Ruzic v. City of Eden Prairie

479 N.W.2d 417, 1991 Minn. App. LEXIS 1259, 1991 WL 276311
CourtCourt of Appeals of Minnesota
DecidedDecember 31, 1991
DocketNo. C6-91-1259
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 479 N.W.2d 417 (Ruzic v. City of Eden Prairie) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ruzic v. City of Eden Prairie, 479 N.W.2d 417, 1991 Minn. App. LEXIS 1259, 1991 WL 276311 (Mich. Ct. App. 1991).

Opinion

OPINION

A. PAUL LOMMEN, Judge.

Respondent appealed assessment for improvements made by appellant City of Eden Prairie in district court. The trial court denied the city’s motion for summary judgment based on respondent’s waiver of the right to appeal. The trial court concluded the statutory right to appeal could not be waived and appellant failed to follow proper procedure by not assessing all bene-fitted properties. Therefore, the trial court granted summary judgment for respondent, ordering reassessment of all benefit-fed properties.

The trial court granted summary judgment for appellant on other issues raised by respondent, ruling competitive bidding is not required for engineering supervision services and a volume increase in the number of parts which does not result in a 25% increase in the entire contract cost does not require rebidding. Respondent appealed these issues; appellant challenged the reassessment.

FACTS

Respondent entered into developer’s agreements with appellant for undeveloped land and submitted a 100% petition for sanitary sewer and water main improvements. In the agreements and the petition, respondent waived rights to a public hearing and appeal, and agreed to pay the total cost of the improvements. Respondent also presented an agreement he had with John Luknic, an owner of adjacent property, that respondent would petition for improvements at respondent’s expense and Luknic would pay for similar improvements for his property.

Relying on these documents, the city council adopted the petition, and the city constructed the improvements. After the improvements were made and appellant assessed respondent for the entire cost of the improvements, respondent appealed the assessment to district court.

ISSUES

1. Did the trial court err by granting summary judgment for respondent and concluding that the statutory right to appeal assessment under Minn.Stat. § 429.-081 (1988) could not be waived?

2. Did the trial court err by granting summary judgment for appellant and ruling that engineering supervision contracts with municipalities need not be competitively bid?

3. Did the trial court err by granting summary judgment for appellant and ruling that a volume increase in a number of parts need not be rebid where the entire contract cost increase was not over 25%?

[419]*419ANALYSIS

1. Waiver of Assessment Appeal

Minn.Stat. § 429.081 (1988) states the method for appealing special assessments:

Within 30 days after the adoption of the assessment, any person aggrieved, who is not precluded by failure to object prior to or at the assessment hearing, or whose failure to so object is due to a reasonable cause, may appeal to the district court by serving a notice upon the mayor or clerk of the municipality.

The trial court found respondent had met all statutory requirements. However, respondent had waived these rights through the developer’s agreements and the petition. The 100% petition for improvements submitted by respondent provided in part:

Pursuant to M.S.A. 429.031, Subd. 3, the undersigned hereby waive any public hearing to be held on said improvements, and further state and agree that the total cost of said improvements shall be specially assessed against the property described below in accordance with the City’s special assessment policies.

The developer’s agreements provided in part:

* * * Developer may submit a 100% petition signed by all owners of the property, requesting the City to install the improvements. If Developer chooses to execute the 100% petition, Developer waives all rights they have by virtue of Minnesota State Statutes Sec. 429.081 or otherwise to challenge the amount or validity of amounts, or the procedure used by the City in levying the assessments and hereby releases the City, its officers, agents, and employees from any and all liability related to or arising out of the levying of the assessments.

The trial court decided the right to appeal could not be waived by agreement. The court found allowing waiver of the right to appeal would violate public policy. Respondent had two choices in providing for development improvements, to build and dedicate them to the city, or to petition the city to construct the improvements and be assessed. A city may require dedication of such improvements by statute. Minn. Stat. § 462.358, subd. 2b (1988); Collis v. City of Bloomington, 310 Minn. 5, 17, 246 N.W.2d 19, 26 (1976). Respondent decided to petition the city to construct the improvements. Under either method, respondent would have paid the full cost of the improvements. The 100% petition method serves the public interest by avoiding assessment procedures which are waived by the developer’s agreements.

Waivers are generally favored in the law. In State v. Independent Sch. Dist. No. 810, 260 Minn. 237, 246, 109 N.W.2d 596, 602 (1961), the Minnesota Supreme Court stated:

A “waiver” is a voluntary relinquishment of a known right. No consideration is required to support it, and when once established it is irrevocable even in the absence of consideration therefor. Waivers, where they operate to dispense with merely formal requirements in judicial procedure, should be favored, and except as limited by public policy a person may waive any legal right, constitutional or statutory.

Also, Minnesota case law supports waiver of other assessment procedures such as the right to notice and a public hearing. In re Special Assessment by City of Moorhead, 239 Minn. 351, 356, 58 N.W.2d 746, 749 (1953); see also Klapmeier v. Town of Center, 346 N.W.2d 133, 137 (Minn.1984); Independent Sch. Dist. No. 254 v. City of Kenyon, 411 N.W.2d 545, 550 (Minn.App.1987). The trial court distinguished these cases as only dealing with notice, not the right to appeal. The trial court relied on Downtown Development Project v. City of Marshall, 281 N.W.2d 161 (Minn.1979). In that case, the court refused to imply waiver of the right to appeal where the aggrieved person did not object to the assessments prior to the improvements. Id. at 163 (prior version of statute did not require the aggrieved person to preserve their appeal by prior objection; the statute was subsequently amended). However, appellant here is not asking the court to find an implied waiver. Respondent expressly waived his rights under Minn.Stat. § 429.081 in the developer’s [420]*420agreements when he submitted the 100% petition.

The trial court also found waiver of the right to appeal would impermissibly wrest jurisdiction from the court. Waiver of jurisdiction and statutory rights has been allowed in other situations.

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Related

In Re the Welfare of B.C.G.
537 N.W.2d 489 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 1995)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
479 N.W.2d 417, 1991 Minn. App. LEXIS 1259, 1991 WL 276311, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ruzic-v-city-of-eden-prairie-minnctapp-1991.