People ex rel. Dorris v. Carnahan

270 Ill. 489
CourtIllinois Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 22, 1915
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 270 Ill. 489 (People ex rel. Dorris v. Carnahan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Illinois Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People ex rel. Dorris v. Carnahan, 270 Ill. 489 (Ill. 1915).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Craig

delivered the opinion of the court:

This is an appeal from a judgment of the county court of Saline county sustaining objections to. a special assessment for sidewalks levied and assessed against the property of appellees on application of the county collector for judgment for delinquent taxes.

It appears that in December, 1912, the board of local improvements of the city of Eldorado, in that county, passed a resolution for the construction of a sidewalk by-special assessment along certain streets in that city, the portion of the city to be thus improved being designated as sidewalk district No. 1. Thereafter the city council passed an ordinance approving and confirming the resolution of the board of local improvements, and such further proceedings were had that a petition was filed in the county court praying that a spécial assessment be levied on the properties to be benefited by the proposed improvement. Due notice was given all parties of such proceeding, and all parties who are objectors here appeared and filed objections, both legal and to benefits, on the application for confirmation of the assessment. A hearing was had on the legal objections at the August term, 1913, of that court and the objections were overruled. A motion for a new trial was made and overruled and an appeal prayed and allowed. At the March term, 1914, a hearing was had before a jury on the objections to benefits, which were sustained in part and the assessment roll re-cast and corrected to conform to the verdict of the jury, and a judgment was entered approving and confirming the same after a motion for a new trial had been made and overruled. An appeal was prayed and allowed from the judgment, but no appeal was ever perfected either from this judgment or from the prior judgment overruling the legal objections. Thereafter the board of local improvements gave notice of its election to proceed with the improvement, and a contract was let and the improvement constructed, and such further proceedings were had in the premises that the case came on for hearing at the February term, 1914,-on the application for confirmation of the certificate of the completion of the work. All parties to this proceeding were given due notice of such hearing and appeared and filed objections, among them objections to the effect that their property would not be benefited as much as it was assessed, that property had been placed on the revised roll that was not benefited in the sum assessed, and that the work had not been completed in accordance with the contract, or, in fact, at all. A hearing was had on the issues raised by these objections, at the conclusion of which the court overruled all objections, rendered judgment in favor of the city and approved and confirmed the action of the board of local improvements in approving and accepting the work. The objectors, however, refused to pay a part of the assessment against their property and the same was returned delinquent to the county collector, who made application for judgment and sale of the property for such delinquent taxes at the June term, 1915, of the court. Appellees appeared and filed objections to the application, in substance, that the tax levied was illegal and void. A hearing was had on the issues, raised by these objections, and the court sustained the same in part and rendered judgment abating the whole of the tax as to certain of the lots and part of the tax as to other of the lots included in the improvement district. From this judgment the People have prosecuted the present appeal to this court.

It appears that the ordinance provided for sidewalks on some fifty-one streets or parts of streets included in the paving district; that appellees’ property is located in that part of the district bounded by Jarvis and Jasper streets (the latter being a continuation of Jarvis street) on the north and Smith street on the south, lying east of Glen-wood avenue; that Newton street is the first street north of Smith street and south of Jarvis and Jasper streets; that these streets are intersected, going east from Glenwood avenue, by Mather avenue, Ridee street and Carnahan avenue, which run north and south through this portion of the paving district. The ordinance, as recommended by the board of local improvements and adopted by the city council, provided for sidewalks on both sides of all the streets and avenues running north and south except in front of two lots on the east side of Ridee street, a walk on both sides of Smith street between Carnahan avenue and Glenwood avenue except a half block on the north side of Smith street just east of Mather avenue, and for a walk on the north side of Smith street from Carnahan avenue east. No provision was made for any sidewalk on either side of Newton street or on the south side of Jarvis and Jasper streets, and appellees insist that the tax levy in question is illegal and void for the reason the assessment was spread upon the theory that sidewalks were to be constructed on each side of Newton street and on the south side of Jarvis and Jasper streets as well as on those streets for which sidewalks were provided for in the ordinance. The trial court adopted appellees’ theory of the case, and permitted them to show by the commissioner who spread the assessment, over the objection of appellant, that in spreading the assessment he did so on the assumption that sidewalks were to be constructed on each side of Newton street and on the south side of Jarvis and Jasper streets, as contended by appellees, as well as on the other streets in the district for which provision was made for sidewalks in the ordinance.

Appellant insists that the question as to whether or not the lots were assessed more than they were benefited or for an improvement which it was not within the contemplation of the ordinance" to construct should have been raised on the application for confirmation of the assessment, and cannot be raised at this time on the application for judgment and order of sale for such delinquent tax or assessment. Appellees admit this question could have been raised on the application for confirmation, and that such judgment is conclusive upon all questions which might have been raised at that time except want of jurisdiction to enter the order of confirmation apparent on the face of the record, and insist that such is the case here, for the reason that the ordinance, which was a part of the petition for confirmation, shows no sidewalks were provided for on these streets, and the assessment roll shows that appellees’ lots are assessed as much for the proposed improvement as other lots in the district were assessed on streets on which sidewalks were provided for in the ordinance. Attached to the assessment roll, and filed as a part of it, was the sworn certificate of the commissioner appointed to make the assessment that he had taken the oath of office required by law and made a complete assessment roll, and that the same contained a list of all lots, tracts and parcels of land assessed for the proposed improvement, etc., made in accordance with the statutes of the State of Illinois and the ordinance hereinafter mentioned, and that no lot, block or tract of land had been assessed in said assessment for said improvement more than its proportionate share of the cost.

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Bluebook (online)
270 Ill. 489, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-ex-rel-dorris-v-carnahan-ill-1915.