Ess v. Bouton

Decision Date31 October 1876
Citation64 Mo. 105
PartiesH. N. Ess, Respondent, v. MARY J. BOUTON, et al., Appellants.
CourtMissouri Supreme Court

Appeal from Jackson Co. Special Law and Equity Court.Geo. A. & A. T. Black, for Appellants.

NORTON, Judge, delivered the opinion of the court.

This suit is for the recovery of a special tax bill for making side-walk on part of Third Street in Kansas City, which was issued to the contractors and by them assigned to plaintiff. The suit was instituted against defendants as owners of lot No. 294, block 31, and its object is to subject said lot to the payment of said tax bill.

The case was tried before a justice of the peace and judgment rendered for plaintiff, from which an appeal was taken to the Special Law and Equity Court of Jackson County and on a trial de novo in said court, judgment was again rendered for plaintiff.

The case was tried by the court without the intervention of a jury, no declarations of law were asked and none were given, and the only exception saved, as shown by the record, was as to the action of the court in admitting the tax bill as evidence. Defendants objected to its introduction on the ground that plaintiff should first prove the existence of a contract under which the work was done, for which the tax bill was issued.

Section four of an act to revise and amend the charter of the City of Kansas (Acts 1870, p. 347) provides that such tax bill shall “in any action brought thereon, be prima facie evidence that the work and material charged in such bill have been furnished, and of the liability of the persons therein named as the owners of such property.”

Under this provision, the objection of defendant was properly overruled.

It is urged that the judgment is against the evidence. A number of the ordinances of the city were offered in evidence without objection, and this court will not look into the evidence for the purpose of weighing it and ascertaining whether it preponderated on the side of plaintiff or defendant.

A prima facie case was made when the tax bill was received in evidence and no declarations of law having been given, the evidence will not be reviewed here for the purpose of determining its sufficiency to overthrow the case made by plaintiff.

Judgment affirmed, in which the other judges concur.

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21 cases
  • Heman v. Allen
    • United States
    • Missouri Supreme Court
    • 4 d1 Junho d1 1900
    ... ... only state in his petition what he is bound to prove to make ... out his prima facie case. Crane v. Railroad, 87 Mo ... 588-593. The special tax bill made a prima facie case ... St. Louis v. Oeters, 36 Mo. 456; Ess v ... Bouton, 64 Mo. 105; St. Joseph v. Farrell, 106 ... Mo. 444. Allegations of facts unnecessary to sustain ... plaintiff's case are merely surplusage. Hudson v ... Railroad, 101 Mo. 29. (2) The tax bill bears on its face ... evidence that the assessment had been made by the board of ... public ... ...
  • Davis v. Dawson
    • United States
    • Missouri Supreme Court
    • 18 d1 Fevereiro d1 1918
    ...its sufficiency to overthrow plaintiffs' case. As typical of the many cases in which this rule has been stated and applied, see Ess v. Bouton, 64 Mo. 105; Bethune Railroad, 139 Mo. 574; Zimmerman v. Railroad, 156 Mo. 561. The rule applies with aptness to this branch of the case at bar. Defe......
  • State v. Beach
    • United States
    • Indiana Supreme Court
    • 18 d4 Fevereiro d4 1897
    ...949;State v. Sattley (Mo. Sup.) 33 S. W. 41;State v. Buck, 120 Mo. 479, 25 S. W. 573;State v. Kingsley, 108 Mo. 135, 18 S. W. 994;Ess v. Bouton, 64 Mo. 105;Heman v. Wolff, 33 Mo. App. 200;Adkins v. Railroad Co., 36 Mo. App. 652;Hand v. Ballou, 12 N. Y. 543;Howard v. Moot, 64 N. Y. 262;Com. ......
  • City of Linneus v. Locke
    • United States
    • Kansas Court of Appeals
    • 11 d1 Abril d1 1887
    ...finding for the defendant and not for the plaintiff. Sect. 4942, supra; Neenan v. Smith, 60 Mo. 292; Seibert v. Allen, 61 Mo. 482; Ess v. Bouton, 64 Mo. 105; Hunt Hopkins, 66 Mo. 98, supra. IV. The court erred in refusing to allow plaintiff in error to recall the witness, E. W. Wilcox, and ......
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