Thomas v. Boise City

138 P. 1110, 25 Idaho 522, 1914 Ida. LEXIS 16
CourtIdaho Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 7, 1914
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 138 P. 1110 (Thomas v. Boise City) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Thomas v. Boise City, 138 P. 1110, 25 Idaho 522, 1914 Ida. LEXIS 16 (Idaho 1914).

Opinion

STEWART, J.

This action was brought in the district court of the third judicial district in and for the county of Ada. The respondent in his complaint alleged that Boise City is a municipal corporation of the first class, organized by virtue of the general laws of the state relating to cities, of the first class, and is in Ada county, Idaho; that the defendant, Arthur Hodges, is mayor, and John A. Davis, A. V. Eiehelberger, Edward Herrington and Thomas Finnegan are all of the members of- the common council of said city, and that Thomas Finnegan is the officer who has charge of the streets and alleys of Boise City; that the plaintiff is the owner and in possession of certain real estate described in the complaint ; that on the 7th day of June, 1913, the mayor and city council of Boise City claim to have passed and approved Ordinance No. 1076, which is in the record, and which is in controversy in this action, and which will be dealt with in this opinion; that after said ordinance had been passed and approved, on the 15th of June, 1913, the mayor and city-council named William G. Messersmith, Ira E. High, L. W. Grubb, Mark Leonard and George W. Smith as a board of appraisers to appraise said property above mentioned and make due report of their findings in that behalf to the mayor and city council; that the persons so appointed by the mayor and council, after such appointment, returned to the mayor and council their findings in writing as to damages found by them to have been incurred by the plaintiff on account of the taking of each of the tracts -of land described in this action, as follows : Tract No. 1, $669.33; Tract No. 2, $916.97; Tract No. 3, $37.11; that thereafter the mayor and city council passed and approved Resolution No. 245, which is made a part of the complaint, and thereby proposed to take for the uses of the city Tract No. 1 and Tract No. 3 referred to above and in [529]*529Ordinance No. 1076; that on the 18th day of July plaintiff received a letter or notice by mail, a copy of which is made a part of the complaint; that the plaintiff has not been paid any of the moneys referred to, nor has any other person to his use or benefit, and that the plaintiff declines and always has declined to receive the same or any part thereof. . Plaintiff further shows that the defendants claimed to take said property for public purposes under alleged eminent domain proceedings claimed to have been had under and by virtue of the provisions of subd. 27 of par. 15 of sec. 2238 of the Rev. Codes of Idaho, as amended by chap. 81 of the Laws of 1911, pp. 266, 278, 279. Plaintiff further alleges that the provisions of the statute referred to are unconstitutional and void, in that neither said provisions nor any other provisions of the law relating to cities of the first class provide for due process of law in that:

(a) There is no provision for the service of process upon the person or persons whose property is sought to be taken.

(b) There is no provision for hearing on the question of the damages incurred by the person whose property is sought to be taken in said act.

(e) Said act is void for uncertainty in that it cannot be deternfined therefrom whether the five persons who are to determine and assess the adequate compensation prescribed in said ordinance No. 1076 are required to be freeholders or are required to be householders, and is in fact wholly unintelligible as to the requirements in that behalf, and in that it contains no requirement of process.

(d) Personal notice was not given to the plaintiff of the intention tp take the plaintiff’s property in said or any proceedings, nor is such or any notice provided by statute, or otherwise, or at all.

(e) Said board of appraisers is not and was not an impartial board, in that plaintiff was not given notice of intention to appoint or permitted to participate, or object thereto.

(f) The particular assessment pretended to be made is void in that:

[530]*530(1) Said appraisers were not sworn faithfully and impartially to make the assessment to be submitted to them, or otherwise, or at all.

(2) Said appraisers did not swear or cause witnesses called before them to be sworn.

(3) The plaintiff was not given opportunity to bring witnesses before them for examination, either under oath, or otherwise, or at all.

(4) Further, that they are unconstitutional and void in that said act is a special law and attempts to provide a method and procedure which is special to cities of the first and second class and villages, and in contravention of the provisions of that portion of see. 19, art. 3 of the constitution of the state of Idaho, which reads: “The legislature shall not pass . . . . special laws in any of the following enumerated cases, that is to say.: .... authorizing the laying out, opening, altering, maintaining, working on, or vacating roads, highways, streets, alleys, town plats, parks, cemeteries, or any public grounds not owned by the state,” and for such reason is unconstitutional.

The plaintiff further alleges that the tracts or parcels of real estate sought to be taken by the defendant Boise City are of great value to the plaintiff and of a value very much in excess of the amount proposed to be given; that the said real estate is the plaintiff’s private property, and that the same is not subject to be taken for public uses except only in manner and form as provided by law and subject to the conditions imposed by the constitution and general laws of the state governing the taking of property in eminent domain proceedings; that the defendants threatened to and are about to enter upon the said premises of the plaintiff and remove therefrom fences, buildings, sidewalks, curbings, and to dig and cut up and otherwise injure, destroy and damage the property of the plaintiff to plaintiff’s great and irreparable injury and damage, and that unless restrained by the court, the defendants will so do; that plaintiff is wholly without remedy unless the court grant a writ of injunction' staying the defendants from entering upon said premises of the plaintiff. [531]*531Then follows the prayer for a temporary restraining order forbidding the defendants and their officers, agents, servants, representatives and attorneys from entering on the premises and that the court grant a permanent order of injunction in the judgment; that the trial court adjudge the law to be unconstitutional and void, in that it does not provide for due process of law in the taking of property, and for the reasons alleged -in the complaint; that the proceedings provided by law are special laws and in contravention of the provisions of art. 3, sec. 19 of the state constitution; that the court find and adjudge that the proceedings were unauthorized by law and null and void, and that the judgment prohibit the defendant city from proceeding further in condemnation proceedings under the aforesaid statute, and that the cloud cast upon the title of the plaintiff be removed and the title to the premises be quieted in plaintiff.

There is a stipulation in the transcript that the transcript contains “full, true and correct copies of the complaint, order to show cause, amended stipulation, demurrer, minutes of the court, notice and judgment, all of which are of thé records and files in this cause, were submitted to the judge, and by him used in the hearing of said demurrer and constitute all the records or files used and considered by said judge on such hearing. ’ ’

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
138 P. 1110, 25 Idaho 522, 1914 Ida. LEXIS 16, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/thomas-v-boise-city-idaho-1914.