Redmond v. City of Lafayette

594 So. 2d 566, 1992 WL 25644
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 12, 1992
Docket91-380
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 594 So. 2d 566 (Redmond v. City of Lafayette) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Redmond v. City of Lafayette, 594 So. 2d 566, 1992 WL 25644 (La. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinion

594 So.2d 566 (1992)

Donald Charles REDMOND and Kelly Hart, Plaintiffs-Appellants,
v.
CITY OF LAFAYETTE, Louisiana, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 91-380.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

February 12, 1992.
Rehearing Denied March 12, 1992.

Logan & Sallinger, Wm. Logan, Jr., Lafayette, for plaintiffs/appellants.

Voorhies & Labbe, Michael D. Hebert, Lafayette, for defendant/appellee.

Before GUIDRY, FORET and LABORDE, JJ.

GUIDRY, Judge.

Plaintiffs appeal a judgment of the trial court denying their motion for summary *567 judgment and granting defendant's motion for summary judgment. We affirm.

Donald Charles Redmond and Kelly Hart (hereafter plaintiffs), both of whom are domiciled in the Parish of Lafayette, filed suit against the City of Lafayette seeking to have an annexation ordinance of the City, Ordinance # 0-3336, declared invalid. The ordinance in question seeks to annex an island of land surrounded by the City into the City. Both plaintiffs and the City filed motions for summary judgment. The trial court denied plaintiffs' motion and granted the City's motion. Plaintiffs timely filed a suspensive appeal. The City answered the appeal seeking damages for a frivolous appeal, attorney's fees and all costs.

In this suit plaintiffs challenge an ordinance of the City of Lafayette annexing into the City an area known as Broadmoor Terrace. On December 8, 1987, the Lafayette City Council adopted Ordinance 0-3336 annexing Broadmoor Terrace into the City. The ordinance was published December 13, 1987 and plaintiffs filed this suit on January 8, 1988. The City of Lafayette answered the suit. Thereafter, both parties filed motions for summary judgment.

The trial court finally heard the cross motions for summary judgment on August 20, 1990 and promptly took the motions under advisement. Reasons for judgment were issued by the trial court on December 4, 1990, with a written judgment following on December 21, 1990. Plaintiffs' motion for a new trial was denied January 11, 1991 and this appeal followed.

Following denial of their motion for a new trial, plaintiffs attempted to supplement the record. Their motion to supplement the record remains unsigned and we will not consider any documents filed after January 11, 1991, the date plaintiffs' motion for new trial was denied.

On appeal plaintiffs list eleven assignments of error which they divide into four issues. Appellants then address these four issues on appeal. We will do likewise.

ISSUE NO. 1

Appellants, in brief, frame this issue as follows:

"Whether annexation Ordinance 0-3336 by the City of Lafayette is invalid because there has not been strict statutory compliance in its adoption for the reason that:
(1) Written assent of the majority of resident property was not obtained; and,
(2) The 466 separate petitions do not contain an accurate description of the area proposed to be annexed."

The statutory requirements for annexation by ordinance are set forth in La. R.S. 33:172(A), which states in pertinent part as follows:

"No ordinance enlarging the boundaries of a municipality shall be valid unless prior to the adoption thereof a petition has been presented to the governing body of a municipality containing the written assent of a majority of the registered voters and a majority in number of the resident property owners as well as twenty-five percent in value of the property of the resident property owners within the area proposed to be included in the corporate limits according to the certificate of the parish assessor. If there are no registered voters residing in the area proposed for annexation, then the requirement for a majority of the registered voters on the petition shall not apply. The valuation of the property within the area proposed to be annexed shall be certified to by the assessor according to the assessment of each of the owners signing the petition. Where there has been a change of ownership since the last assessment of the property, the assessor shall certify the valuation of the present owner in accordance with the last assessment appearing on the rolls against any previous owner. In any case where the property of the present owner has not specifically been assessed the assessor shall estimate the assessed value of the property for the current year *568 and certify the same as the value of the property."

La.R.S. 33:172(D) provides:

"Notwithstanding the provisions of Subsection (A) of this section, any municipality may annex contiguous areas without the petitions required by said Subsection (A), by ordinance, provided prior to the adoption of any such ordinance, the question of the annexation shall be submitted to the qualified voters residing within the area proposed to be annexed in a special election called for that purpose by the municipality, and a majority of those voting at such election shall have voted in favor of the annexation. Any municipality may call such an election after being requested to do so through a petition signed by at least twenty-five percent of the resident property owners residing in the area requesting annexation and by the owners of at least twenty-five percent in value of the resident property within such area. The valuation of the property shall be determined as set forth in Subsection (A) above. The petition presented to the municipality shall contain an accurate description of the area proposed to be annexed. All elections called under the provisions of this subsection shall be conducted in the same manner as are other special elections called for bond and tax purposes by municipalities."

The quoted provisions provide for alternate ways for an area to be annexed into a city. An election is required in section (D), whereas there is no such requirement under section (A). Yet, appellants argue that non-compliance with the second to last sentence of section (D) should invalidate an annexation done under section (A). We find no merit to this argument and appellants cite no authority to bolster their tenuous argument. Furthermore, there is no statutory requirement that any map, plat or property description be attached to a petition for annexation under La.R.S. 33:172(A). In LeBlanc v. City of Lafayette, 543 So.2d 1040 (La.App. 3rd Cir.1989), writ denied, 548 So.2d 337 (La.1989), we disposed of a similar claim as follows:

"Plaintiffs next allege that the annexation petitions submitted by the City in support of their motion for summary judgment, some of which had a map of the area proposed to be annexed on the rear of the petition, failed to sufficiently comply with the annexation statutes. A review of the municipal annexation statutes, R.S. 33:171 et seq., shows that there is no statutory requirement that any map, plat, or property description be attached to any petition for annexation. Generally the first notice of the exact boundaries of the area being considered for annexation is provided to citizens living in the area by publication of the notice of the filing of an annexation petition in a newspaper published in the locality.
"This requirement of notice by publication is set forth in LSA-R.S. 33:172(B) which provides:
"B. Notice by publication shall be given once of the filing of the petition in some newspaper published or having general circulation in the municipality. No ordinance enlarging the boundaries of the municipality shall be adopted until ten days after the publication of the notice.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
594 So. 2d 566, 1992 WL 25644, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/redmond-v-city-of-lafayette-lactapp-1992.