Ketterer v. Independent School District No. 1

79 N.W.2d 428, 248 Minn. 212, 1956 Minn. LEXIS 634
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedNovember 16, 1956
Docket36,877
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 79 N.W.2d 428 (Ketterer v. Independent School District No. 1) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ketterer v. Independent School District No. 1, 79 N.W.2d 428, 248 Minn. 212, 1956 Minn. LEXIS 634 (Mich. 1956).

Opinion

Nelson, Justice.

Plaintiff as taxpayer brings action for a declaratory judgment declaring void a deed of conveyance of real property from defendant Independent School District No. 1 of Chippewa County to defendant Henry A. Roust on the grounds that said conveyance made by a municipal corporation was without consideration and that said conveyance was executed by officers of said school district without *215 authority from the school board and from the voters of the school district. Plaintiff’s complaint, after setting forth the making and delivery of the deed in question, alleges that the:

“* * * deed was made and executed by said R. C. Ekberg, Chairman, and E. G-. Larson, Clerk, without authority being first given them to so do by the School Board or voters of defendant Independent School District No. 1 of Chippewa County.
“That defendant Henry A. Roust paid no consideration to defendant Independent School District No. 1 of Chippewa County for said conveyance.
“That at the time of said conveyance the land conveyed by said deed was a part of lands owned and used by said defendant Independent School District No. 1 for recreational and school purposes and was a 'school site’ as the term is so used in Minnesota Statutes, Section 126.06, Subdiv. 2.”

It was further alleged that defendant Union State Bank is the mortgagee on an unsatisfied mortgage on the land conveyed by said deed and other lands.

The trial court entered its findings of fact and by its conclusions of law ordered dismissal of plaintiff’s action, awarding defendants their costs and disbursements and providing that judgment be entered accordingly. See, Rules of Civil Procedure, Rules 41.02 and 52.01. Upon motion for amended findings or a new trial, the court below entered its order of denial and attached its memorandum to the order. Its order of dismissal was a part of its conclusions of law.

No issue of fraud or misrepresentation was pleaded. Neither was that issue raised or litigated at the trial. Therefore, we are concerned only with the question of whether the deed was supported by a valid consideration and whether the authority upon which the school board acted in directing the execution and delivery of its warranty deed to the defendant Henry A. Roust and its later ratification of that transaction by resolution passed and adopted on December 14, 1954, was sufficient, valid, and existing.

*216 For purposes of brevity, we will hereinafter refer to Leo A. Ketterer, taxpayer, as plaintiff and to defendants as school board or district, Roust, and Union State Bank.

Plaintiff is a resident taxpayer and freeholder of the school district as is defendant Roust. The school district and the Union State Bank named as defendants in the action are also respondents herein. Plaintiff, having brought this action as taxpayer, is subject to the same rights and limitations that would apply to the school district if it had instituted this action as plaintiff.

In the year 1925 the school district became the owner of certain real estate known as “Windom College” site, a piece of property which the school district continued to own during the times herein mentioned. The site is bordered on the south by Miawakon Avenue. Adjoining Miawakon Avenue on the south is a tract of land described as Lots 1 and 2 in Nelson’s Second subdivision in the city of Montevideo owned by Roust and acquired by him in the year 1936. A former home occupied by Roust was located on a part of said Lot 2. Said Lot 1 lies adjacent to Miawakon Avenue.

From 1938 and until Roust joined in a petition to the city council to vacate that part of Miawakon Avenue adjacent to said Lot 1, he thought it had been previously vacated and that he owned the south 30 feet of the avenue opposite his lot. ^

Miawakon Avenue, a public avenue 60 feet wide, is intersected by First Street North at a point on the south side of the site. Roust’s property is situated at the southwest corner of the intersection and runs west on Miawakon Avenue, a distance of 236 feet. That part of Miawakon Avenue situated between the school site and Roust’s property had never been opened for public traffic.

On September 15, 1952, the city council of Montevideo vacated that part of Miawakon Avenue lying between the site and Roust’s property, the defendant Roust, apparently at its request, joining with the school district in the petition to vacate. Consequently the south 30 feet of that part of Miawakon Avenue adjacent to Roust’s property reverted to him. The north 30 feet of the vacated avenue reverted to the school district. The subject matter of this case is the strip of property 30 feet wide and 236 feet long that reverted *217 to the school district as a result of the vacation of that part of Miawakon Avenue.

The evidence in the record, viewed in the light most favorable to the defendants, who prevailed below, discloses the following facts: The defendant Roust wrote a letter, April 9, 1951, to the school board asking permission to buy the north one-half of the vacated portion of Miawakon Avenue adjacent to his lots for the purpose of beautifying it, and he asked the board to appraise it. He was later called in to a school board meeting of the district held April 20, 1951. The offer was discussed at the time but no terms decided upon. Roust’s letter of April 9, 1951, was concluded by him as follows:

“No part of this strip is on level land. It is part of a ravine and the creek bed lies in it for approximately one hundred feet at the east end. It is obviously unsuited for residential, industrial, or public building purposes, and its separation from the Windom property could in no way detract from present use or future sale value of that tract. More probably our proposed purchase would enhance the value of the school property, as we want it for the purpose of beautifying it, much as we have done with our lots adjacent to the strip in question.
“Should you see fit to consider this sale, would you kindly appraise its value and inform me of your decision.”

Shortly thereafter the superintendent of the school district issued a printed notice addressed to the board of education advising the members of their regular meeting set for April 20,1951, at 7:30 p. m. in the central office. This notice contained a statement of the items of business to be considered, among which was item No. 3, which read as follows:

“3. Request of Dr. Roust to purchase a strip of land in the Windom property adjacent to his lots. Dr. Roust will be present at our meeting.”

Later the school board arranged a meeting with the local county commissioners, who were apparently interested in acquiring the *218 property, and Roust was called over to the meeting and questioned about the 30 feet adjacent to his lots which he had improved. He had no further direct negotiations, turning the matter over to his attorney on whose advice he later acted in joining in the petition to vacate.

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Bluebook (online)
79 N.W.2d 428, 248 Minn. 212, 1956 Minn. LEXIS 634, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ketterer-v-independent-school-district-no-1-minn-1956.