Hunter v. City of Des Moines

123 N.W. 215, 144 Iowa 541
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedNovember 19, 1909
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 123 N.W. 215 (Hunter v. City of Des Moines) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hunter v. City of Des Moines, 123 N.W. 215, 144 Iowa 541 (iowa 1909).

Opinion

Sherwin, J.

Mr. C. C. Lane was at the time of his death the owner of certain land in the city of Des Moines, which was designated as lot fifteen, in Burnham & Lazenby’s subdivision, of the. west one-half of the northeast one-fourth and the east one-half of the northwest one-fourth of section six, ' township seventy-eight, range twenty-four. After the death of Mr. Lane, his widow, Eva E. Lane, brought an action for the partition of the land in question [543]*543and other lands, making all of the children and heirs of her husband defendants therein. A decree of partition was entered in said action on the 13th day of May, 1898, which disposed of the land in question in the language following:

That as to the ten-acre tract (more or less) described as lot fifteen (15), in Burnham and Lazenby’s subdivision, of section six (6), of township seventy-eight (78) north, of range twenty-four (24) west, of the 5th P. M., by consent of parties the same is hereby partitioned and shares allotted as follows: A plat of the same is hereunto attached and made a part of this decree, showing an extension of Thirty-Eighth Street through the center of said tract running north from the south line of the tract, fifty (50) feet in width to the intersection of University Avenue, and also extending Cottage Grove Avenue from the east line of said tract where said avenue now abuts upon the tract, through the said tract to the west line thereof, sixty-six (66) feet' in width, which extensions of streets are hereby established and dedicated to the public use for the mutual benefit of the parties, and by their mutual consent. That the title to the west half of said tract (less the streets dedicated) and marked ‘B-B’ on the plat is hereby vested iñ and partitioned to the following six children of C. C. Lane, deceased, to wit: Helen L. Summers, made defendant by the name of Nellie Summers, Jed B. Lane, Edna E. Lane, Emerson L. Lane, Arthur C. Lane and Edmund M. Lane, each being entitled to an undivided one-sixth thereof. That the east half of said tract (less the streets dedicated), marked ‘A-A’ on the plat, is hereby decreed as the share of said tract inuring to the plaintiff Eva R. Lane, and her two minor children, Howard C. Lane and Carl R. Lane, an undivided one-sixth to each of the said children and the undivided two-thirds to the plaintiff, Eva R. Lane.

The plat referred to in the decree showed the extension of Cottage Grove Avenue through the tract east and west and the extension of Thirty-Eighth Street 'through' the tract north and south. The plat also showed that the tract was divided into four parcels; the two parcels on the east of Thirty-Eighth Street north and south of Cottage Grove [544]*544Avenue being marked “A,” and the two parcels on the west of Thirty-Eighth Street being designated “B.” The two east parcels which had been awarded by the decree to Eva B. Lane and her two minor children were thereafter sold in accordance with the decree, and the same were bought by the plaintiffs, H. C. Wallace and George C. Hunter, who received the referee’s deed conveying to them the east one-half of said lot fifteen. A few days after the execution of the referee’s deed, Eva B. Lane, for herself and as guardian of her two minor children, also executed a deed to said plaintiffs conveying to them the east one-half of lot fifteen, subject to the streets therein. In 1900 H. O. Wallace and George C. Hunter conveyed parts of the east one-half of the lot recognizing in said conveyance Cottage Grove Avenue as the north and south boundary of the respective parcels conveyed by them. In 1903 George O. Hunter conveyed to the plaintiff Heilman the “east half of the south half of so much of the said lot fifteen as lies north of Cottage Grove Avenue and east of the premises designated upon the said plat as Thirty-Eighth Street.” Conveyances were made of the west one-half of lot fifteen, which in most instances excepted the streets designated in the partition decree. On the 4th of Eebruary, 1901, the city council of Des Moines passed a resolution accepting the extensions of Cottage Grove Avenue and Thirty-Eighth Street as made in the decree of partition of May, 1898, and in said resolution, directed the board of public works to open said streets for the use of the public. On the 2Yth day of Eebruary, 1908, the owners of the several parcels of lot fifteen executed a deed vacating all of the plat made by the partition decree, excepting only so much thereof as is occupied by the extension of Cottage Grove Avenue.

The controversy in this action is over the extension of Thirty-Eighth Street. The appellants rely upon the propositions that the plat in the decree of partition is void for uncertainty, and because not made in compliance with [545]*545the statute relating to town plats, that the resolution of acceptance passed by the city council is void for the reason that it is in conflict with an ordinance of the city prohibiting the acceptance of ungraded streets, and because their vacation deed operated to vacate the plat and portion of Thirty-Eighth Street in controversy, even though it be true that the city acquired some right by virtue of the plat or otherwise.

1. Partition: plat: dedication. It can not be seriously questioned that there was a sufficient dedication of the plat in question including Thirty-Eighth Street. True, it was not a statutory dedication, but all parties interested in lot fif- , teen as owners were before the court and consented to the plat there made. While the record is silent on the question, aside from the language of the decree, it may be said to fairly appear therefrom that the plat was in fact the plat of the parties themselves, and that the decree was made to conform thereto. But, however that may be, it is certain that the plat was consented to by all parties at the time of the decree, and thereafter recognized by subsequent conveyances in conformity therewith. Such acts constitute a dedication. Hanger v. City of Des Moines, 109 Iowa, 480; Shea v. City of Ottumwa, 67 Iowa, 39; Manderschid v. City of Dubuque, 29 Iowa, 73.

2. Same: dedication: description. Whatever may be said about the uncertainty of locating lot fifteen from the description thereof in the partition decree, it can not in our judgment be said that the location of Thirty-Eighth Street therein is too uncertain to be valid. At the time of the decree, Thirty-Eighth Street was an established street, the north end of which touched the south line of lot fifteen. The plat and decree extended the street through the tract to University Avenue immediately north thereof, and gave the width of such extension. We see no difficulty in locating this extension. Streets are [546]*546generally straight, and there is nothing in the record showing Thirty-Eighth Street to be an exception to this rule. An extension of' Thirty-Eighth Street fifty feet wide due north through the tract is as certain as it could well be made. No more certainty could -have been attained had the plat fixed the starting point of the extension at stakes driven at the north,end of Thirty-Eighth Street as it then existed, or had it designated lines which did no more than to extend said street due north. Barney v. Miller, 18 Iowa, 460; Elliott on Roads and Streets, sec. 376.

3. Same: acceptance of dedicated street municipality.

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Bluebook (online)
123 N.W. 215, 144 Iowa 541, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hunter-v-city-of-des-moines-iowa-1909.