Foxworth-Galbraith Lumber Co. v. Realty Trust Co.

110 S.W.2d 1164, 1937 Tex. App. LEXIS 1322
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedNovember 8, 1937
DocketNo. 4817.
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 110 S.W.2d 1164 (Foxworth-Galbraith Lumber Co. v. Realty Trust Co.) 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
Foxworth-Galbraith Lumber Co. v. Realty Trust Co., 110 S.W.2d 1164, 1937 Tex. App. LEXIS 1322 (Tex. Ct. App. 1937).

Opinion

STOKES, Justice.

On the 7th of April, 1931, the city commission of the city of Spearman passed an ordinance providing for paving and improving portions of Bernice and Collard streets. The portion of Bernice street to be improved was designated as unit No. S, and the portion of Collard street to be improved was designated as unit No. 10. Notice of a hearing was issued and published in the local newspaper for more than ten days prior to the 25th of April, 1931, at which time the city commission held a public hearing, at which all property owners and those interested in abutting property on the respective units to be improved • were given an opportunity to contest any action of the city commission with reference to the assessments proposed by the ordinance to be levied upon such property to defray a portion of the expenses of such improvement. By ordinance of the 25th of April, 1931, the hearing was closed and assessments levied for part of the costs of the improvements in accordance with the front-foot rule of assessment, and paving certificates in the usual form were ordered issued to Panhandle Construction Company, the successful bidder, with whom a contract had theretofore been executed by the city commission. The certificate covering the assessment against appellant’s lots in unit No. 10 on Collard street was for the sum of $1,156.41, and against its lots in unit No. 5, being a portion of Bernice street, in the sum of $804.58. To secure the payment of the certificate on the lots in unit No. 10, an assessment lien was provided in the ordinance and also in the certificate against abutting lots Nos. 4, 5, and 6, in block No. 6, of the town of Spear-man, and a like lien created upon lots Nos. 5 and 6, in the same block, to secure the certificate covering unit No. 5 on Bernice street upon which these lots also abutted. The certificates provided for payment in five annual installments, with interest at the rate of 8 per centum per annum, and provided for a reasonable amount in addition as attorney’s fees if placed in the hands of an attorney for collection, or if collected by suit. The assessments were made against appellant, FoxwOrth-Galbraith Lumber Company, the owner of the lots, and the certificates were payable to appellee Panhandle Construction Company, the contractor, who assigned to appellee Realty Trust Company the certificate covering the lots in unit No. 10 located on Collard street.

Collard street runs approximately northeast and southwest, while Bernice street runs directly north and south. These two streets come together at the northeast corner of lot No. 6, which lot takes the form of a triangle, and has a frontage of 181.04 feet on Bernice street and 130.66 feet on Collard street. Lot No. 5 adjoins lot No. 6, and contains a frontage of 50 feet on Collard street. Bernice street takes off a corner of this lot, thus subjecting it to a 30-foot frontage on that street. Lot No. 4 is not affected by Bernice street, but contains a frontage on Collard street of 50 feet.

Appellant did not appear at the hearing, and made no protest of the assessments or the issuing of the certificates; neither did it file any suit in the district court within fifteen days after the hearing was had, or- at any other time.

This is a consolidated suit on the two paving certificates wherein each appellee had filed suit on the certificate held by it, and the two causes of action consolidated by order of the trial court.

The trial was before the court without the intervention of a jury, and resulted in a judgment in favor of appellees, respectively, foreclosing their liens on the property, but denying to them personal judgments against appellant, Foxworth-Galbraith Lumber Company, for the amounts of the certificates. ■

To this judgment appellees excepted and gave notice of appeal, and appellant, being dissatisfied with the judgment rendered by the trial court foreclosing the pavement lien against its property, likewise excepted and gave notice of appeal. All parties perfected their respective appeals, and the case is before this court upon numerous assignments of error filed by all parties.

We shall designate the appellant as the Lumber Company and the appellees as the Realty Trust Company and Construction Company, respectively.

The fifth and sixth propositions of the Lumber Company attack the notice that was issued by the governing body of the city *1167 and published in the local newspaper, notifying all interested parties of the date and place of the hearing to be had on the 25th of April, 1931. It claims that the notice is insufficient, and that the trial court erred in rendering any judgment on the certificates because the notice so issued and published was not in substantial compliance with the statute governing such matters, and it was not afforded a reasonable opportunity to appear before the city commission at the hearing. The specific objection to the notice is in reference to the description which it contained of the property proposed to be assessed. The notice designated the improvement to be made upon Collard street as unit or district No. 10, and the improvements on Bernice street as unit or district No. 5. The description of the property included in district No. 10 designates it as being on Collard street from its intersection with the northeast property line of Main street to its intersection with the northeast line of lot No. 18, in block B. The descrip- - tion given of the property included within district No. 5 on Bernice street describes it as being on Bernice street from its intersection with the west line of Bernice street with the northwest line of Davis street to its intersection with the southeast property line of Collard street. The maps and plats shown in the record plainly show these designated points. Any one examining the map or plat of the city would have little difficulty in locating these units. It is claimed that block B is not located by the description in the notice, and without its location it would be impossible to locate the property to be improved, as the lines of the Collard street improvement refer to and depend upon the location of block B. During the progress of the trial it was stipulated that there existed only one block B in the town of Spearman. From the notice it is plainly shown that the property is within the city of Spearman. The notice was published in a local newspaper in that city. The purpose of the notice Was to inform those owning property abutting upon the improvements that the hearing was to be had and to give them an opportunity to appear and contest any action with reference thereto which the board may take, and to give an opportunity to appeal from the con¿ elusions of the board and assessments made after the hearing. We think the notice was sufficient for these purposes, and was in substantial compliance with the statute. It has been held by the Supreme Court of the United States that if the service is made by publication it must be of such character as to create a reasonable presumption that the owner of the property, if present, and taking ordinary care of his property, will receive the information of what is proposed, and when and where he may be heard. Bellingham Bay & B. C. Ry. Co. v. City of New Whatcom, 172 U.S. 314, 19 S.Ct. 205, 43 L.Ed. 460.

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

Related

Smith v. City of Houston
693 S.W.2d 753 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1985)
City of Houston v. Alnoa G. Corp.
638 S.W.2d 515 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1982)
City of Alvin v. Crouch
447 S.W.2d 750 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1969)
City of Houston v. Parkinson
419 S.W.2d 900 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1967)
City of Houston v. Blackbird
384 S.W.2d 929 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1964)
Pratt v. Water District No. 79
363 P.2d 816 (Washington Supreme Court, 1961)
Duffard v. City of Corpus Christi
332 S.W.2d 447 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1960)
Mount Olivet Cemetery Co. v. City of Fort Worth
275 S.W.2d 152 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1955)
Keller v. City of Corpus Christi
253 S.W.2d 1009 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1952)
Alexander v. Fullwood
143 S.W.2d 646 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1940)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
110 S.W.2d 1164, 1937 Tex. App. LEXIS 1322, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/foxworth-galbraith-lumber-co-v-realty-trust-co-texapp-1937.