Nichols v. Reorganized School Dist. No. 1 of Laclede County

• Decision Date: 14 January 1963
• Docket Number: No. 49580,49580
• Citation: 364 S.W.2d 9
• Parties: Clark D. NICHOLS et al., Appellants, v. REORGANIZED SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 1 OF LACLEDE COUNTY, Missouri, and Lawrence Hendrix, John S. Ragland, Ralph Meents, Elmer Young, Russell Caffey, Byron Harris, Members of the Board of Education of said School District, and Mary Lula Miller, Secretary of said Board of Education, Respondents.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

Page 9

364 S.W.2d 9

Clark D. NICHOLS et al., Appellants, v. REORGANIZED SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 1 OF LACLEDE COUNTY Missouri, and Lawrence Hendrix, John S. Ragland, Ralph Meents, Elmer Young, Russell Caffey, Byron Harris, Members of the Board of Education of said School District, and Mary Lula Miller, Secretary of said Board of Education, Respondents.

No. 49580.

Supreme Court of Missouri, En Banc.

Jan. 14, 1963.

Weldon W. Moore, Rolla Claude T. Wood, Richland, for appellants.

Donnelly & Donnelly, Robert T. Donnelly, Lebanon, Neale, Newman, Bradshaw, Freeman & Neale, Jean Paul Bradshaw, O. J. Taylor, Springfield, for respondents.

STOCKMAN, Judge.

This is an action in equity to enjoin the issuance of bonds in the sum of $198,000 for the construction of school buildings. The purported approval of the bond issue at a special election is in controversy. The plaintiffs who are property owners and taxpayers in Reorganized School District No. 1 of Laclede County, Missouri, sued for themselves and as representatives of a class. The defendants are the School District and the members and officers of the Board of Education of the School District. After the issues were joined, certain facts were stipulated. The defendants then filed a motion for summary judgment which was sustained and judgment was entered dismissing plaintiffs' petition. The plaintiffs' motion for a new trial was overruled and they have appealed.

At the outset we are confronted with the question of this court's jurisdiction of the appeal. The relief requested in plaintiffs' amended petition is the entry of an order 'permanently restraining and enjoining the secretary and the board of education of Reorganized School District No. 1 of Laclede County, Missouri, from: (1) Incurring indebtedness of said school district to the amount of $198,000.00, or any part thereof; (2) Issuing and registering any evidence of indebtedness of said school district which purports to be authorized by the voters at said Special Election of April 29, 1961; (3) Collecting taxes to pay any such indebtedness, or any interest thereon; and (4) For such other relief as to the Court may seem just in the premises and for all costs.' The plaintiffs' petition alleges and the defendants' answer admits that the defendant School District and the other defendants will, unless restrained and enjoined by the court, incur an indebtedness on behalf of the School District in the amount of $198,000 and cause a tax to be levied on the taxable property in the School District for the payment of the principal and interest of such indebtedness. The parties now concede that jurisdiction does not exist on the ground that the School District is a political subdivision within the meaning of Art. V, Sec. 3, Constitution of Missouri 1945, V.A.M.S. See Hydesburg Common School Dist. of Ralls County v. Rensselaer Common School Dist. of Ralls County, Mo., 214 S.W.2d 4.

When the object of the suit is for relief other than a money judgment, the amount involved must be determined by the value in money of the relief to the plaintiff, or the loss to the defendant, should the relief be granted, or vice versa, should the relief be denied. Cooper v. School District of Kansas City, 362 Mo., 49, 239 S.W.2d 509, 510; Bauer v. City of Berkeley, Mo., 278 S.W.2d 772, 774. Since the action seeks to enjoin the defendants from incurring an indebtedness in the sum of $198,000 and issuing and registering bonds in that amount, pursuant to the purported approval by the voters, and from collecting taxes for the payment of the principal and interest thereof, the amount directly in dispute exceeds the sum of $15,000 and this court has jurisdiction of the appeal. Art V, Sec. 3, Constitution of Missouri 1945; Sec. 477.040, RSMo 1959, V.A.M.S.; Cooper v. School District of Kansas City, 362 Mo. 49, 239 S.W.2d 509, 511; Missouri Power & Light Co. v. City of Bucklin, 349 Mo. 789, 163 S.W.2d 561, 562; Butler v. Board of Education of Consolidated School Dist. No. 1 of Audrain County Mo., 16 S.W.2d 44.

Plaintiffs' first amended petition alleges that a special election was held on April 29, 1961, to vote upon a proposition to incur an indebtedness in the sum of $198,000 for the purpose of constructing and furnishing an addition to an existing school building to be used as a high school; that the judges and clerks of the election certified that 923 ballots were cast in favor of the proposition and 457 were voted against it for a total of 1380 ballots, and that the defendants adopted a resolution finding and declaring that the proposition carried by more than a two-thirds majority; and that unless restrained the defendants will incur indebtedness on behalf of the District in the amount of $198,000 and will cause a tax to be levied for payment of the principal and interest of the indebtedness. The foregoing allegations and others pertaining to more or less formal matters were admitted by defendants' answer. The parties stipulated that valid and timely notice of the special election was given as provided by law and that the special election was called by the board of directors of the School District at a proper and regular board meeting.

Additional allegations of plaintiffs' petition relating principally to the use of absentee ballots and the manner in which they were voted were stricken on defendants' motion which charged that the allegations were immaterial and that the court was without jurisdiction to hear and determine the issues so raised. In substance the parts so stricken asserted that the ballots cast by voters who appeared personally at the polls were 858 for the proposition and 449 against it and that the proposition was not approved by a two-thirds majority of the votes so cast; that thereafter 83 absentee ballots purporting to have been cast at said election were counted of which 10 were rejected and 65 were counted for the proposition and 8 against it; that if the absentee ballots had not been counted and included in the total vote cast the proposition would not have been approved and certified by the judges and clerks of the election; that the use of absentee ballots in a school bond election is not authorized by existing law; and that if absentee ballots were authorized they were cast by persons not entitled to do so, and that the applications for the absentee ballots and the time and manner of voting them were defective in the respects alleged.

The original petition was filed on May 13, 1961, and the first amended petition on December 23, 1961. The plaintiffs then filed a motion for permission to inspect and make copies of all applications for absentee ballots and the envelopes in which they were received. The defendants filed a motion to strike the portions of plaintiffs' petition previsouly referred to. The defendants' motion to strike was sustained and the plaintiffs' motion to inspect was overruled. After the defendants' answer and the stipulation of the parties were filed, the defendants filed a motion for summary judgment which was heard and sustained on April 21, 1962. These dates are mentioned because an opinion of this court having an important bearing on the outcome of the present case was handed down on October 9, 1961. The various pleadings were filed and rulings were made with knowledge of this decision, State ex rel. School District of City of Jefferson, Cole County v. Holman, Mo., 349 S.W.2d 945, which deals with the use of absentee ballots at a special election held to vote on a proposal to issue school bonds.

In connection with their contention that the use of absentee ballots in a school bond election is not authorized by existing law, the plaintiffs request 'serious reconsideration' of our decisions in State ex rel. School District of City of Jefferson, Cole County v. Holman, Mo., 349 S.W.2d 945, and State ex rel. Hand v. Bilyeu, Mo., 351 S.W.2d 457. In State ex rel. School District of City of Jefferson, Cole County v. Holman this court en banc construed the word 'district' as used in Sec. 112.010, RSMo 1959, V.A.M.S., relating to absentee voting to include a school district and decided that the Absentee Voting Law authorizes voting by absentee ballot in a school district election held to vote on a proposal to issue bonds for the construction of school buildings. In State ex rel. Hand v. Bilyeu this court en banc on transfer reached the same result that the Springfield Court of Appeals did, 346 S.W.2d 221, but limited the court of appeals holding that absentee ballots were not authorized to elections where the vote was taken at a school meeting under the provisions of Sec. an election was distinguished from a special election conducted in accordance with the general election laws of the state at which the use of absentee ballots was authorized as previously held in State ex rel. v. Holman. The bond issue in the instant case was presented at a special election under Sec. 165.040 as it was in State ex rel. School District of City of Jefferson, Cole County v. Holman. After the present suit was filed, the mandamus action of State ex rel. School District of City of Jefferson, Cole County v. Holman was brought directly in the supreme court wherein the question to be decided was 'whether the absentee ballot law applies to elections held in school districts wherein the voters are called upon to vote for or against a loan as authorized by Section 165.040 RSMo 1959, V.A.M.S.' 349 S.W.2d loc. cit. 946. Since the instant case involved the same issue, counsel for the parties obtained leave and filed briefs as amici Curiae in State ex rel. School District of City of Jefferson, Cole County v. Holman.

On this appeal the plaintiffs present the contention that the use of absentee ballots is not authorized by existing law because (a) the statutes which provide for absentee ballots do not apply to school bond elections, (b) under the rule of Ejusdem Generis, absentee ballots are not authorized in a school bond...