Ludtke v. Continental Inv. Co.

78 S.W.2d 672
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedNovember 19, 1934
DocketNo. 9995
StatusPublished

This text of 78 S.W.2d 672 (Ludtke v. Continental Inv. 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
Ludtke v. Continental Inv. Co., 78 S.W.2d 672 (Tex. Ct. App. 1934).

Opinion

PLEASANTS, Chief Justice.

This suit was brought by the investment company, hereinafter designated appellee, against J. M. Ludtke and P. Harvey, hereinafter called appellants, to recover upon paving certificates issued by the city council of Houston to the National Paving Company, and thereafter transferred by said company to appellee.

These certificates had been issued for paving Clinton drive in the city of Houston; the property on which the lien is sought to be fixed and foreclosed being lots 7, 8, 9, and 10 and part of 11, in block 12, and on lots 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 and part of lot 1, in block 13, Japhet’s addition to the city of Houston, which property is owned one-half by J. M. Ludtke, Jr., and one-half by P. Harvey, in undivided interests.

Appellants’ defense to the suit is:

< “That they were the owners of the property, on which the lien is sought to be foreclosed, at the time and for a long time prior to the time the Council undertook to initiate the paving of Clinton Drive, and were in actual possession of the property; that the Council did not acquire jurisdiction to pave the street in front of the appellants’ property and charge appellants or their property with any part of the cost of the pavement, because the Charter provides that when the Council undertakes to initiate the paving of a street it shall order a hearing on said proposed improvements and give owners of property abutting on the street notice of such hearing by publishing such notice in a newspaper and by registered mail addressed to súch owners; and further provides that if the owners of forty-nine per cent of the front footage of property on such street object to the paving, the street shall not be paved; that the giving of such notice to each owner of property abutting on said street is an essential prerequisite to the power of the Council to order the paving; that the Council did not order that a hearing be given appellants of its purpose to initiate the paving of Clinton Drive, and did not afford them an opportunity to be heard on the proposition, or to register their objection to the paving, and did not give them any notice, by publication or otherwise, that Council would hold a hearing on the proposition of initiating the pav[673]*673ing of said street; but, on the contrary, the Council directed that W. Ernest Japhet and Betty J. Pullen (neither of whom owned any interest whatever in said property) be notified of such hearing that the notice issued and published by Council declared that R. Ernest Japhet and Betty J. Pullen owned the property, and no notice of any kind was given to appellants of Council’s proposed hearing on' the initiation of the paving of said street; and, appellants not having appeared at said hearing or at any subsequent proceedings, Council did not acquire jurisdiction to order the paving of said street in front of and adjacent to appellants’ property involved in this suit, and all acts of the Council done in reference to the paving of said street in front of their property and in attempting to fix a lien thereon for the payment of part of the cost of paving, as well as a personal liability therefor against appellants, are wholly null and void ab initio and created no liability on the part of appellants nor created a lien against their property.
“Appellants urged a general demurrer to the appellee’s petition, which was overruled and appellants excepted.
“Trial was by the court, without a jury, and judgment was rendered in favor of appel-lee against appellants for the amount of the paving certificates, attorney’s fees, and foreclosing paving lien on the property involved.”

The foregoing statement of the nature and result of the suit is copied from appellants’ brief. It is proper to supplement this statement by saying that the record shows that, in addition to the general demurrer and general denial filed by appellants, they presented special exceptions attacking the petition, on the ground that its allegations were mere legal conclusions, and it contained no allegations of fact sufficient to show that the city council acquired jurisdiction to order the improvement of the street, and also specially pleaded that the assessment on appellants’ property was void because made against them jointly and without regard to their separate interests and liabilities in respect to the property.

These pleadings remained in this condition for more than a year, and on February 15, 1932, appellee filed an amended petition, which, after alleging in detail all of the original proceedings of the city council relating to the improvement of the street, including the issuance and delivery of the certificates, further alleges in substance:

“That on July 6, 1931 (after the filing of said answer) defendant in error filed an application with the City Council of said City asking for a reassessment; that the City granted this petition and fixed a .time and place for hearing plaintiffs in error on the application for said reassessment and ordered notice thereof given; that notice was duly given of the time, place and purpose of such hearing; that said hearing was held at the time and- place specified in said notice and was closed, and that the City governing-body made a finding upon the question of benefits, and that on September 23, 1931, an ordinance was passed making a reassessment so as to correct any errors that might have existed in the original proceedings. The prayer in said amended petition was for judgment separately against plaintiffs in error so as to conform to said reassessment proceedings, and for foreclosure of the statutory lien against each respective owner as reassessed on his separate interests in said property. Plaintiffs in error did not file any amended answer in response to the amended pleading of defendant in error, nor did plaintiffs in error file any suit at any time for the purpose of setting aside any of the original or reassessment proceedings.
“The judgment in the trial court was in accordance with the rights of the parties as fixed by the reassessment proceedings and did not follow the original proceedings.”

The evidence shows that on June 19, 1928, the city council of Plouston passed a resolution reciting that the council had decided to initiate the improvement of Clinton drive (a street of the city of Houston) from its intersection with the east line of Bringhurst street to its intersection with the west line of Kress street. This resolution describes the kind of improvement proposed, and states the maximum costs therefor to the abutting property owners. It then directs the city engineer to prepare and file with the' council complete specifications for' the proposed improvement, together with a written statement of the names of all of the owners of property abutting on the street proposed to be improved within the limits named, with the number of front feet owned by each, describing the property of each owner by lot or block number, or in sufficient manner to identify it. The written statement as to the ownership of the abutting property furnished the council by the engineer in compliance with the resolution above mentioned sufficiently describes the property involved in this suit, but does not name the appellants as owners thereof, but gives the names of other persons as such owners. This statement was approved by the council, and it was ordered [674]*674that a hearing be given to all of the abutting property owners at a meeting of the council to be held in the council chamber of the city hall on July 5, 1928, at 11 o’clock a.

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Bluebook (online)
78 S.W.2d 672, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ludtke-v-continental-inv-co-texapp-1934.