Blackstone v. Rollins

• Citation: 170 A.2d 405,157 Me. 85
• Parties: Carroll F. BLACKSTONE et al. v. Edmund ROLLINS et al.
• Decision Date: 27 February 1961
• Court: Supreme Judicial Court of Maine (US)

Page 405

170 A.2d 405

157 Me. 85

Carroll F. BLACKSTONE et al. v. Edmund ROLLINS et al.

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine.

Feb. 27, 1961.

Solman & Solman, Caribou, for plaintiffs.

Phillips & Olore, Presque Isle, George A. Wathen, Augusta, for defendants.

Before WILLIAMSON, C. J., and WEBBER, TAPLEY, SULLIVAN, DUBORD and SIDDALL, JJ.

DUBORD, Justice.

This case is before us on appeal of the plaintiffs, filed in accordance with M.R.C.P. 73, from a decision of a single justice granting motions to dismiss plaintiffs' complaint.

The plaintiffs are ten in number and describe themselves as residents and taxpayers of the Town of Perham, Maine, which town is one of six towns composing School Administrative District No. 2, hereinafter referred to as SAD No. 2, organized under the provisions of the Sinclair Act, so-called. The complainants seek declaratory relief under the provisions of Section 38 to 50, inclusive, R.S.1954, Chapter 107.

The defendants are the Directors of SAD No. 2, the Maine School District Commission, Inhabitants of the Town of Perham, the Treasurer of the Town of Perham, Inhabitants of the Town of Washburn, the Superintendent of Schools of SAD No. 2, who is also sued in his capacity as Treasurer of SAD No. 2, Inhabitants of the Towns of Castle Hill, Mapleton, Wade, and Chapman, the Attorney General of the State of Maine, the Treasurer of the State of Maine and the acting Commissioner of Education.

SAD No. 2 is not joined as a defendant.

The complaint consists of twenty-two paragraphs together with a final prayer for declaratory and injunctive relief.

Without specifying in detail the contents of the numbered paragraphs, with the exception of four paragraphs to which subsequent reference will be made, plaintiffs' contention is that SAD No. 2 was not properly organized and the conclusiveness of the certificate of the Maine School District Commission provided for by 111-G of the Sinclair Act, is attacked. All of these allegations, with the exception of the four paragraphs hereinabove referred to, relate to matters which took place before the date of the certificate of organization.

In these paragraphs are to be found allegations of failure to strictly comply with the provisions of the statute, among which allegations, without attempting to enumerate all of them, are averments that the Town of Perham was not a member of SAD No. 2, because the School Administrative District was not in existence at the time when the Town of Perham voted to withdraw from the District; that the Town of Perham had failed to elect a school director; that the vacancy created by the town's failure to elect a director was not legally filled; that the oath of office was not properly administered to some of the directors; that the directors did not properly organize; that the vote in the Town of Washburn to assume its proportionate share of the indebtedness of the School Administrative District was not in conformity with the law and invalid; and, in short, that the School Administrative District, not having been properly organized, the acts of the directors thereof are null and void.

Most of the paragraphs purport to allege a certain set of facts and contain a prayer for relief. This manner of pleading is not in accordance with the Maine Rules of Civil Procedure and is not to be commended.

The rules contemplate that the pleader shall set forth plainly and concisely in numbered paragraphs, facts showing that the pleader is entitled to relief; and after these facts have been pleaded, the petition or complaint should end with a prayer specifying the relief which is sought.

See M.R.C.P. 8(a) to the effect that:

'A pleading which sets forth a claim for relief * * * shall contain (1) a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief, and (2) a demand for judgment for the relief to which he deems himself entitled.'

See also M.R.C.P. 10(b) to the effect that:

'All averments of claim or defense shall be made in numbered paragraphs, the contents of each of which shall be limited as far as practicable to a statement of a single set of circumstances.'

The mode of pleading and request for relief adopted in the instant petition or complaint is one that can lead only to confusion.

In their final prayer, the plaintiffs ask for the following relief:

(1) That it be determined that the Town of Perham is not a part of SAD No. 2.

(2) That any assessment rendered against the Inhabitants of the Town of Perham for school operational expenses and capital outlay and debt service for the operation of the schools within SAD NO. 2, be declared void, unconstitutional and ineffective.

(3) That the Inhabitants of the Town of Perham be not required to pay any such assessment, and that all defendants be enjoined from enforcing the collection of such assessment against the Inhabitants of the Town of Perham.

(4) That the defendants who are the Directors of SAD No. 2, be enjoined from raising money by taxation.

(5) That the Treasurer of the State of Maine be enjoined from paying out further tax monies of SAD No. 2.

(6) That the Town Treasurer of Perham be enjoined from paying to SAD No. 2, the assessment made by the Directors of SAD No. 2.

(7) That the Treasurer of SAD No. 2, be enjoined from issuing a warrant for the collection of such assessment against the Inhabitants of the Town of Perham and from otherwise enforcing any of the provisions relating to the collection of such assessment.

Then there is a prayer for general relief.

The defendants, the Maine School District Commission, the Attorney General, the State Treasurer and the Commissioner of Education, filed a motion to dismiss the complaint on the ground that there is failure to allege a claim upon which relief can be granted because the certificate of organization provided for in Section 111-G, Chapter 41, R.S.1954 is conclusive evidence of the lawful organization of SAD No. 2.

The defendants who are the elected Directors of SAD No. 2, its Superintendent of Schools and its Treasurer, together with the Inhabitants of the Towns of Washburn, Castle Hill, Mapleton, Wade, and Chapman, filed a motion that the complaint be dismissed for the same reason alleged in the motion made by the other four defendants previously referred to, but the motion of these defendants is broader in that it contains a general allegation that the complaint fails to allege a claim upon which relief can be granted.

The Town of Perham and its Treasurer filed no pleadings and, insofar as the record discloses, no appearance.

The presiding justice, ruling that the certificate of organization of SAD No. 2 was conclusive, dismissed the complaint.

Thereupon, the plaintiffs appealed and set forth in their statement of points to be relied upon the following procedures in which they allege the presiding justice erred:

'1) In dismissing the complaint.

'2) In dismissing the plaintiffs' petition for a declaratory judgment.

'3) In holding and deciding that the issuance of the certificate of organization by the School District Commission forecloses any investigation into the regularity of the organization of the District.

'4) In holding and deciding that the legality of a School Administrative District cannot be challenged after the issuance of the certificate by the School District Commission under the provisions of Section 111-G of the Act.

'5) In holding and deciding to dismiss plaintiffs' petition for a declaratory judgment without giving plaintiffs an opportunity to be heard on the question as to whether or not the assessment levied against the Inhabitants of the Town of Perham is a valid assessment.

'6) In dismissing the petition for declaratory judgment without giving plaintiffs an opportunity to be heard on the various questions and matters set forth in said petition and on which said Court was asked to render an opinion, the Court having refused to decide or to permit plaintiffs to be heard on the matters and questions set forth in paragraphs, 5 to 22, inclusive.'

The record indicates that the Maine School District Commission issued a certificate of organization of SAD No. 2 on July 17, 1958. The date of this certificate is subsequent to a date of a meeting held in the Town of Perham on July 1, 1958, at which time it was voted in the affirmative by the Inhabitants of the Town of Perham to join the District.

A new certificate of organization was issued by the Maine School District Commission on October 31, 1958. The record does not indicate the reason for the issuance of this second certificate. However, by force of the first certificate of organization, SAD No. 2, with Perham included, was already in existence at the time the Inhabitants of the Town of Perham, on October 4, 1958, voted to rescind its prior action to join the District, and this subsequent action on the part of the Inhabitants of the Town of Perham, in no manner affects the issue of organization now before us.

This court decided in the very recent case of McGary v. Barrows, 156 Me. 250, 163 A.2d 747, that the Legislature was within its prerogative when it provided that a certificate of organization issued by the School District Commission shall be conclusive evidence of its lawful organization. This formal expression of applicable law was reiterated in the recent opinion of this court in Elwell v. Elwell, 156 Me. 503, 167 A.2d 18.

Moreover, the Legislature by the provisions of Chapter 220, Private and Special Laws of 1959 reconstituted, established and validated SAD No. 2.

It having been decided in the McGary case, as well as in several other decisions of this court that the Legislature may create school districts without even referring the matter to the people of the communities involved, it inevitably follows that the Legislature may validate, reconstitute and establish a school district, the original organization of which may be clouded with failure of strict compliance with statutory...