trial court. Upon the appellant’s refusal to plead over judgment was entered for the appellee. From this judgment the appellant has appealed assigning as error the sustaining of the demurrer.

In resolving this question we must examine the complaint to determine whether the complaint on its face sets forth a proper cause of action for equitable relief.

It is the contention of the appellee that the trial court properly sustained the demurrer because the appellant had no legal capacity to sue. The appellee maintains, as shown by the memorandum to the demurrer, that since the suit was in equity, it was therefore incumbent upon the [263]*263appellant to exhaust all legal remedies; and, since there is a precise statutory remedy for contesting a bond issue which the appellant failed to follow, he has no legal capacity to institute action seeking equitable relief.

There are few better settled rules in the common law than that which requires a litigant to exhaust all leg-al remedies available, or in the alternate to demonstrate that such legal remedies are inadequate, before he can be heard to complain in a suit in equity.

Burns Ind. Stat. § 64-1915 provides the statutory procedure by which objections to a bond issue may be raised. The legal remedy is that of remonstrance.

“Ten (10) or more taxpayers in such municipal corporation, other than those who pay poll-tax only, and who will be affected by the proposed issuance of such bonds or other evidences of indebtedness and who may be of the opinion that such bonds or other evidences of indebtedness should not be issued, or that the proposed issue is excessive for the proposed purposes thereof, may file a petition in the office of the county auditor of the county in which such municipal corporation is located, within (15) days after notice as aforesaid shall have been given that the issuance of such bonds or other evidences of indebtedness shall have been determined upon by such municipal corporation, setting forth their objection thereto and facts showing that the proposed issue is unnecessary, unwise or excessive, as the case may be.”

The appellant has failed to allege any attempt to comply with the above quoted legal remedy as provided by legislative enactment. Instead the appellant maintains that he was excused from joining in a remonstrance by virtue of the fact that in his complaint he has alleged facts which render the statutory remonstrance procedure inadequate.

As a result of these “facts” the appellant contends that he does have the legal capacity to sue and therefore the trial court was erroneous in sustaining appellee’s demurrer.

The allegation of “facts” that the appellant relies upon in his complaint are, that the bond issue exceeded two per cent [264]*264of the assessed value of the taxable property; that the signatures on the petition were improperly obtained and not in conformity with the law; that the petition was not properly filed; that the School Board of the School City of Gary intended to misapply the proceeds of the sale of the bonds; and finally that said School Board failed to show a need for issuance of said bond issue.

In support of his position the appellant has erroneously relied on four Indiana cases: City of Bluffton, et al. v. Miller (1904), 33 Ind. App. 521, 70 N. E. 989; Noble, et al. v. Davison (1911), 177 Ind. 19, 96 N. E. 325; Hamer v. City of Huntington et al., etc. (1939), 215 Ind. 594, 21 N. E. (2d) 407; Miller, et al. v. City of Evansville (1963), 244 Ind. 1, 189 N. E. (2d) 823.

In each of these cases an injunction was granted against a municipal corporation to restrain the public officials of the corporation from doing some act. However, the distinguishing characteristic was that in each of these cases there was in existence a completed, consummated, void transaction the facts of which were described in each case in the complaint in exact detail. In the matter before us we have only a partially completed statutory procedure which will give rise to a possible contract, and which statutory procedure provides a method for taxpayers to object by way of a remonstrance.

The School City of Gary had proceeded with the necessary steps to authorize the issuance and sale of bonds for the construction of a school building. No agreement for the sale of bonds has been made. There was no remonstrance. Then some four days before the proposed sale of the bonds the appellant first made objection to the bond issue by filing this cause of action. Instead of an illegal contract as existed in the cases cited by the appellant, we have here only the general allegations of illegality made by one taxpayer in the City of Gary.

[265]*265[264]*264The requirements in a complaint to enjoin a municipal corporation are exacting and stringent. In Stutesman v. [265]*265Sigerfoos, Trustee (1924), 82 Ind. App. 600, 145 N. E. 507, this Court held that a mere allegation of noncompliance with a statute is insufficient in a complaint seeking injunction relief. It was further held that the complaint must negate all right and authority to proceed under any other statute. In Flora, Trustee v. Brown (1923), 79 Ind. App. 454, 138 N. E. 767, it was held that the presumption is that public officials are doing their duty, keeping within the law, and the party who challenges the act or acts of a public official must show that the official is not clothed with legal authority to perform the act in question. In Volume 43 Corpus Juris Secundum, § 182, p. 854, the rule is thus stated:

“The material and essential facts relied on for relief by injunction must be stated with sufficient certainty to negative every reasonable inference arising on the facts stated, from which it might be deduced that the applicant might not, under other supposable facts connected with the subject matter, be entitled to the relief sought. This rule applies particularly where public officers in discharge of official duties are sought to be restrained.”

and on page 858 of said citation:

“The bill or complaint should unequivocally disclose facts and circumstances showing that defendant has no right to perform the act or pursue the course of action of which plaintiff complains. ... In a suit to restrain the performance of an official act by a public officer, the bill or complaint must show fully that the act sought to be restrained is irregular, wrongful, or invalid or that the act constitutes an abuse of defendant’s discretionary powers.”

In Hurd, et al. v. Walters, et al. (1874), 48 Ind. 148, a school trustee permitted use of a school house for religious purposes which use was permissible if a majority of legal voters approved.

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

Related

MacK v. American Fletcher National Bank & Trust Co.
510 N.E.2d 725 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1987)
Wells v. Auberry
429 N.E.2d 679 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1982)
Michiana MacK, Inc. v. Allendale Rural Fire Protection District
428 N.E.2d 1367 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1981)
Brutus v. Wright
324 N.E.2d 165 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1975)
Board of Trustees of the Public Employees' Retirement Fund v. King
236 N.E.2d 600 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1968)
Craig, Etc. v. School City of Gary, Etc.
211 N.E.2d 616 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1965)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
211 N.E.2d 616, 138 Ind. App. 261, 1965 Ind. App. LEXIS 525, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/craig-etc-v-school-city-of-gary-etc-indctapp-1965.