People Ex Rel. Forde v. Town of Corte Madera

251 P.2d 988, 115 Cal. App. 2d 32, 1952 Cal. App. LEXIS 1764
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 23, 1952
DocketCiv. 15302
StatusPublished
Cited by34 cases

This text of 251 P.2d 988 (People Ex Rel. Forde v. Town of Corte Madera) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People Ex Rel. Forde v. Town of Corte Madera, 251 P.2d 988, 115 Cal. App. 2d 32, 1952 Cal. App. LEXIS 1764 (Cal. Ct. App. 1952).

Opinion

PETERS, P. J.

This action in quo warranto was instituted by the attorney general on the relation of Edward and Lucille Forde, the real parties in interest, to have set aside and declared invalid a certain annexation proceeding of the town of Corte Madera in Marin County, which annexation included .67 of an acre owned by the Fordes. It appears that the town of Larkspur, which on its southerly and easterly boundaries abuts Corte Madera, annexed some land adjoining that annexed by Corte Madera, and including the strip in which the Fordes’ property is located. The basic question presented is whether the Corte Madera or the Larkspur annexation shall prevail. The trial court concluded that the Corte Madera annexation was valid and prior, and, therefore, superior to that of Larkspur, and entered its judgment denying the plaintiffs any relief. From that judgment the plaintiffs appeal.

The map, which is made a part of this opinion, discloses most of the factual situation. Corte Madera and Larkspur are sixth class cities in Marin County. The two towns have a common boundary towards the north and northwest of Corte Madera. The Fordes, the appellants, own .67 acres in the corridor which runs east and west and is marked part of Parcel A-l on the map. The Fordes’ property is marked with *35 diagonal lines. A-l also includes a long corridor along the easterly boundary of Corte Madera running north and south. The owners of the Fifer-Moore tract, consisting of 37.85 acres, and designated as Parcel A-2 on the map, desired to annex their property to Corte Madera. The long right-angled corridor designated A-l is connected to A-2 by Parcel A-3, which is simply that part of the roadbed of Highway 101 that touches A-2. The long, narrow corridor marked Parcel A-l that runs north and south is occupied by the Northwestern *36 Pacific Railroad Company’s main line, and is used solely for railroad purposes. At the south of the map that right of way is within the town limits of Corte Madera, but prior to the annexation proceedings the westerly boundary of the right of way was the easterly boundary of Corte Madera.

On August 28, 1950, the sole owners of A-2, being the owners of more than one-fourth of the area sought to be annexed by area and assessed value, petitioned Corte Madera to annex A-l, A-2 and A-3. This petition was filed under the “Annexation of Uninhabited Territory Act of 1939,” Government Code, sections 35300 to 35326. It is conceded that the area is uninhabited within the meaning of that statute. On October 2, 1950, the Pordes appeared before the city council of Corte Madera and protested the annexation, but their protests were overruled. (See Gov. Code, § 35313.) On October 9, 1950, an annexation ordinance was introduced which was passed by the council October 16, 1950. A copy of this ordinance was filed with the Secretary of State on November 27, 1950. (See Gov. Code, § 35316.) It will be noted that if Corte Madera desired to annex the Pifer-Moore tract, it was necessary to go around certain areas already annexed to Larkspur. In 1944 Larkspur had annexed a long corridor extending westerly from the town of Larkspur and marked on the map “Extension of William Avenue.” It is not now developed as a street. This constitutes part of the north boundary of Corte Madera. In 1950, Larkspur had annexed “Parcel B-l,” so that the Pifer-Moore tract was cut off from Corte Madera unless a corridor of the type of A-l and the portion of the highway (A-3), were also annexed.

In the meantime, Larkspur had also commenced an annexation proceeding. On September 5, 1950, eight days after the institution of the Corte Madera proceedings, a petition under the Uninhabited Territory Act was filed to annex to Larkspur the area marked “B-2” on the map, which includes that portion of the corridor in which the Pordes’ property is located. It was necessary for Larkspur to annex this corridor, for otherwise, because of the Corte Madera annexation, B-2 would not be contiguous to Larkspur. The Larkspur annexation ordinance was passed October 10, 1950, and was filed with the Secretary of State on November 13, 1950. It is this inclusion of the easterly-westerly leg of the A-l corridor in both annexation proceedings that has led to the present controversy. No proceeding of any kind has ever been brought by Corte Madera or anyone else to contest the validity of the *37 Larkspur annexation ordinance. The evidence shows that Corte Madera is closer to the disputed area by road than is. Larkspur. The trial court held that the Corte Madera annexation, having been started prior to that of Larkspur, prevailed over the Larkspur annexation. It is this holding that appellants challenge on this appeal.

One of the major contentions of appellants is that the present proceeding constitutes an attack on the Larkspur annexation in violation of section 349% of the Code of Civil Procedure which provides: ‘ The validity of .any proceedings for the annexation of territory to a municipal corporation, or for the consolidation of municipal corporations, shall not be contested in any action unless such action shall have been brought within three months after the completion of such proceedings, or, in case such proceedings are completed prior to the time that this act takes effect, then within three months after this act shall have become effective.”

Admittedly, this statute is applicable to quo warranto proceedings, and would warrant, if applicable to the problem here involved, the relief prayed for by appellants. (People v. City of Los Angeles, 93 Cal.App. 532 [269 P. 934].) Respondents do not challenge this, but contend that the section cannot be used to perfect a subsequent annexation in derogation of a valid prior annexation.

There can be no doubt that the Uninhabited Territory Act, under which both annexations proceeded, grants priority to Corte Madera as the annexer prior in time. The sections of the Government Code so providing are sections 35308 and 35309. They read as follows:

Section 35308 : “When a petition for the annexation of any territory to a city has been received by its legislative body a petition asking for the annexation of any of the territory described in the petition shall not be presented to the legislative body of any other city until an ordinance disapproving such annexation becomes effective.”

Section 35309: “After one legislative body has received a petition, no other legislative body shall take any action for the annexation of any part of the territory described in the petition, until the ordinance of the first city disapproving annexation becomes effective.”

It is the theory of the respondents, found to be correct by the trial court, that, where the first annexation is completed, these sections constitute a positive prohibition of subsequent proceedings; that such subsequent proceedings are *38 an absolute nullity and are void; that no life can be breathed into such void subsequent proceedings by the failure to contest them; and that section 349% of the Code of Civil Procedure does not accomplish this result. With this theory we agree. This result follows because the absence of a prior annexation is, by the law, made an indispensable condition precedent to the filing of a subsequent proceeding.

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251 P.2d 988, 115 Cal. App. 2d 32, 1952 Cal. App. LEXIS 1764, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-ex-rel-forde-v-town-of-corte-madera-calctapp-1952.