People ex rel. Village of Worth v. Ihde

• Decision Date: 22 September 1961
• Docket Number: No. 36314,36314
• Citation: 23 Ill.2d 63,177 N.E.2d 313
• Parties: PEOPLE ex rel. VILLAGE OF WORTH et al., Appellants, v. Carlton IHDE et al., Appellees.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

Page 313

177 N.E.2d 313

23 Ill.2d 63

PEOPLE ex rel. VILLAGE OF WORTH et al., Appellants, v. Carlton IHDE et al., Appellees.

No. 36314.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Sept. 22, 1961.

Leonard Bosgraf and Arthur C. Thorpe, Chicago, for appellants.

Ancel, Siegel & Stonesifer, Chicago (Louis Ancel and Jack M. Siegel, Chicago, of counsel), for appellees.

DAILY, Justice.

Pursuant to leave granted by the circuit court of Cook County, a complaint in quo warranto was filed on the relation of the village of Worth, a municipal corporation, and Chicago Ridge Land Fill Company, a corporation, against the officers of the newly organized city of Palos Hills questioning their authority to act and challenging the legality of the incorporation itself. Upon hearing, the court found the incorporation proper and entered judgment for the defendants. Direct appeal has been prosecuted to this court since a franchise is involved. People ex rel. Bondurant v. Marquiss, 192 Ill. 377, 61 N.E. 352.

As presently organized, the city of Palos Hills has an area of approximately 3 1/2 square miles and is bounded on the southeast from West 112th Street, extended, to the Calumet Sag Channel by the Southwest Highway, which runs generally in a northerly direction from the Calument Sag Channel to 111th Street and then northeasterly to Harlem Avenue. One block east and running parallel with Southwest Highway during its northerly course lies 76th Avenue which intersects with Southwest Highway as the latter veers to the northeast. The village of Worth formerly extended, generally, from 76th Avenue easterly to the west line of Harlem Avenue, including that part of Southwest Highway running in a northeasterly direction and the properties on both sides of this portion. The village of Chicago Ridge, through which the Southwest Highway also runs, is situated immediately to the east of Harlem Avenue and adjoins both Palos Hills and Worth at particular points along its westerly boundary.

It appears that on September 4, 1956, the village of Worth annexed Southwest Highway from its intersection with 76th Avenue southerly to a point beyond the Calumet Sag Channel, and using this highway as the contiguous boundary, on December 4, 1956, and February 5, 1957, Worth annexed two parcels lying immediately west of the annexed portion of Southwest Highway, such parcels being described as the Kats property and the Palos Bend property, respectively. On November 23, 1957, a petition was filed with the village of Chicago Ridge to annex lands owned by the Chicago Ridge Land Fill Company immediately west of Harlem Avenue and within what now constitutes the city of Palos Hills. At a meeting of the board of trustees for Chicago Ridge held December 17, 1957, the matter was discussed but the motion to annex was 'tabled until further notice.' However, by ordinance dated September 2, 1958, the tract was purportedly annexed to Chicago Ridge.

Meanwhile, on April 14, 1958, a petition to organize Palos Hills was filed in the county court of Cook County and an order was entered October 2, 1958, calling an election for October 25, 1958, to determine such question. Notice of election was given by newspaper publication and, of the 928 votes cast, more than a majority favored incorporation. On December 6, 1958, the defendants were elected to fill the municipal offices of Palos Hills, and the present action was instituted some three months later.

The plaintiffs contend (1) the legal description contained in the petition for incorporation was vague and at variance with the map attached thereto, (2) the incorporation election was irregular, (3) the village of Chicago Ridge had acquired jurisdiction over the Chicago Ridge Land Fill Company property so as to exclude it from the Palos Hills incorporation, and (4) such incorporation was defective because there was included within the Palos Hills boundaries the Kats and Palos Bend properties which had previously been annexed to the village of Worth.

The petition for incorporation described the Southwest Highway as the eastern boundary of Palos Hills from 112th Street to Calumet Sag Channel but the markings upon the attached map indicated an irregular boundary not entirely congruent therewith. Furthermore, the petition, in reciting the proposed boundaries, mentioned West 112th Street without indicating which of two similarly named streets it was referring to. Descriptions of municipal boundaries are not construed with the same strictness as those contained in deeds and contracts (Dowsett v. City of East Moline, 8 Ill.2d 560, 134 N.E.2d 793) and if the incorporating petition and accompanying map, when viewed together, fairly apprise the public of the property involved, the description will be considered proper. People ex rel. Cameron v. New, 214 Ill. 287, 73 N.E. 362. The legal description contained in the petition was also set forth in the notice of election, the incorporation ballots, and the order canvassing votes, and was not at such variance with the map illustration as to cause public misapprehension upon the point. Similarly, since only one of the two West 112th streets appeared upon the attached map, any uncertainty in this respect was thereby cured.

In support of their contention that the incorporation election was irregular, plaintiffs argue that no ballot was published prior to election...