McCleery v. Zintsmaster

114 N.E. 625, 187 Ind. 37, 1916 Ind. LEXIS 100
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 21, 1916
DocketNo. 22,404
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 114 N.E. 625 (McCleery v. Zintsmaster) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McCleery v. Zintsmaster, 114 N.E. 625, 187 Ind. 37, 1916 Ind. LEXIS 100 (Ind. 1916).

Opinion

Cox, J.

— This was a proceeding instituted by appellees in the Huntington Circuit Court under the provisions of the Drainage Act of 1907 (Acts 1907 p. 508, §6140 et seq. Burns 1914) to establish an extensive public drain. From a judgment establishing the drain, this appeal in which numerous errors are assigned is brought.

The petition of appellees was in the usual form of a [40]*40petition for a drain wholly in one county and it averred in substance that the petitioners were the owners of about 1,100 acres of land in Huntington county which was described; that this land was in need of drainage which could not be accomplished without affecting the lands of others; that these latter lands comprised more than 1,500 acres which were described and their own-' ership stated. It was averred that the best and cheapest method for the proper drainage of the lands in question would be by an open drain beginning in the Little Wabash river, commonly known as Little river, on the line dividing Pluntington and Allen counties, and running in a southwesterly direction from the point of beginning following generally the course of the river to a named point therein where it should terminate. It -was averred that the contemplated drain would benefit the public health, that it would benefit certain public highways in Allen and Huntington counties, that when completed the proposed drain would be of public utility, and that the damages occasioned thereby and the costs thereof would be less than the benefits which would result therefrom to the owners of lands affected thereby.

Upon proof of notice of the filing of the petition given to the owners of these lands named therein as affected, the petition was, on March 25, 1910, docketed as a cause. On April 20 following, there having been no remonstrance, objection, nor demurrer to the petition, the matter was referred to Benjamin Pleaston, drainage commissioner of the county, James B. Vernon, a surveyor, resident in the county, and William F. Fulton, a disinterested resident freeholder of the county; and September 5, 1910, was fixed as the date on which they were to report. The time for filing a report was extended from time to time until February 26, 1912, on which date it was filed. The report was favorable to the construction of a principal drain all in Huntington [41]*41county substantially the same as the. one described in the petition, but with an arm or subsidiary shorter and smaller drain, about one-fourth of which in length extended into Allen county. The report showed that .the costs and expenses of effecting the drainage contemplated, together with the damages occasioned thereby, would be $313,547. The total benefits were reported to amount to the gross sum of $321,655, which the commissioners in their report apportioned by assessments on about 300,000 acres of land lying in Huntington, Allen, Whitley, and Wells counties. To give time to serve the owners of lands reported as benefited and assessed by the report of the commissioners, the hearing was ultimately set for March 30, 1912. Prior to this date, numerous remonstrances were filed by landowners brought in by the report but who do not appeal from the final order establishing and ordering the construction of the drain. In addition to this many motions and remonstrances were filed by appellants before the trial. All of these motions were overruled; and the remonstrances of all appellants except the McCleerys, Hufimans and McClellan Branstrattor were stricken out. The cause was tried on issues presented by the remonstrances of those last named and of other parties who do not appeal. By request the court found the facts specially and stated conclusions of law thereon. All ap^ pellants filed motions for a new trial, which were overruled. In this court a voluminous record of 1,800 pages is presented which is inextricably confused. On this record seventeen assignments of error are made by appellants severally and collectively and these assignments of error contain variously from four to eleven specifications of error each. These assignments of error are not specifically stated or followed in that part of appellant’s brief which states the errors relied on for reversal. We shall follow the latter statement in so far as we can dis[42]*42cover the questions which appellants are seeking to have determined.

At the outset of their argument it is conceded by appellants that the drain here involved is much needed and should be constructed. Its purpose is to provide a sufficient outlet for a very extensive basin. In the upper part of the basin large drains have been constructed which conduct the surface waters in great volumes into the lower end where the outlet is not sufficient to carry it on. This is greatly to the detriment of the landowners in the lower end of the basin — the petitioners — and in a lesser degree to all affected.

1. It is first asserted generally that the Huntington Circuit Court had no jurisdiction to establish and order the construction of the drain reported, for the reason that a small part of it extended beyond the boundary of Huntington county into Allen county. There can be no question but that the petition was entirely sufficient to invoke the general jurisdiction given to circuit courts by the statute stated to order the establishment and construction of drains. But it is urged that the jurisdiction in the particular case was ousted by the report of the commissioners — all from Huntington county — of a drain extending into Allen county. We do not so view it. This court has determined the contrary. In Lake Shore, etc., R. Co. v. Clough (1914), 182 Ind. 178, 184, 104 N. E. 975, 105 N. E. 905, it was held that the jurisdiction of the subject-matter of a drainage proceeding must be determined in the first instance by the petition, and where once rightfully acquired cannot be taken away by the bare fact that the commissioners added to the drain as originally prayed for some additional arm. Such action by the commissioners would not oust the jurisdiction of the court as to the drain mentioned in the petition and'would be no grounds for dismissing the whole proceedings.

[43]*432. 1. Under the first error relied on, which involves numerous and vague separate, assignments, it is claimed also that appellants properly raised the question that under the petition in this case the court had no power to order the establishment and construction of the drain reported and particularly that portion of it in Allen county. And the basis of this claim in part is that, before the power arises in the circuit court of one county to establish a drain extending into another, there must be a petition for the same and the court must exercise its power through commissioners, one of whom shall be from the county into which the drain extends. There-can be no doubt that when landowners whose lands require drainage know in advance that a sufficient drain must extend into another county a petition for the drain should show the fact; and there is also no doubt that on such a petition the court must appoint a commissioner from the other county. It is equally clear that when, in good faith, a petition is presented for a drain wholly in the county in which it is filed, all of the commissioners are to be appointed from that county. In this case a lack of good faith on the part of the petitioners is asserted without fact, or circumstance, or just grounds to sustain it.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
114 N.E. 625, 187 Ind. 37, 1916 Ind. LEXIS 100, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mccleery-v-zintsmaster-ind-1916.