John Catherine Mullen Benev Corporation v. United States, 32
| Decision Date | 06 November 1933 |
| Docket Number | No. 32,32 |
| Citation | 78 L.Ed. 192,290 U.S. 89,54 S.Ct. 38 |
| Parties | JOHN K. & CATHERINE S. MULLEN BENEV. CORPORATION v. UNITED STATES |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
Messrs. Branch Bird and W. G. Bissell, both of Gooding, Idaho, for petitioner.
The Attorney General and Mr. Frank J. Wideman, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the United States.
This action was brought in the District Court for Idaho (40 F.(2d) 937), under the Tucker Act (24 Stat. 505), to recover a balance due on improvement district bonds issued by the village of American Falls, Idaho, for sidewalk and sewer construction. The theory of the petitioner, holder of the securities, was that the liability of the United States arose out of its acquisition of land in the districts for the construction of the American Falls reservoir under the authority of the Reclamation Act of June 17, 1902, c. 1093, 32 Stat. 388. The Circuit Court of Appeals (63 F.(2d) 48) reversed a judgment in petitioner's favor, and the case was brought here by certiorari.
In 1915 and 1916 the village (now city) of American Falls duly created local improvement districts Nos. 1 and 2 for the construction of sewers, and local improvement district No. 8 for the laying of sidewalks, authorized bond issues to finance the work, and levied against the several parcels of land in the districts assessments totaling an amount calculated to suffice for the payment of principal and interest of the bonds. All of the bonds of the three districts were purchased from the village by J. K. Mullen, who in 1925 transferred to the petitioner certain of the bonds of each district. Beginning in 1920 the respondent acquired all the real property within the three districts for the construction of the reservoir. In some cases title passed by condemnation, but in most instances by deeds from the then owners. The acquisition was completed prior to January 1, 1927. As title to each lot was obtained the United States paid or caused to be paid all existing assessments against the lot. There was general knowledge prior to 1927 that the total of the assessments would be insufficient to pay all the bonds. The petitioner asserts and we may assume that statutory authority exists, in case of a deficiency arising from causes shown by the record, to reassess the property within the districts for the amount of the deficiency. By ordinances enacted July 3, 1928, and proceedings pursuant to them, the city reassessed all the land within the districts. But as the land was then owned by the United States, the assessment was a nullity. Van Brocklin v. State of Tennessee, 117 U.S. 151, 6 S.Ct. 670, 29 L.Ed. 845. At some time between 1920 and January 1, 1927, the agents of the government responsible for the acquisition of the reservoir site learned that the original assessments were insufficient to pay the outstanding bonds. This knowledge led them to require vendors to leave part of the purchase price on deposit with the United States pending determination of the government's liability for probable reassessments. Subsequent to the institution of the present suit, these officials, apparently upon advice that assessments made after the conveyances could not affect the title of the United States, caused the moneys so withheld to be paid to the vendors. The total so retained and ultimately paid over was in excess of the amount due upon the petitioner's bonds.
The petitioner argues that the bonds were property and were taken by the respondent and, in the alternative, that they were liens, actual or inchoate, on the realty, and as the lien could not be foreclosed against lands owned by the United States, the respondent's acquisition of the lots destroyed the value of the securities and gave rise to an implied promise to pay the sums remaining due to the bondholders. The respondent replies that the bonds were not taken, were not liens upon the real estate acquired, but only upon the existing assessments, or to the amount of these assessments, all of which were cleared from the land at the time of the conveyances to the government; the United States recognized no lien of the bonds upon the tracts in question and made no contract express or implied to pay the bonds or any future assessments; suit was not brought within the time limited by the Tucker Act (24 Stat. 505); the cause of action, if any, was in Mullen, the owner of the bonds at the time title passed to the United States, and Rev. St. § 3477 (31 USCA § 203) forbids assignment to the petitioner. An understanding of the status of the bonds and the rights of their owner as respects the real property in the improvement districts is necessary to a solution of some of the questions presented.
The Idaho statutes provide for the creation by municipal action of improvement districts for constructing public works of the character with which we are here concerned (Idaho Compiled Statutes 1919, §§ 3999—4151, inclusive1). The first step is an ordinance declaring the intention to create the improvement, describing the section to be improved, estimating the cost, and declaring that the cost is to be assessed against the contiguous property (section 4003). Protests may be made and are to be heard and considered, and thereafter an ordinance is passed creating the district and providing for the improvement and for taxation and assessment of the cost upon all parcels of land within the district, in proportion to benefits (section 4005). 'Whenever any expense or cost of work shall have been assessed on any land the amount of said expenses shall become a lien upon said lands * * *' (section 4007). The municipality may provide for payment by installments instead of levying the entire assessment at one time, and in that case may issue in the name of the municipality improvement bonds of the district payable in installments within ten...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Sea-Land Service, Inc. v. County of Alameda
....... John H. Larson, County Counsel and James Dexter Clark, ... commerce and import-export clauses of the United States Constitution. We conclude that these ...v. County of Alameda (1973) 32 Cal.App.3d 135, 139, 107 Cal.Rptr. 839.) Thus ... and barges owned by an out-of-state corporation operating in interstate commerce along the . ......
-
United States Tennessee Valley Authority v. Powelson
...U.S. 188, 48 S.Ct. 90, 72 L.Ed. 229; United States v. Carver, 278 U.S. 294, 49 S.Ct. 100, 73 L.Ed. 387; Mullen Benevolent Corp. v. United States, 290 U.S. 89, 54 S.Ct. 38, 78 L.Ed. 192. 14 See Sharp v. United States, 191 U.S. 341, 348—350, 24 S.Ct. 114, 115, 116, 48 L.Ed. 211; San Diego L. ......
-
Virginia Indonesia Co. v. Harris County Appraisal Dist.
...... import-export and commerce clauses of the United States Constitution and under section 11.01 of .... VICO, a Delaware corporation, is the operator and agent for an Indonesian oil ... 4 See generally 2 RONALD D. ROTUNDA & JOHN E. NOWAK, TREATISE ON CONSTITUTIONAL LAW § 13.2 ......
-
State v. Continental Oil Co.
...... 218 Minn. 125 . corporation of the defendants and certain others in the same ...The four states comprise what defendants call the "northern ... case arising under the constitution of the United States, it is our plain duty to apply the rules ...S. Co. v. Village of Edina, 214 Minn. 26, 32, 8 N.W.2d 321, 325: . "* * * ......