Cook v. Hill
| Decision Date | 09 November 1960 |
| Citation | 224 Or. 565,356 P.2d 1067 |
| Parties | Mrs. Florence L. (Reed) COOK, Respondent, v. Scott HILL, Cleo Palanuk, Dorothy Delehanty, Ivan Blood and Robert Newland, Directors of River Road Park and Recreation District, Appellants. |
| Court | Oregon Supreme Court |
Wolf Von Otterstedt, Eugene, argued the cause for appellants. On the brief were Husband & Johnson, Eugene.
Florence L. Cook, Eugene, argued the cause and filed a brief in propria persona.
Before McALLISTER, C. J., and WARNER, SLOAN, O'CONNELL and HOWELL, JJ.
The plaintiff filed a complaint in the circuit court of Lane county against the directors of the River Road Park and Recreation District, contesting the validity of a bond election. A decree was entered in favor of defendants, sustaining the election but denying an award of attorney's fees for defendants. The plaintiff has abandoned her cross-appeal from the adverse decree. The defendants appeal only from that portion of the decree denying attorney's fees.
The defendants' right to attorney's fees depends upon the sole issue of whether ORS ch. 251, the election contest general laws, or ORS 545.038, providing for election contests in irrigation districts, applies to the contest in the instant case.
The River Road Park and Recreation District was formed under the provisions of ORS ch. 266, providing generally for the organization, powers, and duties of park and recreation districts.
ORS 266.020 provides:
'The vote cast at any and all elections under this chapter shall, unless otherwise provided, be canvassed, certified and returned within the time and in the manner provided by the laws relating to elections in irrigation districts in this state.' (Emphasis supplied.)
ORS ch. 266 does not provide any method for election contests for park and recreation district elections.
The laws concerning elections in irrigation districts are compiled in ORS ch. 545. ORS 545.034 relates to the canvassing; ORS 545.032, to the certifying; and ORS 545.036, to the return or statement of results of the votes cast in an irrigation district election. ORS 545.038 establishes the procedure for contesting an election in an irrigation district.
In 1957 the legislature enacted ch. 217, Oregon Laws 1957, which is codified as the present ORS ch. 251. ORS 251.025 of this chapter reads:
'The nomination or election of any person for or to any office or the approval or rejection of any measure at any primary, general or special election may be contested as provided in ORS 251.015 to 251.090 by any elector entitled to vote for such person or measure at such election, or by any person who was a candidate at such election for the same nomination or office, for any of the following causes and no other:
'(1) Deliberate and material violation of any provision of the election laws in connection with such nomination, election, approval or rejection.
'(2) Ineligibility of the person elected to the office to hold the office at the time of the election.
'(3) Illegal votes.
'(4) Mistake or fraud in the canvass of votes.
'(5) Fraud in the count of votes.'
A 'measure' is defined in ORS 251.015(3) as 'any proposed law * * * or local, special or municipal legislation voted upon by the people at any primary, general or special election.'
ORS 251.060 of this chapter requires the election contestant to furnish a bond and allows the prevailing party in the contest to recover his costs, disbursements and reasonable attorney's fees against the losing party. No statutory provision for costs and attorney's fees exists in election contests in irrigation districts.
The trial court, in denying an award of attorney's fees, held the plaintiff was proceeding under the provisions of ORS 545.038, the irrigation district statute, and that ORS ch. 251 did not apply. Apparently plaintiff conceded in the lower court that she was proceeding under the former statute. Her brief filed in this court takes the same position. We shall decide the issue on the grounds submitted: Does ORS 545.038, the irrigation district statute, or ORS ch. 251, the election contest general laws, apply in the instant case?
The plaintiff was not entitled to rely upon ORS 545.038 as the basis for her suit. As previously noted, ORS 266.020 provides that the vote cast in park and recreation district elections shall be canvassed, certified and returned in the same manner as provided for in irrigation districts. That the acts involved in canvassing, certifying and returning the vote cast are separate and distinct from the contesting of an election is readily apparent. The statute ORS 266.020 is silent as to election contests and does not refer to or incorporate the irrigation district laws in this respect. The plaintiff asserts that we should 'infer' the inclusion of election contests in ORS 266.020. We...
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Walker v. Oak Cliff Volunteer Fire Protection Dist.
...Wade v. Brown, 516 P.2d 526, 528 (Okla.1973); In re Guardianship of Campbell, 450 P.2d 203, 205 (Okla.1966).23 Cook v. Hill, 224 Or. 565, 356 P.2d 1067, 1069 (1960); Patton v. Independent School Dist., 242 Iowa 941, 48 N.W.2d 803, 808 (1951); Pierce v. Superior Court, 1 Cal.2d 759, 37 P.2d ......
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Allsop v. Cheyenne Newspapers, Inc.
...what is not there. Durante v. Consumers Filling Station Company of Cheyenne, 1953, 71 Wyo. 271, 299, 257 P.2d 347, 356; Cook v. Hill, 1960, 224 Or. 565, 356 P.2d 1067. This court will not supply omissions in a statute and redress is with the legislature. Lo Sasso v. Braun, Wyo.1963, 386 P.2......
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Voss' Adoption, Matter of
...what is not there. Durante v. Consumers Filling Station Company of Cheyenne, 1953, 71 Wyo. 271, 299, 257 P.2d 347, 356; Cook v. Hill, 1960, 224 Or. 565, 356 P.2d 1067. This court will not supply omissions in a statute and redress is with the legislature. Lo Sasso v. Braun, Wyo. 1963, 386 P.......
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STATE EX REL. PODDAR v. Lee
...arguments fit within the terms of the election contest statute, and therefore those cases are distinguishable. See Cook v. Hill et al, 224 Or. 565, 569, 356 P.2d 1067 (1960) (plaintiff purported to bring action under statute providing special election contest proceedings for irrigation dist......