Kuester v. State

217 N.W.2d 180, 191 Neb. 680, 1974 Neb. LEXIS 933
CourtNebraska Supreme Court
DecidedApril 18, 1974
Docket39258
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 217 N.W.2d 180 (Kuester v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nebraska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kuester v. State, 217 N.W.2d 180, 191 Neb. 680, 1974 Neb. LEXIS 933 (Neb. 1974).

Opinion

Clinton, J.

The plaintiff brought this declaratory judgment action to liave sections 81-815.01 to 81-815.20, R. R. S. 1943, commonly referred to as the State Boat Act, declared unconstitutional in their application to certain property owned by him. The trial court in accordance with the prayer of the petition, granted a temporary restraining order preventing the defendant, the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission and Willard R. Barbee, its Secretary, and Fred Salak, a conservation officer of the commission, from enforcing the statutes with reference to the plaintiff’s property. The defendants demurred to the plaintiff’s petition and moved to have the restraining order' dissolved. The court overruled the demurrer. The defendants elected to stand on the demurrer. The trial court then overruled the motion to dissolve the restraining order and modified *682 it, and ordered the issuance of a permanent injunction which was entered in the following form: “PURSUANT TO THE ORDER OF THE COURT AFORESAID, the Defendants herein, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, Willard R. Barbee, Secretary of the Defendant Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, and Fred Salak, Conservation Officer for Defendant Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, and each of them, and their successors in office, as well as all other persons purporting to act on their behalf or under their authority, be, and they hereby are, permanently enjoined and restrained from going upon Plaintiff’s property in Hall County, Nebraska, commonly known as Kuester’s Lake, and legally described as follows:

“The East one-half of the South-west Quarter of Section 13, Township 11 North, Range 9, West of the 6th P.M., in Hall County, Nebraska,

for the purpose of investigations of, or enforcing the provisions of, the Nebraska State Boat Act, legally described as Sections 81-815.01 through 81-815.20, R. R. S., Neb., Reissue of 1971, as amended, unless such law enforcement officer, or representative of any of the Defendants, at the time of so entering Plaintiff’s property, above described, shall have with him, a duly and legally issued search warrant which is in £in force’ and validally issued;”. The trial court did not pass upon the constitutionality of the statutes.

On this appeal the plaintiff has abandoned any claim of unconstitutionality of the statutes. The questions on appeal are whether the court erred in overruling the demurrer and authorizing a permanent injunction to issue.

We reverse and remand with directions to dissolve the injunction and to sustain the demurrer.

We examine the allegations of the plaintiff’s petition in the light of the principle that a general demurrer admits all the allegations of fact in the pleading to *683 which it is addressed, which are issuable, relevant, material, and well pleaded; but does not admit the pleader’s conclusions of law or fact. A general demurrer tests the substantive legal rights of parties upon admitted facts, including proper and reasonable inferences of law and fact which may be drawn from facts which are well pleaded. Nebraska Natural Gas Co. v. City of Lexington, 167 Neb. 413, 93 N. W. 2d 179.

The petition alleges the ownership of the property by the plaintiff and the existence thereon of a lake wholly located within the confines of the property and accessible only over roads owned and controlled by the plaintiff; the existence on the lake shores of 72 dwellings owned by the occupants and built upon sites leased from the plaintiff; the existence thereon of a private club also built on leased land; and that “by virtue of lease agreements between Plaintiff and the individual residence owners or lessees said lessees, and their invitees have access to their lots leased from Plaintiff over the roads owned, maintained and controlled by Plaintiff, such access and permissive use of said roads is subject to regulations imposed by Plaintiff; that the individual members of the Grand Island Saddle Club, by virtue of a lease agreement between Plaintiff and said non-profit club have access to the club premises leased from Plaintiff, over the road constructed, maintained and controlled by Plaintiff, but such permissive use does not go beyond the leased premises of said Grand Island Saddle Club. That approximately eighty-five percent of the total Lake front footage is covered by lease agreements, as hereinbefore set forth.” It further alleged: “. . . the only persons permitted by Plaintiff to place a boat upon the waters of Kuester’s Lake are those persons who lease residence lots from Plaintiff.” That the defendant Salak: . . has. in the past, and is threatening to in the future, enforce the provisions of Sections 81-815.01 through 81-815.20, *684 R. R. S. Nebraska Reissue of 1966, as amended, and also known as the Nebraska State Boat Act on Plaintiff’s property, hereinbefore legally described and known as Kuester’s Lake. That the enforcement of the provisions of said Act are unconstitutional and void insofar as such enforcement pertains to Plaintiff’s Lake property; that continued enforcement of the provisions of the Nebraska Boat Act upon Plaintiff’s property will result in the multiplicity of litigations, and will cause Plaintiff and Plaintiff’s lessees irreparable harm and damage, and Plaintiff has no adequate remedy at law to protect himself and his lessees therefrom; that Defendants, and each of them, and any and all persons purporting to act on their behalf, or under their authority, should be temporarily restrained from coming upon Plaintiff’s Lake property, as hereinbefore legally described for the purpose of investigating or enforcing the provisions of the Nebraska State Boat Act, and should be further restrained temporarily from prosecution of, or giving evidence of violations of the provisions of the Nebraska State Boat Act which occur upon Plaintiff’s Lake property, pending the outcome of this litigation . . ..”

There followed a prayer for a temporary restraining order pending determination of the litigation and for the declaration of the unconstitutionality ■ of the State Boat Act. There was no prayer for a permanent injunction.

It is the general rule that an injunction will not issue to restrain public officers from performing an official act which is not in excess of the authority reposed in them, but that unlawful acts by public officers.may in a proper case be restrained. 43 C. J. S., Injunctions, § 108, p. 614. It is also the general rule that police officers will not be enjoined from performing their proper duties, but that the threatened continued repeti *685 tion of illegal acts may be enjoined, where under the circumstances an action for damages is not an adequate remedy. The courts should be slow in issuing injunctions against police officers and an injunction should not be issued on the mere apprehension that the officer will commit an unlawful act. 43 C. J. S., Injunctions, § 108d, p. 620; Carey v. Iowa Liquor Control Comm., 257 Iowa 245, 132 N. W. 2d 429; Russo v. Miller, 221 Mo. App. 292, 3 S. W. 2d 266; Conte v. Roberts, 58 R. I. 353, 192 A. 814; Belknap v. Leary, 427 F. 2d 496 (2d Cir., 1970).

Implicit in the trial court’s order is a finding that the State Boat Act (herein later referred to as the Act), was applicable to the use and operation of boats upon the plaintiff’s privately owned lake.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
217 N.W.2d 180, 191 Neb. 680, 1974 Neb. LEXIS 933, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kuester-v-state-neb-1974.