Shultz v. Ritterbusch, County Treasurer

134 P. 961, 38 Okla. 478
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedMay 13, 1913
Docket4436
StatusPublished
Cited by37 cases

This text of 134 P. 961 (Shultz v. Ritterbusch, County Treasurer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Shultz v. Ritterbusch, County Treasurer, 134 P. 961, 38 Okla. 478 (Okla. 1913).

Opinions

TURNER, J.

On November 6, 1911, in the district court of Logan county, J. F. Shultz, plaintiff in error, sued to enjoin Fred W. Kitterbusch, treasurer of Logan county, from selling lots 7 to IS, inclusive, -in block 38 in the city of Guthrie, the property of plaintiff, which had been levied *480 upon to pay a special assessment theretofore taxed against them for the paving of certain streets in said city, making the city, its mayor, board of commissioners,, city clerk, and his successor in office, city treasurer, and J. F. Hill, the paving contractor, parties defendant. After a temporary injunction had issued, he filed an amended petition, and narrowed his attack to Noble avenue, upon which said lots abut, known as paving district No, 1, and assailed the assessment proceedings upon certain grounds. As a result of a motion to strike, a number of those grounds were eliminated by the court, and, after issues joined, the cause was tried upon the allegations of the petition assailing the proceedings in the following particulars only:

“(1) The proper enactment and approval of House Bill No. 231. (2) The constitutionality of House Bill No. 231. (3) The alleged failure to adopt and publish the preliminary resolution of intention to' pave, provided for in section 2 of said act. (4) The failure to give the notice of the hearing on the return of the appraisers, provided for in .section 5 of said act. (5) The allegations as to the contract being in excess of the estimate of cost submitted by the city engineer. (6) The allegations as to the additional 5 per cent, being added to the contract price for engineering and publication fees. (7) The allegations as to the constitutionality and illegality of the law, requiring the collection of one per cent, in addition to the rate provided in the bonds, and eighteen per cent, penalty provided for in said act. (8) The allegations contained in the first cause of action as to the proceedings under the law of 1901.”

Among other defenses invoked was Comp. Laws 1909, sec. 728 (Rev. Laws 1910, sec. 644), which reads:

“No suit shall be sustained to set aside any sucli assessment, or to enjoin the mayor and council from making any such improvement/ or levying or collecting any such assessments, or issuing such bonds, or providing for their payment as herein authorized, or contesting the validity thereof on any ground or for any reason other than for the failure of the city council to adopt and publish the -preliminary resolution provided for in section two in cases requiring such resolution and its publication and to give the notice of the hearing on the re *481 turn of the appraisers provided for in section five unless such suit shall be commenced within sixty days after the passage of the ordinance making such final assessment, provided * * *”

There was trial to the court and judgment for defendants sustaining the validity of the assessment, and plaintiff brings the case here.

The record discloses that, for street improvement purposes, the city was divided into paving districts, which the defendant in error Hill, on December 11, 1908, contracted with the city to pave; the city agreeing “to pay for all said work in street improvement bonds to bear interest at six per cent, per annum issued by the city, which the contractor agrees to accept at par,” and which were delivered when the work was done, said ■Hill receiving said bonds in the sum of $90,454.83, dated November 6, 1909, for paving said district No. 1. As to the payment of said bonds the contract further provided:

“The city further agrees that it will cause the levy and collection of assessments against the property liable to the same under the laws of the state of Oklahoma, and will levy and collect annually a sufficient tax to pay the bonds so to be issued, with the annual interest thereon, as -the same shall become due,

The record further discloses that the assessing ordinance was passed October 22, 1909, providing for the payment of the cost of the improvements in ten annual installments, and that, when the county treasurer on tax sale day in November, 1911, sought to sell said lots to enforce the payment of the first in-, stallment, which fell due September 1, 1910, this suit was brought.

Hpon this state of the record, the court being of opinion that defendants should be enjoined from collecting interest at the rate of seven per cent, per annum upon the unpaid installments chargeable against the property of plaintiff, and that the' officers should be directed to collect interest at the rate of six per cent, per annum, and no more, in all cases wherein the installments maturing each year are paid at or before the time *482 fixed for the payment thereof by law, and that defendants should be enjoined from certifying for collection and collecting more than ten per cent, per annum interest or penalty on or upon installments which may become delinquent from date of maturity to time of sale, and that all other relief prayed for by plaintiff should be denied,' it was therefore ordered, adjudged, and decreed by the court:

* * That the defendants herein and each of them be and they are hereby perpetually enjoined from collecting interest at the rate of seven per cent, per annum upon unpaid installments chargeable against the property of the plaintiff set out in his petition in this cause and all others similarly situated, and the said defendants and each of them be further enjoined from collecting a penalty of eighteen per cent, upon installments becoming delinquent between the maturity thereof and date of sale, but the proper officers are directed to collect interest upon all installments- paid at or before maturity at the rate of six per cent, per annum and no more, and upon all -delinquent installments for the period between the date of maturity thereof and date of sale, at the rate of ten per cent, per annum and no more, and, after date of sale, all such delinquent installments to- bear interest or penalty at the rate of eighteen per cent, as provided by law. It is further ordered, adjudged, and decreed by the court that the city clerk of the city of Guthrie be and he is' hereby directed to return to all such persons, as have paid their installments of taxes maturing September 1, 1911, at or before maturity thereof at seven per cent, per annum, an amount equal to one per cent, of-the total unpaid assessment. It is further -ordered, adjudged, and decreed by the court that the prayer of plaintiff’s petition be and the same is in all other respects denied.”

From the judgment the city and the contractor prosecute their separate cross-appeals, 'and ask that the same be modified -so as “to permit and require the collection of interest upon 'assessments made for the improvements aforesaid, at the rate of seven per cent, until maturity, and -at the rate of eighteen per cent, after maturity, if not paid when due, as provided by law, and that said judgment and decree be in all other respects affirmed.”

*483

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Bluebook (online)
134 P. 961, 38 Okla. 478, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/shultz-v-ritterbusch-county-treasurer-okla-1913.