Drainage Com'rs of Dist. No. 1 v. Village of Cerro Gordo

• Decision Date: 24 October 1905
• Citation: Drainage Com'rs of Dist. No. 1 v. Village of Cerro Gordo, 217 Ill. 488, 75 N.E. 516 (Ill. 1905)
• Parties: DRAINAGE COM'RS OF DIST. NO. 1 v. VILLAGE OF CERRO GORDO.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

217 Ill. 488

75 N.E. 516

DRAINAGE COM'RS OF DIST. NO. 1

v.VILLAGE OF CERRO GORDO.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Oct. 24, 1905.

Error to Circuit Court, Piatt County; Solon Philbrick, Judge.

Action by the drainage commissioners of district No. 1 against the village of Cerro Gordo. Judgment for defendant, and plaintiff brings error. Affirmed.Ray, Dobbins & Riley and James L. Hicks, for plaintiff in error.

Reed & Reed and A. C. Edie, for defendant in error.

This is a writ of error to reverse the judgment entered in the Piatt circuit court, sustaining a demurrer to a declaration filed by the drainage district against the village in an action of debt and dismissing the action. The declaration alleged that the drainage district was duly organized under the act of the General Assembly approved June 27, 1885, commonly known as the ‘Farm Drainage Act’; that the village was situate adjacent to the district, and was possessed of and in the control of certain streets and alleys therein, and on the 1st day of April, 1904, the authorities of the village connected the drains, ditches, and tiles draining a part of the streets and alleys, with the ditches, drains, and tiles of the drainage district, and thereby acquired and still have the drainage of said streets and alleys by and through the ditches of the said drainage district; that on the 2d day of July, 1904, the drainage commissioners of said district duly entered an order attaching all that part of the streets and alleys of the village to said drainage district which had been drained into the ditches and tiles of the said drainage district by and with and through the ditches and tiles and drains laid and connected by the said village, and made the same a part of the said drainage district, and classified the said streets and alleys the same as if they had been included in said district as originally organized, at one-fifteenth of the four original assessments levied upon the lands and property of said drainage district for the construction of the drains and ditches of said drainage district, and gave notice, as required by law, to the officers of said village, of the time when and the place where the said commissioners of said drainage district would meet to hear objections to said classification of the streets and alleys of the said village; that at the time and place mentioned in said notice the commissioners of said drainage district duly met to hear all objections which might be urged by the said village to the said classification aforesaid; that the said village, by its officers, appeared at the time and place mentioned for hearing of the objections to said classification, and objected thereto on the grounds that the village should not pay one-fifteenth of the four original levies levied upon said drainage district, and that said classification should be made against the lots along said portion of said streets and alleys so attached to said drainage district No. 1, and not against the said village, and made no other or further objection to said classification; that said commissioners, having heard all objections made by said village and having duly considered the same, did affirm the said classification as originally made and filed by said commissioners, and filed their said confirmed classification as required by law; that on the 13th day of July, 1904, the said commissioners filed an assessment roll, and assessed against said village, for benefits received by that part of the streets and alleys of said village so attached to said drainage district, the sum of $976.66, the same being assessed in conformation with the classification so above made and confirmed, and being the one-fifteenth part of the four levies made by the said drainage district for the construction of the system of ditches, tiles, and drains in said drainage district; that the said assessment, being so filed, then and there became a debt due and owing by the said village to the said drainage district; that the same remains wholly due and unpaid and in no manner appealed from or set aside; that after making said classification and hearing the objections so made by said village to said classification, and after the said commissioners of said drainage district had confirmed said classification, the said village failed to appeal therefrom, and...