Paul v. Oberholtzer

249 P. 585, 121 Kan. 699, 1926 Kan. LEXIS 232
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedOctober 9, 1926
DocketNo. 27,032
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 249 P. 585 (Paul v. Oberholtzer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Paul v. Oberholtzer, 249 P. 585, 121 Kan. 699, 1926 Kan. LEXIS 232 (kan 1926).

Opinion

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Hopkins, J.:

The action was one involving the validity of certain paving proceedings by the board of commissioners of Independence. The proceedings in question comprised certain resolutions and ordinances, notices published pursuant thereto, a judgment of the district court, and a contract entered into by the city for the paving. The plaintiffs sought t'o have all such proceedings — the contract for the paving, and the previous judgment of the court— vacated, set aside and held for naught. A demurrer to their petition was sustained, and they appeal.

It appears that sometime prior to June 25, 1925, a large number of the property owners to be affected by the improvement petitioned the board of commissioners to repave, recurb and regutter Main street from the east line of Sixth street to the west line of Ninth street. The petition was filed with the city clerk. Some doubt existed as to whether a majority of the property owners affected had signed the petition. The commissioners on June 25, 1925, elected to treat the petition as advisory, and passed a' resolution providing that the street be repaved with vitrified brick, with concrete curb and gutter; that the resolution be published as provided by law; and that the resident owners be given twenty days in which to file a re[700]*700monstrance. The resolution was published and within the time limit a remonstrance signed by more than one-half of the resident property owners was filed, and on July 23,1925, the remonstrance against the repaving with brick was declared sufficient. On July 28 a petition signed by a majority of the resident property owners praying that the street be repaved with reinforced concrete was filed with the city clerk. On July 30 the commissioners passed a resolution providing for the regrading, repaving, recurbing and reguttering of the street with concrete; that the resolution be published with the right of the property owners to protest within twenty days from its last publication. No protest was filed, but on August 31, 1925, a petition praying for the repaving either with brick or reinforced concrete, the price with either not to exceed $1.75 per square yard, signed by a majority of the resident property owners to be affected was filed with the city clerk.

Various other proceedings were had by the city commission which need not be here recited. On September 26 Sherwood was awarded a contract to repave the street by resurfacing with brick. Thereafter an action was commenced in the district court of Montgomery county by I. D. Oberholtzer et al. v. City of Independence et al., praying an injunction against the city and the contractor to enjoin the defendants from resurfacing the street with brick. After trial and due consideration the court entered a permanent injunction, enjoining the city from resurfacing the street with brick under the proceedings theretofore had. The judgment, among other things, recited:

“And now on this 15th day of October, 1925, one of the judicial days of the regular October, 1925, term of said court, the parties appearing as before, and the court having had said matter under advisement since the 6th day of October, 1925, and the parties respectively having submitted additional authorities and the court being fully advised in the premises, doth find:
“That upon June 25, 1925, the commissioners passed a resolution in the ordinary form, providing for repaving, reguttering and recurbing, and that the repaving be made and constructed of vitrified brick; that the resolution provided that it should be published in accordance with law, and the resident owners be given twenty days to file a remonstrance. That within the time limit a remonstrance was filed, and on the 23d day of July, 1925, upon motion of Mr. Kerr, seconded by Mr. Harlow, the remonstrance filed against the repaving of Main street was declared to be sufficient. That upon or about July 28, 1925, a petition was filed by a majority of the resident property owners with the commissioners, petitioning that the commissioners pave Main street from the east line of Sixth street to the west line of Ninth street, with reinforced concrete. That [701]*701upon July 30, the commissioners passed a resolution regarding the repaving, recurbing and reguttering of all that portion of Main street in the city of Independence, from the east line of Sixth street to the west line of Ninth street. . . .
“That on September 26, 1925, the board of commissioners of the city of Independence met in adjourned session with Mayor Ken- and Commissioners Ryan and Harlow present. That at said meeting the board of commissioners adopted verified plans, specifications and estimates theretofore prepared by the city engineer for three types of repaving, to wit: new brick, reinforced concrete, brick resurfacing. That thereupon bids were received and opened for said three types of paving, said A. G. Sherwood being the only bidder, and all of said bids being within the engineer’s estimates. That on motion of Ryan, seconded by Harlow, it was ordered that Main street from Sixth to Ninth be repaved by resurfacing with one course of brick; that at such time the contract for the resurfacing of said street with brick was allowed to the only bidder, A. G. Sherwood.
“The court finds that inasmuch as a petition was first presented for the resurfacing of said street with brick and that a remonstrance was thereafter filed in due time, and that as soon thereafter as stated in the findings another petition was presented by a majority of the resident owners, petitioning for repaving of said street with concrete, and that the resolution passed by the board of commissioners provided that the same should be repaved with concrete, notifying the resident property owners that if they had any protest same should be made within twenty days; that the city could not thereafter award the contract to Mr. Sherwood for anything except that kind of paving, or concrete paving, as mentioned in the resolution; that the city commission should be, and they are hereby restrained from proceeding with the contract for repaving with brick with Mr. Sherwood under the present resolution and ordinance.
“It is therefore by the court ordered, adjudged and decreed that said defendant be and it is permanently restrained and enjoined from proceeding with the repaving of said street with brick resurfacing under the said contract with said A. G. Sherwood; it is further ordered, adjudged and decreed that said city may, if it so elects, repeal all orders, resolutions and ordinances heretofore adopted concerning said paving, or proceed to let said contract for repaving with reinforced concrete upon the verified estimate, plans and specifications heretofore prepared by the city engineer and adopted by said board to said A. G. Sherwood upon his bid for repaving said street with reinforced concrete.”

In accordance with the court’s judgment, the commissioners rescinded their action theretofore taken in letting a contract for brick resurfacing, and let a contract to the defendant Sherwood on his bid for reinforced concrete. The paving has long since been completed, but the plaintiffs seek to have the proceedings and the judgment of the court vacated as a nullity. They contend that there is no law under which the commissioners could, without readvertising, let the contract for reinforced concrete under a bid made four months be[702]

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Related

Barrows v. City of Ness City
683 P.2d 1267 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1984)

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Bluebook (online)
249 P. 585, 121 Kan. 699, 1926 Kan. LEXIS 232, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/paul-v-oberholtzer-kan-1926.