Oliver v. Pickett, Co.

1920 OK 226, 193 P. 526, 79 Okla. 315, 1920 Okla. LEXIS 120
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedJune 1, 1920
Docket10920
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 1920 OK 226 (Oliver v. Pickett, Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Oliver v. Pickett, Co., 1920 OK 226, 193 P. 526, 79 Okla. 315, 1920 Okla. LEXIS 120 (Okla. 1920).

Opinion

McNEILL, J.

This action was commenced in the district court of Greek county by H. Oliver and others against the county treasurer, the eity -of Sapulpa, and John E. Nolan and others to enjoin the county treasurer from collecting certain special assessments or paving taxes against the lots of the plaintiffs. The second amended petition alleged the plaintiffs were owners of certain lots in the city of Sapulpa and that said city of Sapulpa was a municipal corporation, having a charter form of government; that the said charter provides that the general laws of the state relating to cities of the first class approved the 17th day of April, 1908, shall govern the paving of streets. It is alleged that the city commissioners attempted to form street improvement district No. 15 and to pave said street, but that no petition was filed with the city commissioners asking that said street be paved, and that no preliminary resolution declaring the improvements necessary was ¡published, and that no preliminary estimate was filed with the city commissioners, and that the pavement was worthless.

To the petition, the defendants filed an answer, and, upon trial of the case to the court, the court made findings of fact and conclusions of l'aw in substance as follows:

First. That the plaintiffs were the owners of certain lands liable for assessment in said paving district.

Second. That the proceedings of the board of commissioners of the city of Sapulpa, leading to and culminating in the construction of the pavement mentioned in the pleadings, were based solely upon preliminary resolution No. 119.

Third. That the pavement was faulty and defective and of practically no value.

Fourth. That at the time of the adoption of resolution No. 119 by the board of commissioners of said eity of Sapulpa, said board had never required the city engineer of said city to prepare complete and accurate specifications and estimates for such street improvement, and that no such specifications and estimates were ever prepared, or filed or approved, as provided by section 615, Rev. Laws of Oklahoma 1910, but that said preliminary resolution toy the board of commissioners was had under the provisions of the act of 1907-08 and that the latter did not require such estimate.

The court then concluded as a matter of law that the plaintiffs would be entitled to equitable relief provided the proceedings of the board of commissioners of the city of Sapulpa which authorized the construction of said pavement were without jurisdiction and void.

The court concluded as a matter of law that no preliminary specifications and estimates for said street paving were required to be prepared by the city engineer of the city of Sapulpa, or approved by the board of commissioners.

The court concluded that said preliminary resolution No 119 and the publication thereof w¡ere sufficient to confer jurisdiction on the board of commissioners of said eity to order the construction of the said street pavement, and concluded as a matter of law that the proceedings of said commissioners in the matter were valid, under the act of 1907-08, and that said act of 1907-08 was in full force and effect at the time of the adoption of said preliminary resolution by reason of its incorporation in the charter of said city.

From said judgment, the plaintiffs in error have appealed, and for reversal rely upon three propositions.

The first assignment of error is that the court erred in concluding as a matter of law that the preliminary resolution and its publication were sufficient to confer jurisdiction on the board of commissioners to contract for the street improvement. It is contended by plaintiffs in error that the resolution is insufficient for the reason it is not stated in said resolution that,, the city commissioners had declared said work necessary.

The heading of the resolution is as follows :

“A resolution to pave, curb, gutter, grade and drain.
“First: Hobson avenue irom the east line of Poplar street to the east line of Hickory street.
“Second: Hickory street from the north line of Dewey avenue to the south line of the St. Louis & San Francisco railway right of way.
“And to install the necessary pipes, catch basins and manholes and set curbing therefor.”

It was stated in the resolution that th© same should be published, and then it notifies the property owners that if owners of more than half of the area of the lots, pieces, or parcels of ground liable to assessment for the cost of such improvement shall not, within 15 days after the last day of publication of the resolution, file their protest in writing against such improvement, then the board of eommissiojners shall cause such improvement to be made and shall contract for the expense of the same to be charged *317 against the several lots, pieces, and parcels of ground liable to assessment for such improvement as provided in House Bill 231, which was approved April 17, 1908. In considering whether the resolution was insufficient to give the commissioners jurisdiction to order and contract for said paving, for the reason the resolution did not contain a statement or declaration that the city commissioners had declared the improvement necessary, we have not been cited to any decision of this court upon said question, but are cited cases of other courts passing on this identical question. ' The identical question was decided by the Supreme Court of Kansas in the case of Newman v. City of Emporia, 4 Pac. 815, wherein the court, in disposing of the identical question, stated as follows:

“1. The plaintiff! claims that the original resolution, ordering the improvements to be made on Sixth avenue, was Informal, for the reason that the city council ‘did not declare such ¿work or improvement necessary to be done ’ Now, the statute in force at the time, section 75 of the second-class city act (Comp. Laws 1879, c. 19, par. 814), does require that the resolution passed by the city council should ‘declare such work or improvement necessary to be done’; but we think the city council in effect complied with the law. When they declared that the work should be done, and instructed the city clerk ‘to advertise the same in accordance with the law governing such improvement,’ they, in effect, declared that the improvement was necessary, and thereby invited opposition and protest, and gave as full opportunity for the same as though they had in express terms declared that the improvement was necessary.”

The Supreme Court of Indiana, in the case of Spaulding v. Baxter, 58 N. E. 551, stated as follows:

“Besides, the council has the exclusive right to judge of the necessity for the improvement, and when it acts, and orders the improvement made, such action necessarily involves a determination of the necessity for the work.”

In the ease of Barber Asphalt Co. v. Edgerton (Ind.) 25 N. E. 436, the court stated:

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Bluebook (online)
1920 OK 226, 193 P. 526, 79 Okla. 315, 1920 Okla. LEXIS 120, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/oliver-v-pickett-co-okla-1920.