Jennings Heights Land & Imp. Co. v. City of St. Louis

• Decision Date: 10 February 1914
• Parties: JENNINGS HEIGHTS LAND & IMPROVEMENT CO. v. CITY OF ST. LOUIS et al.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

165 S.W. 741

257 Mo. 291

JENNINGS HEIGHTS LAND & IMPROVEMENT CO. v. CITY OF ST. LOUIS et al.

Supreme Court of Missouri.

February 10, 1914.

Rehearing Denied April 2, 1914.

1. MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS (§ 277)—ESTABLISHMENT OF SEWERS—AUTHORITY.

Act 1905 (Laws 1905, p. 62), providing for the establishment of sanitary districts and the construction of sewers over areas lying partly within and partly outside the corporate limits of a city, is permissive only and does not impair the charter powers of the municipality, or prevent it from establishing a sewer district in its outskirts so that land outside its limits is also drained; the statute merely providing for joint action by the municipality and the county in case of agreement.

2. EVIDENCE (§ 31)—JUDICIAL NOTICE—CITY CHARTER.

The Supreme Court will take judicial notice of the provisions of the St. Louis charter.

3. MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS (§ 450)—ACTION OF COUNCIL—ESTABLISHING IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT.

The action of a city legislature, in pursuance of charter powers, in establishing a district to be benefited by sewers or other public works, so as to justify a special assessment, is conclusive unless procured by fraud or manifestly unreasonable.

4. MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS (§ 460)—SEWERS—SPECIAL ASSESSMENTS.

Where a creek which rose outside of the city limits and flowed into the city was drained by a city sewer, an owner of city property which, lying lower than the property outside of the city limits, was a servient estate, cannot complain that a special assessment on his land included work on the sewer, necessary to carry off water rising in the county.

5. MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS (§ 513)—SPECIAL ASSESSMENTS—CORRUPT AGREEMENT.

In an action to cancel part of a sewer assessment, evidence held insufficient to show that it was procured by a corrupt agreement between the city and the managers of a cemetery, also drained by the sewer.

6. MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS (§ 372)—PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS—RIGHTS OF CONTRACTOR.

Where a contractor for a sewer had no notice of any fraudulent conduct on the part of city officers and the managers of a cemetery which was drained by the sewer, his right to collect special tax bills issued for the construction of the sewer could not be denied because of such misconduct.

In Banc. Appeal from St. Louis Circuit Court; Thomas C. Hennings, Judge.

Action by the Jennings Heights Land & Improvement Company, a corporation, against the City of St. Louis and others. From a judgment for defendants, plaintiff appeals. Affirmed.

Plaintiff owns lot No. 7, city block No. 5,949, located in Baden sewer district No. 1, laid out by ordinance No. ____, city of St. Louis. The watershed drained by the district sewer constructed under this ordinance embraces 2,266 acres. Of this, 938 acres lie outside of the city limits, and 1,338 acres are within the city. The outlying land and 583 acres adjacent to it, and within the western limits of the city, is drained by the district sewer in question. Just east of that, a second section embracing 356 acres lying in the city and running through Calvary Cemetery is drained by public sewer. Just east of this section are 399 acres also drained by a public sewer, which empties into the Mississippi river. The last two sections drained by the two public sewers were constructed and paid for by the city. These are the largest and most expensive, for they are built so as to drain all the flow from the west as well as the lateral drains, and to carry off the rainfall. The first section, wherein the district sewer was constructed by the defendant contractor, was built so as to carry off the water of the south branch of Gingrass creek, a small stream sometimes dry, which collected water flowing from the outlying lands as well as the drainage of the section of the city through which it runs, until it united with another fork and both carried off through the public sewers emptying into the Mississippi. These three sewers were constructed under ordinances duly enacted by the city of St. Louis, which laid off their respective districts and provided for their construction, and provided for the issuance of tax bills against the property owners in the district where Baden sewer district was established. Tax bill No. 12,118, for $80.14, was issued to the defendant contractor against the property of plaintiff in accordance with the benefits assessed to it. Plaintiff brings this action, accompanied by a tender of $60 paid in to the court, to cancel said tax bill on the ground that it embraced an overcharge against its property, and that the ordinance under which it was issued is void for the reason that the city had no charter power to enact it, and that it was enacted in consideration of a fraudulent agreement between the city and the cemetery association through whose grounds one of the public sewers is laid. The city of St. Louis, the contractor who built the sewers in the district where the plaintiff's property lies, and a trust company which holds some of the tax bills, are made parties defendant. All the defendants answer by general denial. After hearing the evidence adduced by the plaintiff, the trial court dismissed its petition, and it duly appealed to this court. The errors assigned by the plaintiff will be considered in connection with the relevant evidence.

Christy M. Farrar, of St. Louis, for appellant. William E. Baird and Truman P. Young, both of St. Louis, for respondent city of St. Louis. Chas. W. Bates, of St. Louis, for respondents Fruin-Colnon Contracting Co. and St. Louis Union Trust Co.

BOND, J. (after stating the facts as above).

It is claimed that the sewer district ordinance "is arbitrary, unreasonable, fraudulent, oppressive, and void," in that it did not provide for the construction of a sewer through the territory where plaintiff's property is situated according to the provisions of an act of the Legislature of 1905 [Laws, p. 62], which provided for the...