City of West University Place v. City of Bellaire, 11832.
| Decision Date | 05 December 1946 |
| Docket Number | No. 11832.,11832. |
| Citation | 198 S.W.2d 766 |
| Parties | CITY OF WEST UNIVERSITY PLACE v. CITY OF BELLAIRE et al. |
| Court | Texas Court of Appeals |
Appeal from District Court, Harris County; J. G. Howard, Judge.
Suit by the City of Bellaire and another against the City of West University Place to have declared invalid a series of ordinances purporting to annex certain territory to the city of West University Place and for an injunction against the enforcement of such ordinances. Honorable A. C. Winborn, Criminal District Attorney of Harris County, on his own motion and upon the relation of Glenn H. McCarthy and others intervened in quo warranto. From the judgment, the City of West University Place appeals.
Affirmed.
Stokes & Stewart, of Houston, for appellant.
Paul Strong and James V. Allred, both of Houston, for appellee City of Bellaire.
A. C. Winborn, Crim. Dist. Atty., Robert R. Casey, Asst. Crim. Dist. Atty., Lewis & Knipp, Richard R. Lewis and Ernest A. Knipp, all of Houston, for appellee City of Southside Place.
This suit is a recrudescence of the litigation formerly before the courts in City of Houston v. State, Tex.Civ.App., 171 S.W.2d 203; Id., 142 Tex. 190, 176 S.W.2d 928.
In the former litigation, West University Place unsuccessfully attacked the validity of certain ordinances passed by the City of Houston, annexing certain territory to Houston. The sketch used in the former litigation is shown at page 205 of 171 S.W. 2d. From that sketch it appears that West University Place had, as it now has, a common boundary line, in part, with Bellaire and Southside Place. The basis of the attack by West University Place upon the Houston ordinances was that the territory so annexed by them, when considered in conjunction with the territory under the municipal jurisdiction of Bellaire and Southside Place, exhausted all the territory adjacent to West University Place. And it was the position of West University Place, upon which they attacked the validity of the Houston ordinances, that the legislative power of West University Place to annex adjacent territory could not thus be destroyed. The position so urged upon the courts, that the effect of sustaining said Houston ordinances would deprive West University Place of the power of annexing new territory, was by all the courts adopted, and upon the basis thereof judgment was rendered. The judgment so rendered by this court was to declare the Houston ordinances invalid, which was reversed on writ of error by the Supreme Court.
Bellaire and Southside were not parties to the former litigation.
On December 31, 1945, West University Place passed a series of eight ordinances, which purported to annex territory by progressive steps. The plan of annexation was for West University Place first to expropriate the territory within the municipal jurisdiction of Bellaire and Southside Place, and annex same. Then, with the corporation limits of West University Place being extended to coincide with the limits of Bellaire and Southside, to annex territory adjacent thereto, etc.—West University Place was at all times material a home rule city; and Bellaire and Southside Place were at all material times cities of less than 5000 inhabitants, operating under Sect. 4, Art. XI, of the State Constitution, Vernon's Ann.Civ.St Promptly after the passage of the series of eight ordinances, Bellaire and Southside brought this suit to have the ordinances declared void, and for an...
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