State Ex Rel. Gorton v. Port of Walla Walla

505 P.2d 796, 81 Wash. 2d 872, 1973 Wash. LEXIS 857
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 1, 1973
Docket42394
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 505 P.2d 796 (State Ex Rel. Gorton v. Port of Walla Walla) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Washington Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State Ex Rel. Gorton v. Port of Walla Walla, 505 P.2d 796, 81 Wash. 2d 872, 1973 Wash. LEXIS 857 (Wash. 1973).

Opinion

Utter, J.

This case involves the questioned legality of an expenditure by the Port of Walla Walla which was used to acquire a parcel of land. The State Auditor, pursuant to his statutory mandate to examine the financial affairs of every public office and officer, conducted an examination of the actions of the Port of Walla Walla and challenged the legality of this expenditure. The Attorney General, pursuant to RCW 43.09.260, then instituted this legal action. Trial to the court was held, judgment was entered for the Port of Walla Walla and title to the questioned property was quieted in the port.

The Attorney General’s assignments of error involve three basic issues: (1) Whether there is evidence in the record to support the trial court’s findings that the port did not make a gift or loan of its money or credit in violation of article 8, section 7 of the Washington State Constitution and whether the expenditure for the parcel of land was authorized by present statutory authority governing port districts; (2) whether article 8, section 8 of the Washington State Constitution and RCW 53.36.120, which require the adoption of specific budget items prior to expenditures for industrial development, were violated by the port’s acquisition of a parcel of land; and (3) whether RCW 53.20.010, requiring amendment of a comprehensive plan prior to expenditures for improvements, was violated by the port’s acquisition of a particular parcel of land. We find substantial evidence to support the trial court’s findings of fact and hold that, under the existing statutory authority, the port district acted properly.

The transactions in the case involve the Port of Walla Walla; Sun-Glo Producers, Inc., a Washington corporation involved in farming operations; Atlantic Richfield Hanford Company, Inc. (ARCHO); Columbia Limited Partnership, a general land-owning partnership; Mr. and Mrs. Louis Jaussaud, owners of a sheep ranch in Walla Walla County; *874 and a partnership known as Wolf, Wolf, Forbes and Roope, owners of a wheat ranch in Walla Walla County.

On May 25, 1967, Sun-Glo took an option to purchase the entire Jaussaud ranch. The option involved an immediate payment of $10,000 with an additional payment of $10,000 on August 15, which payment would extend the option to purchase until January 1, 1968. At that time a downpayment of $80,000 was required to exercise the option. SunGlo did make the first two $10,000 payments but failed to exercise the option to purchase on January 1,1968.

Shortly after the Sun-Glo option was obtained, the Port of Walla Walla received an option from Sun-Glo covering approximately 250 acres of the Jaussaud ranch. On the day the option was obtained, ARCHO was granted an option by the port to purchase 250 acres of the property optioned by the port. On December 13, 1967, the Port of Walla Walla amended the terms of their option with ARCHO, agreeing to sell their property for $65,000. On December 20, 1967, the port paid $147,337.16 into escrow to assert its option to purchase from Sun-Glo. On the same day, ARCHO paid $64,500 into escrow by means of a check made out to the port asserting its option from the port. Before title could be transferred, however, on December 22, 1967, an independent transaction occurred between the Jaussauds and Wolf, Wolf, Forbes and Roope. In this transaction, the Jaussauds deeded that portion of their land which was covered by the option to the Port of Walla Walla to the Wolf group and took title to land owned by them in exchange. The Wolf group then executed deeds to parcels of land to the Port of Walla Walla (Parcel A) and to ARCHO (Parcel B). The remaining land of the Jaussauds was conveyed to Columbia Limited Partnership on December 28,1967.

The contention of the state is that the port made a gift or loan of its money or credit based upon what it asserts to be the conclusively established fact that the Port of Walla Walla advanced $80,000 to complete the downpayment to the Jaussauds and that it contributed $32,137.16 toward the *875 total amount received by the Jaussauds for Parcel B, the parcel purchased by ARCHO.

The state’s contention is premised upon certain correspondence exchanged between representatives of the port and a potential user of Parcel A, purchased by the port. It contends the true value of the parcel purchased by ARCHO was $97,137.16 and inasmuch as ARCHO paid only $65,000 for the parcel, the difference was to be found in the amount the port paid for its parcel which was not reflected in the true value of that land.

As in all factual disputes, however, there are at least two sides. The trial court specifically found in finding of fact No. 9 that “the purchase price paid by the Port of Walla Walla for Parcel A ... is and was a fair and reasonable price; that the purchase price paid by Atlantic Rich-field Hanford Co. for Parcel B ... is and was a fair and reasonable price.”

None of the options from Jaussaud to Sun-Glo Producers, Inc. to the Port of Walla Walla or the option from the port to ARCHO were found to have been exercised, and the court instead found that the port and ARCHO purchased their property on December 29, 1967, directly from the Wolf group.

There is testimony in the record which substantiates the theory of the state but the trier of fact need not and did not accept this evidence as evidence of value. Plancich v. Williamson, 57 Wn.2d 367, 370-73, 357 P.2d 693, 92 A.L.R.2d 559 (1960). An examination of the documentary evidence submitted by the state could well have sustained findings of fact favorable to the state’s contentions. The trial court, however, on conflicting testimony, did not agree with the theory presented by the state and there is substantial evidence in the record to support the findings of the trial court. Hernandez v. Western Farmers Ass’n, 76 Wn.2d 422, 425, 456 P.2d 1020 (1969); Kuster v. Gould Nat’l Batteries, Inc., 71 Wn.2d 474, 476, 429 P.2d 220 (1967); Johnson v. Ramstad, 68 Wn.2d 971, 413 P.2d 348 (1966).

Without going at length into the supporting testimony *876 substantiating the trial court findings, the record supports the trial court’s conclusion that the Jaussauds-Sun-Glo option was never exercised, and that the conditions and figures for the property involved, therefore, had no relevance to the final purchase price and were rendered meaningless. As stated by the trial court judge in his oral opinion, with the disappearance of the earlier options there was “a whole new ball game.” The record does not compel a conclusion that the Port of Walla Walla, in acquiring Parcel A, paid more for the land than its actual fair market value.

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Bluebook (online)
505 P.2d 796, 81 Wash. 2d 872, 1973 Wash. LEXIS 857, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-gorton-v-port-of-walla-walla-wash-1973.