Daspit v. City of Alexandria

• Decision Date: 31 January 1977
• Docket Number: No. 5709,5709
• Citation: 342 So.2d 683
• Parties: Neil DASPIT, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. CITY OF ALEXANDRIA, Louisiana, Defendant and Appellee.
• Court: Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US

Page 683

342 So.2d 683

Neil DASPIT, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. CITY OF ALEXANDRIA, Louisiana, Defendant and Appellee.

No. 5709.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

Jan. 31, 1977.

Rehearing Denied March 2, 1977.

Writ Refused April 26, 1977.

Gold, Hall, Hammill & Little by Charles S. Weems, III, Alexandria, for plaintiff and appellant.

Ford & Nugent by Howard N. Nugent, Jr., Gus Voltz, Jr., Alexandria, for defendant and appellee.

Before CULPEPPER, WATSON and GUIDRY, JJ.

CULPEPPER, Judge.

Plaintiff, Neil Daspit, filed this suit for damages in the sum of $214,250 allegedly suffered as a result of the defendant, City of Alexandria, breaching a contract to operate a sanitary landfill on plaintiff's property. In the alternative, and in the event there was no contract, plaintiff seeks the same amount in quantum meruit. The trial judge found there was a contract and awarded plaintiff the sum of $8,750, representing the diminution in value of plaintiff's property caused by the City's use thereof. Plaintiff appealed, seeking an increase in the award. The City answered the appeal, contending no damages are due.

The substantial issues on appeal are (1) Does the letter agreement signed by Mayor Karst and plaintiff constitute a valid contract obligating the City to use plaintiff's property as a 'sanitary landfill', or was Mayor Karst without authority to execute such a contract? (2) Under the circumstances of the present case, is the City estopped to deny the validity of the purported contract? (3) Is plaintiff entitled to damages under the doctrine of unjust enrichment or quantum meruit?

During mid-year of 1969, the City was advised by the Louisiana State Department of Health that its method of refuse disposal was unsatisfactory and in violation of the Sanitary Code of the State of Louisiana. In response to this criticism, the Rapides Area Planning Commission completed a solid waste disposal plan in September of 1971. The Rapides Area Planning Commission is a council comprised of the governing bodies of the City of Alexandria, the City of Pineville, and the Parish of Rapides. Representing the City of Alexandria at the time in question were Mayor Edward Karst and the two City Commissioners, O'Hearn Matthews and Carroll Lanier.

After an investigation into the various methods of waste disposal, the Planning Commission determined that a conventional sanitary landfill would be the most feasible operation for the Rapides Parish area. The Rapides Parish Sanitation Board prepared a study which set forth recommendations for suitable landfill sites in the Parish. This study cited soil types, available fill, cover materials, financing, distance required to transport the waste material, etc. as factors to be considered in choosing a suitable site for the landfill.

Using the criteria listed, the Sanitation Board evaluated several proposed landfill sites, including 100 acres owned by Daspit and located about three miles south of Alexandria. In a report dated March 28, 1972, the Board rejected the Daspit property, stating that a geological survey by the Louisiana Conservation Department disclosed it had inadequate cover material and a severe drainage problem, since it was located in the Bayou Boeuf floodway. In concluding its report, the Sanitation Board found several other proposed sites to be acceptable as possible waste disposal areas. Daspit was aware of the Sanitation Board's rejection of his property .

The alleged contract between plaintiff and the City of Alexandria is in the form of a letter dated June 30, 1972 which reads as follows:

'June 30, 1972

3310 Horseshoe Drive

Alexandria, La. 71301

Dear Mayor Karst;

This is your authority and permission to use my land on the Lake Charles Highway located approximately 3 miles from the South Circle for the purpose of operating a sanitary landfill for the City of Alexandria. It is understood that the City of Alexandria may permit its use by others. It is further understood that you will first utilize the 15 acres closest to the City of Alexandria that is bounded by Ewing property on the north.

The consideration for the use of my property is the good faith negotiation on the part of the City of Alexandria with me in the event that I should desire to operate the landfill on the terms and conditions that are included in the proposal of the Rapides Parish Sanitation Board. However in no event shall the City be denied the right to utilize the above mentioned 15 acres as a sanitary landfill.

It is understood that when the City of Alexandria completes the use of the 15 acres it will return the land to me.

If this proposal is satisfactory to you please sign below and return a copy to me.

Sincerely,

/s/ NEIL DASPIT

Neil Daspit

/s/ C E KARST

C. Edward Karst, Mayor'

The 15 acres offered as a landfill site are part of the 100-acre tract rejected by the Sanitation Board in its report of March 28, 1972. Thus, Daspit was aware of the deficiencies in his property for use as a 'sanitary landfill.'

Mayor Karst signed the proposal without presentation to, consultation with, or formal action by the Alexandria City Commission. In fact, there is no evidence that the other two members of the Commission ever saw the letter agreement signed by Karst.

The City of Alexandria has a commission form of government, composed of a mayor (who administers the Departments of Fire, Police and Sanitation), a commissioner of streets and parks, and a commissioner of finance and utilities. Karst was the mayor from June 17, 1969 until his term expired on June 17, 1973. Serving with him during this time were Carroll Lanier, Commissioner of Finance and Utilities, and O'Hearn Matthews, Commissioner of Streets and Parks.

The City began using Daspit's property as a landfill in the first part of July, 1972. Work crews were transferred from the Department of Streets and Parks to the Sanitation Department in an attempt to ready the site for waste disposal. Roads into the landfill site were constructed, and the City authorized the purchase of a dragline in order to dig trenches on the site. In November of 1972, the City, under the authorization given by plaintiff, allowed the Rapides Parish Police Jury to use the property as a waste disposal area. All of these actions relating to the use of the Daspit property were subjects of discussion and action at City Council meetings. It is clear, therefore, that Commissioners Lanier and Matthews were aware that the City was using the Daspit property as a solid waste disposal site, and it is also clear that they never objected to the City's use of the property.

The City experienced no problems in the operation of the landfill on plaintiff's property until about November of 1972. Until this time, the operation ran smoothly and each day the garbage was dumped into the trenches, compacted, and then covered with soil, all in accordance with prescribed landfill methods as testified to by plaintiff's expert, Donald R. Schneider. The situation became complicated thereafter when the Parish of Rapides began to utilize the area for disposal of solid waste. A further complication arose as a result of unusually heavy rains which caused most of the area to flood. The flood marked the end of the use of the Daspit property as a 'sanitary landfill'. The bulldozer which was used to compact garbage got stuck in the mud. The garbage trucks could not venture off of the main road through the property. The operation from this point onward was described by the City's Sanitation superintendent as a 'nightmare'. The refuse was not compacted and covered on a daily basis. We reiterate, however, that both the plaintiff and Mayor Karst knew, when the letter agreement was signed, that the property was subject to the flooding conditions which finally stymied the landfill operation.

The City ceased operations on the Daspit property in late September of 1973. The property was raised an average of four to five feet in elevation by the operations, but it was poorly leveled. Partially buried refuse protruded through about one-fourth of the property's surface. Some ponds remained, but test results show that the garbage was covered with six inches to 36 inches of soil.

Plaintiff never requested that the City quit dumping garbage on his property. It was not until the City ceased its operations that plaintiff filed this suit. We note that the garbage dumping operations continued through a change in City administration in June of 1973, following the election of John Snyder as Mayor, Malcolm Hebert as Commissioner of Streets and Parks, and Arnold Jack Rosenthal as Commissioner of Finance and Utilities.

The first issue is whether the above quoted letter agreement signed by only Mayor Karst and plaintiff was a valid contract obligating the City to conduct a 'sanitary landfill' on plaintiff's property. The trial court determined that this letter constituted a valid contract between the City and plaintiff for use of plaintiff's property as a 'sanitary landfill'. We do not agree.

The governing authority of the City of Alexandria is the commission council composed of the mayor and two commissioners. The mayor and the commissioners have only such authority to administer the City departments and to sign city contracts as is granted to them by the commission council. Foti v. Montero, 243 La. 734, 146 So.2d 789 (1962). In Foti, the Supreme Court rejected the argument that each commissioner has authority to act or contract in respect to his own department without an authorization from the council. Similarly, in Smith v. Town of Vinton, 209 La. 587, 25 So.2d 237 (1946) the court stated that as a general rule a mayor acting alone is without power to execute a contract binding on the city in the absence of an ordinance or resolution by the governing council authorizing him to do so. In the present case, the Alexandria City Commission did not authorize Mayor Karst to execute a contract obligating the City to use the...