La Mesa, Lemon Grove & Spring Valley Irrigation District v. Halley

239 P. 719, 197 Cal. 50, 1925 Cal. LEXIS 215
California Supreme Court·Decided September 14, 1925·No. Docket No. S.F. 11502.·Published·Cited by 27 cases

Opinion

RICHARDS, J.

The petitioner herein seeks a writ of mandate directed to the respondents herein in their capacity, respectively, of president and secretary of the petitioner, an irrigation district, commanding the said respondents in their foregoing capacity to forthwith sign and attest certain bonds and coupons of said irrigation district as designated in its said application for said writ. The facts set forth in said application as the basis thereof substantially show that the petitioner is and for some period prior to the filing of said application was an irrigation district duly organized and existing as such under the laws of the state of California and that the respondents were and are the duly elected, qualified, and acting officers thereof; that on April 5, 1924, one Ed Fletcher, sole surviving partner of a certain copartnership doing business under the firm , name and style of the Cuyamaca Water Company, gave to the petitioner herein an option to purchase a certain water system then and theretofore owned by said copartnership on and along the San Diego River in the county of San Diego, state of California, for the sum of $1,100,000; that the petitioner *53 duly accepted said option and thereafter and by an order of the board of directors of said petitioner, duly authorized and taken pursuant to a petition of the requisite number of the qualified electors within said irrigation district requesting the same, a special election was called, to be held within said irrigation district on the seventh day of November, 1924, at which election there was to be submitted to the electors of said district the question as to whether or not bonds of said district should be issued in the sum of $2,500,-000 in par value for the purpose of acquiring said water system of said Cuyamaca Water Company, and also of acquiring waters, water rights, reservoir sites, and other property for the use and purposes of said district in order to enable it to carry out and comply with the provisions of the California Irrigation District Act, under which it was organized, and any other act supplementary thereto authorizing such districts to acquire property and construct works. That said election was thereafter duly and regularly held on the seventh day of November, 1924, at which said election a majority of the said qualified electors of said district voted in favor of the issuance of such bonds. Copies of said order and call of said bond election and of the notice thereof and of the propositions submitted thereat and of the vote of the electors of said district voting at said election and of the canvass showing the result thereof are attached as exhibits to said application. That thereafter, and on November 10, 1.924, the board of directors of said district, by resolution duly passed and adopted, provided and directed that in conformity with the constitution and laws of the state of California and of the proceedings theretofore had and taken by said district and pursuant to the said bond election thus held in conformity therewith, a bonded' indebtedness of said district be created in the principal sum of $2,500,000 and' that in evidence thereof bonds of said district be issued in and to the extent of said sum consisting of 2,500 bonds of the denomination of $1,000 each and in the form specified by law. That thereafter the said board of directors of said district, pursuant to the proceedings theretofore had, caused 2,500 bonds of said district in said amount and in due form to be prepared and presented to the respondents herein as the president and secretary, respectively, of said irrigation district for their, and each of *54 their, respective signatures and attestation and requested said officials to so sign and attest the same and the interest coupons attached thereto, but that the said respondents, as said officials of said district respectively have refused and continued to refuse to sign or attest said bonds or any of them or the interest coupons attached thereto or any of them. Following these averments the petitioner presents 'certain alleged urgent reasons for the presentation of its said application to this court and prays for the issuance of ^said writ. The petitioner herein did not in its said application undertake to set forth or enlighten this court as to the reasons proffered by the respondents herein for their and each of their refusal to sign and attest said bonds, but notwithstanding the defect in their said application in that regard, an alternative writ of mandate was issued and made returnable before this court at a later date. In response to said alternative writ of mandate the respondents herein appeared and presented their and each of their return to said writ, wherein they purported to set forth fully the facts and reasons upon which their and each of their refusal to sign and attest said bonds was predicated and by so doing eked out the deficiencies of the petitioner’s application in that regard. In their said return to said writ the respondents set forth the fact that the petitioner was organized on the first day of November, 1913, under the provisions of an act of the legislature approved March 31, 1897, providing for the organization of irrigation districts and under the various acts amendatory thereof up to and including the date of its said organization. That under the terms ,of said prior acts certain provisions and requirements were specified relating to the vote of the qualified electors within the boundaries of each irrigation district, whereby its organization was to be accomplished and the benefits and burdens attendant upon and following such organization were defined. The respondents aver that by virtue of such organization of said irrigation district, under the terms of said original and amendatory acts of the legislature as they existed at the date thereof, a contract was created by operation of law between the state of California and the persons whose property was affected by the creation and organization of said irrigation district, under the terms and conditions of which the property owners of said district con *55 pented to the imposition upon themselves and their lands of such burdens in the way of bond issues as were to be resolved upon, voted and issued in the manner provided by the aforesaid acts of the legislature as the same existed at the date of said organization of said irrigation district and not otherwise. The respondents proceed to aver that, since the organization of said district, the legislature has adopted various acts amendatory of the aforesaid acts in existence at the time of the formation of said district, by the terms of which numerous changes have been made in the manner and method by which irrigation districts may issue bonds; and particularly has changed the provisions of section 30 of said original act in the respect that said original section provided that as a prerequisite to the calling of a special election to determine the question as to whether or not bonds should issue, a petition by a majority of the holders of title representing a majority in value of the lands in said district according to the equalized assessment-roll thereof was required; whereas, by the change or changes made in said original section by said subsequent acts or amendments thereof, a petition signed by 500 electors residing within said district and including the holders of title representing twenty per cent in value of said lands instead of a majority in value thereof as provided in said former act, was required.

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La Mesa, Lemon Grove & Spring Valley Irrigation District v. Halley, 239 P. 719, 197 Cal. 50, 1925 Cal. LEXIS 215 (Cal. 1925).

239 P. 719 (La Mesa, Lemon Grove & Spring Valley Irrigation District v. Halley) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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