City of Jackson ex rel. Hoffmeister v. LaChance
| Decision Date | 19 November 1963 |
| Docket Number | No. 31469,31469 |
| Citation | 372 S.W.2d 479 |
| Parties | CITY OF JACKSON et rel. Robert HOFFMEISTER and Louis A. Loos, d/b/a Loos & Hoffmeister, (Plaintiffs) Appellants, v. Howard LaCHANCE, Verla LaChance, Raymond Reiminger, John Reiminger and Jackson Savings and Loan Association, (Defendants) Respondents. |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
Buerkle & Lowes, Albert C. Lowes, Jackson, for appellants.
Paul A. Mueller, Jr., Jackson, for respondents.
This is an action on a special tax bill for a street improvement. The plaintiffs sought to impose a tax on the whole of a lot in the City of Jackson, Missouri. Defendant LaChance claimed that he owned only a part of the lot, and defendant Reiminger made a like answer. The Jackson Savings and Loan Association asserted that their mortgage was only on the part owned by LaChance. LaChance claimed that he had paid the amount that he owed for the street improvement. The plaintiffs asserted by reply that LaChance and Reiminger had conspired to defraud them by transferring part of the property to LaChance so that they would not have to pay the full tax bill.
There was a finding and judgment by the court in favor of Howard LaChance and his wife and the defendant loan company. There was a finding against Reiminger and his wife as to the part of the tax on the portion of the lot that he claimed to own.
The facts of the matter are that prior to May 25, 1959, Reiminger owned all of Lot 14, Block 6 of Daley Heights Subdivision in Jackson, Missouri. The lot was located on the northwest corner of Rosamund Street and Corinne Street. Rosamund runs in a generally eastwardly and westwardly direction and is intersected by Corinne, which runs in a northwestwardly direction and forms a 52 degree angle with Rosamund Street at the point of intersection. Thus the lot in question is triangular in shape. It forms a right triangle. The street which was paved and for which the tax bill was issued is Rosamund Street. The sought side of the triangular lot extends along this street for a distance of 130.56 feet. The western boundary of the let extends northwardly at a right angle to its southern boundary on Rosamund Street for a distance of 160 feet and ends at the point where the western line of the lot touches the western side of Corinne Street. The east side of the triangle follows the western side of Corinne Street down to the point where Corinne Street intersects Rosamund. This line along Corinne Street is 204.48 feet in length, and forms the hypotenuse of the triangle.
The defendant Reiminger, who built and sold houses, had built a house upon the lot in the year 1958. In February of 1959, there was a meeting at which the paving of Rosamund Street was discussed. Mr. Reiminger attended the meeting. Defendant LaChance, who was contemplating marriage in 1959, looked at Reiminger's house and decided to buy it. As stated, Reiminger's lot fronted 130.56 feet on Rosamund Street, which at that time was not paved. Reiminger did not ask LaChance to buy the whole lot, but instead sold him a rectangular piece of it fronting 60 feet on Rosamund and having a depth of 85.37 feet. This left title in Reiminger to a triangular portion fronting 70.56 feet on Rosamund and a somewhat smaller triangle, to the north of the piece sold to LaChance, fronting on Corinne Street.
The plaintiff contractors paved Rosamund Street in 1960, and by this action seek to collect a special tax bill for the work by having the tax levied as one charge on all of Lot 14, including the part owned by LaChance and the part owned by defendant Reiminger. The part owned by Reiminger is too small to build upon and could not be sold for a sum sufficient to satisfy the part of the tax chargeable to it alone, on a front footage basis.
There was meetings held to discuss the paving of Rosamund before LaChance bought the house and the rectangular portion of Lot 14 fronting for 60 feet on Rosamund. LaChance testified that the possibility of Rosamund being paved may have been mentioned to him before he bought the lot, but he had no recollection of it. He knew that it was unpaved, but many streets in Jackson were. He was not familiar with the neighborhood at the time he purchased the house, and he knew of no plans to pave Rosamund. He had no agreement with Reiminger other than the purchase of the house on a lot fronting 60 feet on Rosamund. He received his deed on May 25, 1959, and it was recorded on June 3, 1959. He financed his purchase through the Jackson Savings and Loan Association. Before Reiminger sold the lot to LaChance, he asked the city engineer to draw up the description to be put in the deed to LaChance, but the engineer said that he would not do it, and the description and deed were prepared by Reiminger's attorney.
The city engineer and the plaintiffs who were the contractors knew that there had been a sale of a part of a lot to LaChance, and that the remaining portion fronting on Rosamund Street for 70.56 feet was not worth the amount that would be assessed against it for the paving. Because of this, when the city first advertised for bids, the plaintiff contractors offered no bid on the work. This publication was pursuant to an ordinance passed September 21, 1959. There were no other bids on the work, so the city engineer increased his estimate on the paving cost by taking into consideration the fact that some of the land fronting on Rosamund, including that part of the...
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