Hetrick v. Village of Lindsey, Ohio

• Decision Date: 02 June 1924
• Docket Number: No. 231,231
• Citation: 68 L.Ed. 1065,44 S.Ct. 486,265 U.S. 384
• Parties: HETRICK v. VILLAGE OF LINDSEY, OHIO, et al
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

265 U.S. 384

44 S.Ct. 486

68 L.Ed. 1065

HETRICK

v VILLAGE OF LINDSEY, OHIO, et al.

No. 231.

Argued April 23, 1924.

Decided June 2, 1924.

Mr. Albert H. Fry, of Fremont, Ohio, for plaintiff in error.

Mr. W. J. Mead, of Fremont, Ohio, for defendants in error.

Mr. Chief Justice TAFT delivered the opinion of the Court.

Hetrick owned two lots in the village of Lindsey, Ohio, No. 175 and No. 176. He brought suit in the common pleas court of Sandusky county against the village and the auditor and treasurer of the county, to enjoin the collection of front foot street assessments levied by the village council against the two lots. He contended, first, that the assessment exceeded the benefits to the lots or either of them; second, that the assessment was in excess of the limit allowed by law to be levied upon property for local improvement, which by the statute was one-third of its value; third, that the assessment was in violation of the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, in that there was no provision for notice to be given to the owner of the property to be assessed and an opportunity to be heard before the tax was levied.

Evidence was taken on the question of benefits and the value of the lots. The common pleas court sustained the assessment in its entirety and dismissed the petition. The plaintiff then appealed to the Court of Appeals of the county and the case was reheard by that court on new evidence. Section 3819 of the General Code of Ohio in part is as follows:

'The council shall limit all assessments to the special benefits conferred upon the property assessed, and in no case shall there be levied upon any lot or parcel of land in the corporation any assessment or assessments for any or all purposes, within a period of five years, to exceed thirty-three and one-third per cent. of the actual value thereof after improvement is made.'

The Court of Appeals found that the value of the lots, after the completion of the improvement, was $2,600, and that they were especially benefited to the extent of one-third of this value, reduced the assessments from $1,040.60 on both lots to $866.67, and enjoined the collection of more than this amount. The Court of Appeals found other facts as follows:

Notice of the passage of the resolution of necessity for the improvement had been served by the clerk of the council in writing on the plaintiff personally within the time required by the statute. He had full knowledge of the work as it progressed and made no objection thereto. He appeared with his counsel before the village council, consulted with it as to the manner of the construction of the improvement and succeeded in having its character changed in front of his property to conform to his desire. He never requested a hearing before the council on the public necessity of the improvement or the validity or amount of the assessment.

In due time after the decree in the Court of Appeals, plaintiff filed a petition in error in the Supreme Court of the state. The defendants made a motion to dismiss it, on the ground that no leave to file it had been granted. The plaintiff claimed that no leave was necessary under the state practice, because the case involved a question under the Constitution of the United States as to the validity of the statutes of the state relating to special assessments for street improvements. The defendants answered that such statutes had been so long held constitutional by the courts of the state that their constitutionality could no longer be questioned, and therefore that the petition should be dismissed,...