Brennan v. City of St. Paul
| Decision Date | 14 November 1890 |
| Citation | 47 N.W. 55,44 Minn. 464 |
| Parties | BRENNAN v CITY OF ST. PAUL. |
| Court | Minnesota Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
(Syllabus by the Court.)
In the proceedings to open Wyoming street, in the city of St. Paul, the board of public works assessed the damages and benefits to lot 6, Bidwell's addition, as one lot or parcel. Prior to the proceedings, the owners of lot 6 had executed a contract to convey a part of the lot to another, of which the board had notice after their assessment but before its confirmation. Held, that the contract to convey severed that part of lot 6 from the remainder of that lot so as to make it a separate parcel; and, having received notice of it before confirming the assessment, the board ought to have assessed the damages and benefits to it as a separate lot or parcel. Not having done so, their proceedings were, as to that tract, void. DICKINSON, J., dissenting.
Appeal from district court, Ramsey county; BRILL, Judge.
O. E. Holman, for appellant.
J. W. Pinch and L. T. Chamberlain, for respondent.
According to the provisions of the charter of the city of St. Paul, under the amendments to subchapter 7, made by chapter 7, Sp. Laws 1887, relating to assessing the compensation for taking private property for opening streets, etc., the board of public works, having acquired jurisdiction to proceed, are authorized (section 8) to make full inquiry of matters necessary for them to know in assessing the damages and benefits to each separate lot or parcel, as required by section 7, and for that purpose may send for persons and papers, and compel the attendance of and examine witnesses, etc. The confirmation by the board of the assessment is the final act of appropriation to public use. Until confirmation, the assessment is entirely within the control of the board to revise and correct, or make a new assessment. Section 15. The power of the board up to the time of the confirmation is ample to conform to the requirement to assess the damages and benefits to each separate lot or parcel. That requirement is essential, certainly where the separate lots or parcels are owned by different persons, to secure to owners the constitutional right to just compensation first paid or secured before their property shall be taken for public use. The proceedings involved in this case were for opening Wyoming street, through Bidwell's addition to West St. Paul, the street as planned running across and taking a part of the lots in the addition. These lots were, according to the plat, about 900 feet long, not subdivided into smaller lots. One of these was lot 6. South Robert street was opened through this lot lengthwise, dividing it into two nearly equal parts, one on each side of South Robert street. The title to the entire lot appeared of record in I. and X. St. Pierre. Prior to any action by the board of public works to assess damages in the Wyoming street matter, the St. Pierres had executed a contract to convey to one Chapman a piece...
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Union Depot Company v. Frederick
...and therefore void. City v. Richfield, 45 N.W. 129; Railroad v. Sanford, 23 Mich. 418; Rusch v. Railroad, 54 Wis. 136; Brennan v. St. Paul, 47 N.W. 55. (3) position of defendant in error that the judgment of condemnation was not subject to collateral attack cannot be maintained because ther......
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Union Depot Co. v. Frederick
...by a number of tenants in common, and it was held proper to make but one aggregate award of damages for the whole tract. In Brennan v. City of St. Paul, 47 N. W. 55, the supreme court of Minnesota made a similar ruling, holding an assessment in gross of lots held in severalty void, although......
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