Webster v. City of Lincoln

69 N.W. 394, 50 Neb. 1, 1896 Neb. LEXIS 876
CourtNebraska Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 16, 1896
DocketNo. 6444
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 69 N.W. 394 (Webster v. City of Lincoln) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nebraska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Webster v. City of Lincoln, 69 N.W. 394, 50 Neb. 1, 1896 Neb. LEXIS 876 (Neb. 1896).

Opinion

Harrison, J.

The plaintiff commenced this action against the city of Lincoln to restrain the collection of what was alleged to be an inequitable tax assessed upon her property to pay the cost of paving on the street which the property adjoins. The Lambertsons, of defendants, were brought into the case, or impleaded, at the instance of the city and filed a cross-petition, by which it was sought to have the collection of special taxes against their property restrained, the reasons for the relief, as to them, being in [4]*4substance the same as those alleged to exist as to the property, of plaintiff. The situations, relatively, of the streets and the properties affected by the taxes assessed to pay for the improvement of one street (Fourteenth), being that toward which our attention must be particularly directed at this time, will be quite readily understood from a perusal of the findings of the district court at the time it determined the issues presented in the case and which we will hereinafter quote. It appears that during the pendency of the suit the properties were sold at delinquent tax sale and that further pursuance of such proceedings has been enjoined. Tender of the amount conceded to be due was in each instance made to the proper officer. Trial of the cause in the district court resulted in a judgment favorable to the city, of the dismissal of the action of the petitioner and cross-petitioner. The findings of the trial court were as follows:

“1. The defendant, the city of Lincoln, is a municipal corporation organized under the laws of the state of Nebraska, as a city of the first class with over twenty-five thousand inhabitants.
“2. That the plaintiff is the owner of lot No. 36, described in her petition, with Q street on the south and Fourteenth street on the west; and that the defendant Lambertson is the owner of lot No. 35, described in said Lambertson’s cross-petition, with R street on the north and Fourteenth street on the west; that each of said lots is 150 feet square, and together constitute a strip of land 300 feet long, north and south, and 150 feet wide, east and west; that the block of which said lots form a part is a rectangular tract extending 300 feet north and south and 720 feet east and west, and is bounded by Q street on the south, Fourteenth street on the west, R street on the north, and Sixteenth street on the east.
“3. That by ordinance duly passed and approved February 2, 1888, the defendant city created paving districts Nos. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 of said city; that said ordinance was amended by ordinance approved February 23, 1888, the [5]*5material part of said ordinance being annexed to said city’s cross-petition, marked 'Exhibit A,’ and was subsequently amended by ordinance approved May 27, 1890, the material part of which is annexed to said city’s cross-petition, marked 'Exhibit B.’
“4. That said district No. 5, as so created by said ordinances, included the streets and intersections surrounding the block described in finding 2, and including 150 feet upon each side of the said streets.
"5. That by ordinance approved April 23, 1891, the said defendant city further amended the said ordinance creating the said paving districts, and in said amended ordinance it was provided that the fifth paving district should include all estate on both sides of the streets in said district to the depth of 150, except that estate on the west side of Sixteenth street between Q and R streets, and that estate on the east side of Fourteenth street between Q street and R street, which shall be the depth of 360 feet.
"6. That by ordinance approved February 20, 1888, the defendant city ordered said paving districts Nos. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 paved.
"7. That in pursuance of said order, that portion of Q, R, and Fourteenth streets surrounding the block above described was paved in 1890, and that portion of Sixteenth street adjoining said block was paved in 1891.
"8. The cost of paving Q and R streets adjoining said block was duly assessed by said defendant city upon all the property in said block fronts proportionate to the front feet of the respective lots in the block and to the depth of 150 feet.
"9. That on the 26th day of May, 1890, the defendant city made an assessment upon the block in question for the paving of Fourteenth street adjoining said block, and in making such assessment the .said defendant city assessed the first 25 feet with 33 1-3 per cent of the cost of said paving, the second twenty-five feet with 20 per cent of the cost of such paving, the third 25 feet with 16 2-3 [6]*6per cent of the cost of such, the fourth, fifth, and sixth 25 feet each 10 per cent; the total assessment being made to the depth of 150 feet from said Fourteenth street, and no more.
“10. That on the-day of-, 1891, the defendant city made an assessment upon the block in question for the paving of that portion of Sixteenth street adjoining the said block, and in making such assessment the defendant city assessed the property in said block to the middle thereof, a distance of 360 feet, dividing said distance into six equal.parts, and assessing these parts in accordance with the rule laid down in finding 9, assessing the first 60 feet west of Sixteenth street at 33 1-3 per cent of the entire amount of such assessment, the second 60 feet 20 per cent thereof, the third 60 feet 16 2-3 per cent thereof, the fourth, fifth, and sixth 60 feet each 10 per cent of such assessment.
“11. The original plat of the city of Lincoln divides the original city into blocks 300 feet square, and in paving said original city the defendant has adopted and followed the plan of assessing the lots in such blocks in accordance with the foot frontage as to the paving in front of the lots, and assessing the said lots in accordance with the rule laid down in finding 9, as to the side streets of said lots or blocks, and assessing to the center of the said blocks.
“12. The assessment as set forth in finding 9 leaves 210 feet in the rear of the property assessed for the paving of Fourteenth street, extending to the middle of th’e block, that would bear no burden and no assessment for the paving of the side streets east and west, of said block.
“13. None of the owners of this 210 feet above referred to have any access from their property to said Fourteenth street through any alley or over any property fronting or abutting said Fourteenth street owned either by the plaintiff or Lambertson, and the property of the plaintiff and Lambertson occupies all the frontage of Fourteenth street between Q and B streets to the depth of 150 feet.
[7]*7“14. Fourteenth street is a cross-street of great length, upon a section line connecting the county roads north and south from the city, and is beneficial to the interior of the block in question to not less extent than the paving of Sixteenth street; and the paving of said Fourteenth street, or that portion of it adjacent to the said block, is of special benefit to all the property extending east to the middle of the block, but the extent of such special benefits and its particular distribution as to such property is not shown by the evidence.
“15.

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Bluebook (online)
69 N.W. 394, 50 Neb. 1, 1896 Neb. LEXIS 876, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/webster-v-city-of-lincoln-neb-1896.