State ex rel. Caroline Gotzian and Others v. District Court of Ramsey County
| Decision Date | 12 July 1899 |
| Docket Number | 11,661 - (29) |
| Citation | 79 N.W. 971,77 Minn. 248 |
| Parties | STATE ex rel. CAROLINE GOTZIAN and Others v. DISTRICT COURT OF RAMSEY COUNTY and Another |
| Court | Minnesota Supreme Court |
Certiorari from the supreme court to the district court for Ramsey county and the Honorable William Louis Kelly, one of the judges thereof, to review a judgment of said court in the matter of a reassessment for opening an alley. Affirmed.
City of St. Paul -- Eminent Domain -- Land Owned by City.
The board of public works of the city of St. Paul is (the city not objecting) authorized by the city charter to condemn, for a public street or alley, land owned by the city, and to award damages to it for such taking, and to assess the benefits of the improvement, precisely as if the city were a private owner of the property taken.
Board of Public Works -- Reassessment.
Such board is authorized by the city charter to make a reassessment of property benefited by a public improvement whenever the original is set aside for any cause, although it was set aside only as to a single lot, on the sole objection of its owner, and the other lot owners have paid the original assessment, provided that the aggregate sum assessed against any lot does not exceed its proportional share of the benefits.
Board of Public Works -- Constitution.
The charter provisions authorizing such a reassessment are constitutional.
Board of Public Works -- Reassessment -- Proportionate Benefit.
The finding of the trial court to the effect that the reassessment against the land of the relators was not demonstrably in excess of its proportional share of the benefits is sustained by the evidence.
Ambrose Tighe, for relators Gotzian and Freeman.
H. J. & A. E. Horn, for relator Hennessy.
James E. Markham and Franklin H. Griggs, for respondents.
Certiorari to review a judgment of the district court for the county of Ramsey in the matter of a reassessment for opening an alley through block 14 of Whitney & Smith's addition to the city of St. Paul. The city of St. Paul began proceedings for the opening of the alley in 1892, and in making the improvement the north 9 feet and the rear 25 feet of lot 3 and the north 9 feet and the rear 25 feet of lot 10 in the block were condemned. The alley, as opened, and its relation to the lots in the block, are shown by the following diagram:
[SEE ILLUSTRATION IN ORIGINAL]
Lot 10 was owned by private parties, and lot 3 by the city in its proprietary capacity, and it had located upon the part of the lot not taken for the alley one of the engine houses of its fire department. The sum of $5,000 was awarded by the board of public works as damages to each of the owners of lots 3 and 10, which, with the incidental expenses, made the total cost of the improvement the sum of $10,198.30. To cover this cost, the board of public works of the city levied an assessment of $1,700 each on the lots benefited by the improvement, viz, lots 2, 3, 6, 7, 10, and 11. The relators Gotzian and Freeman, the owners of lot 2, paid the assessment before it became delinquent; so did the owners of lots 7 and 11; while the assessments on 3 and 10 were set off against the damages awarded for the part condemned, leaving $3,300 due to the owner of each of them. From the $5,100 paid by lots 2, 7, and 11, $3,300 was paid to the owner of lot 10, in full discharge of the balance of his damages, and the residue, $1,800, was paid to the city, as the owner of lot 3, in part payment of the balance of its damages.
The relator Hennessy, the owner of lot 6, alone refused to pay his assessment; and, having filed objections to it in the district court, they were sustained on the ground that the board of public works had acted without jurisdiction. He also successfully contested a subsequent reassessment, in the sum of $1,700, of lot 6, for benefits accruing to it on account of the improvement, on the ground that it was in excess of its proportional part of the cost of the improvement. Thereupon the board of public works in June, 1898, made a second reassessment to make up the deficiency. It assessed $849.79 thereof against lot 6, which had thus far paid nothing, and $424.26 each on lots 2 and 11; making, with the original assessment already paid, an assessment of $2,124.26 against each of them. The owners of lots 2 and 6 filed separate objections to the reassessment in the district court. The objections were overruled as to each, and judgment entered accordingly.
1. All of the objections of the relator Hennessy to the reassessment in question meriting consideration are to the effect that lot 3, owned by the city of St. Paul, was already devoted to a public purpose, therefore the city had no power to condemn any portion of it for any other public purpose; hence, the board of public works had no authority to assess benefits upon other property for the payment of damages awarded to the city for the actual taking of a part of lot 3 for the proposed improvement. Or, in other words, the real question, so far as the relator Hennessy is concerned, is, did the board of public works of the city have the power to condemn the part of lot 3 taken for the alley in question?
It is conceded that the city owns lot 3 in fee, and not in trust for any particular public purpose. It therefore owns the lot in its proprietary capacity, and it may dispose of it as it sees fit. The object of the proceedings in question was to change the absolute title of the city to the part of the lot taken for the alley to one in trust for a special public use which use specially benefited the lot owners abutting on the alley. Or, in other words, the proceedings were a taking of the property of the city, which it held as proprietor, and in which all the taxpayers of the city were directly interested, to devote it to a limited public use, for the special benefit of private landowners. As to the latter, the city must be regarded as a private owner of the lot, and entitled to damages for its taking for the specific public purpose equally with themselves. In no other way can justice be done to the general taxpayers. If the city consents that its private property may be taken for such public use, it cannot equitably do so except upon condition that compensation be made to it for such taking in the same manner as to private owners. The city is not contesting the taking in this case, but it is simply insisting, for the benefit of the general taxpayers, that, as between it and the private landowners specially benefited by the taking, it shall be treated as a private owner. It necessarily follows that the rule invoked by the relators, to the effect that a general statutory power to condemn property for public...
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