§ 12-13 — Deeds, petitions and contracts in fraud of act

All deeds, made for the purpose of preventing or aiding the organization of a district or for the purpose of preventing or aiding any other proceeding taken under this Act, and not made in good faith, are in fraud of the provisions of this Act. If the court in which a petition for the organization of a district is pending finds that any other petition for the organization of another district which includes a portion only of the lands involved in the pending petition is on file, yet if the court finds (a) that the petition first filed was filed for the primary purpose of preventing the organization of the other proposed district or for the purpose of preventing the lands or some of the lands described therein from being included in the other proposed district, (b) that all of the lands included in the petition first filed are included in the petition for the other proposed district, and (c) that the lands described in the petition first filed will be protected and drained as adequately and as cheaply by the works proposed in the petition under consideration as they would be by any works which might be constructed by the proposed district described in the petition first filed; then such petition first filed shall be deemed in fraud of the provisions of this Act, and the fact that such petition was first filed shall not be a valid objection to the granting of the prayer of the petition under consideration or to the inclusion of such land in the proposed district. If the court in which a petition for the organization of a district is pending finds that a district including a portion only of the lands involved in the petition under consideration has been organized by mutual agreement, yet if the court finds (a) that such mutual district has neither constructed nor contracted to construct any substantial drainage or levee work, (b) that such mutual district was organized for the primary purpose of preventing the organization of the other proposed district or preventing the lands or some of the lands in the mutual district from being included in the other proposed district, (c) that all the lands included in the mutual district are included in the petition for the other proposed district, and (d) that the lands in the mutual district will be protected and drained as adequately and as cheaply by the works proposed in the petition under consideration as they would be by any works which may be constructed by the mutual district, then the agreement organizing the mutual district shall be deemed in fraud of the provisions of this Act, and the fact that such mutual district has been organized shall not be a valid objection to the granting of the prayer of the petition under consideration or the inclusion of such lands in the proposed district.

Legislative History

(Source: Laws 1955, p. 512.)