Wallace, Trustee v. Simpson

27 N.E.2d 130, 108 Ind. App. 54, 1940 Ind. App. LEXIS 12
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 10, 1940
DocketNo. 16,219.
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 27 N.E.2d 130 (Wallace, Trustee v. Simpson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wallace, Trustee v. Simpson, 27 N.E.2d 130, 108 Ind. App. 54, 1940 Ind. App. LEXIS 12 (Ind. Ct. App. 1940).

Opinion

Stevenson, J.

The appellee Emmett Simpson brought this action against James J. Wallace, Trustee of Noble Township, Jay County, Indiana, the appellants Earl Warnock, John L. Pearson, and the appellee F. Jacob Heidegger, as members of his Advisory Board, and the appellant Charles A. Beeler, as Auditor of Jay County, Indiana, to restrain and enjoin said officials from proceeding further with the issuance and sale of bonds for the construction of a school house in Noble Township, Jay County, Indiana.

The complaint alleged that the plaintiff was a taxpayer in Noble Township and that prior to the 15th day of November, 1937, ninety-five owners of taxable real estate in Noble Township filed their petition with the Advisory Board of said township, asking said board to issue bonds of the school township in the sum of $23,540.00 for the purpose of constructing a, grade school building and community auditorium in said township.

The complaint further alleged that notice of the filing of this petition was printed and published in a local newspaper, the first of which publications was on November 17, 1937. The complaint further alleged 'that on the 15th day of December, 1937, a remonstrance, signed by one hundred thirty-two (132) owners of taxable real estate in Noble Township, was filed as the law provided, objecting and remonstrating against the *56 issuance and sale of said bonds for the purpose intended. The petitioner further avers that, notwithstanding the filing of said remonstrance, the trustee and members of the Advisory Board, on the 20th day of December, 1937, entered an order directing the township trustee to certify said petition to the Auditor of Jay County, Indiana, for the purpose of having the same presented to and acted favorably upon by the State Board of Tax Commissioners. The complaint then contained the following paragraph:

“The plaintiff further avers that he has no other adequate remedy at law and that unless an injunction is issued out of this court enjoining and restraining said defendants from carrying out their said intention to certify said matter to the Auditor of Jay County, to be presented to and heard by the State Tax Board, that said defendants will proceed to certify said petition to the Auditor of Jay County, Indiana, and there to be presented to and heard by the State Tax Board, all of which will be in violation of said statute and will greatly injure this plaintiff and the 131 other remonstrators which this plaintiff represents.
“Wherefore, the plaintiff asks the court that a temporary injunction be issued out of this court, without notice, restraining and enjoining the defendants and each of them from taking any action whatever upon said petition and said remonstrance for a period of one year and upon final hearing that the defendants be permanently enjoined from taking any action whatever upon the petition filed for said bonds and the remonstrance filed against the same for a period of one year and for such other order of this court as the court may deem proper in the premises.”

Upon the filing of this petition and the bond on the part of the petitioner the court entered an order enjoin-' ing further proceedings in said matter until a final hearing. This order was issued on the 22nd day of December, 1937, and the defendants were notified that *57 said cause would be heard on the 8th day of January, 1938. On the 3rd day of January, 1938, the defendants appeared specially and filed a motion to dissolve the temporary injunction for the reason that the order as entered by the court was in effect an injunction and not a temporary restraining order; that the court was without jurisdiction in the absence of notice and without a showing of an emergency to issue anything other than a temporary restraining order. This motion was overruled by the court on the 18th day of January, 1938, and this ruling constitutes the first error assigned in this court.

Upon the overruling of this motion, the appellants demurred to the complaint, assigning as grounds for demurrer that the court had no jurisdiction of the subject-matter of this action and that the complaint was insufficient to state a cause of action. The court on the 22nd day of January, 1938, overruled this demurrer to which ruling the defendants separately and severally objected and refused to plead further. The court then rendered judgment enjoining the defendants and each of them “from taking any steps or action whatever in relation to the petition for the issuing of bonds for the construction of a school house in Noble Township, Jay County, Indiana, for a period of one year from December 15, 1937.” The error in overruling the appellants’ demurrer constitutes the second error assigned in this court.

The appellants under their first assignment of error contend that the court erred in overruling the appellants’ motion to dissolve the temporary injunction and restraining order. Our attention is called to §3-2104; Burns’ 1933, which provides that :

“No injunction shall be granted until it shall appear to the court or judge granting it that some *58 one or more of the opposite parties concerned has had reasonable notice of the time and place of making the application, except that in cases of emergency, to be shown in the complaint, the court may grant a restraining order until notice can be given and hearing thereon.”

The appellants contend that under this statute the court was without jurisdiction to grant a temporary injunction until after notice had issued and an opportunity for hearing had been granted. Conceding for the purposes of this case that a temporary restraining order was the proper practice, yet it does not follow that the action of the court in issuing the order that was made in this case constitutes reversible error.

Since no appeal was taken from this order as entered until after a hearing was had upon the merits and a permanent injunction was ordered, such permanent injunction vacates the temporary order and the error in issuing the same, if any, has become harmless. Price v. Bayless (1892), 131 Ind. 437, 31 N. E. 88.

The appellants contend under the second assignment of error that the court erred in overruling the appellants’ demurrer to the complaint. In this assignment of error the appellants contend that the court was without jurisdiction to interfere with the officials of Noble Township, Jay County, Indiana, so long as they were acting within their statutory authority. The question therefore presented is whether or not the appellants were acting under statutory authority in proceeding with the issuance and sale of bonds for the purpose of building the school house after a remonstrance as above mentioned had been filed. Section 7, Chapter 119, Acts of Indiana General Assembly, .1937, under which the complaint alleges that the appellants were proceeding, is, in part, as follows:

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
27 N.E.2d 130, 108 Ind. App. 54, 1940 Ind. App. LEXIS 12, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wallace-trustee-v-simpson-indctapp-1940.