"That
by an ordinance known as ordinance 771, the said city of
Omaha ordered that the street known as California street, in
said city, from 22d street to 26th street, and the alley in
block 43, be graded, and directed the board of public works
to superintend said work; that said ordinance was passed on
the 8th day of July, 1884, and no ordinance or order has ever
been passed or made for the grading or laying out of said
California street for any distance whatever west of said
Twenty-sixth street.
"That
said California street has its western terminus or end at
Twenty-sixth street aforesaid, and the said city has acquired
no right to and does not own the land between Twenty-sixth
and Twenty-seventh streets, upon which said California
street, in case said street is ever extended westward from
its present terminus as aforesaid, will be situated, but on
the contrary said land is owned by and in the possession of
private individuals, and no attempt by negotiation,
condemnation, or otherwise, has ever been made by said city
to obtain title to or possession of the same.
"That
in pursuance of the ordinance hereinbefore referred to,
certain grading was done on said alley, and on California
street between 22d and 26th streets, the western terminus of
said California street, but at no place westward of said
terminus was any grade established, or any street laid out by
said city; or any grading done by or in pursuance of any
ordinance or direction of said city, or any grading done
whatever; and that the lots of said plaintiff, hereinbefore
described, were neither adjacent to nor abutting upon the
street grade.
"That while it is true that certain digging
was done upon the property adjoining plaintiff's lots,
and certain earth removed therefrom, such digging and removal
was without any notice to or knowledge of this plaintiff, and
was unauthorized and a trespass, by reason whereof the
plaintiff's said property has been greatly injured and
the access to it impaired, and this plaintiff has suffered
damages in a large sum of money, while on the other hand he
has derived no benefit from the same whatever.
"And
the plaintiff further says that thereafter, to-wit, on or
about the 29th day of November, 1884, the said defendant, the
city of Omaha, by its common council, passed an ordinance,
No. 633, levying a special tax and assessment to cover
one-half of the cost of grading California street from 22d
street to 28th street, fixing said one-half of the cost at $
5,583.71, and making the said levy on certain lots and
parcels of land on California street between 22d and 26th
streets, and also assessing the lots hereinbefore described
as belonging to this plaintiff $ 59.91 each, amounting in all
to the sum of $ 479.92.
"That
said assessment upon the property of this plaintiff is
utterly illegal and without any authority whatever, and is in
conflict with, and in violation of, the provisions of law
relative to grading and the assessments thereof; that said
assessment of plaintiff's property is made upon property
not abutting upon the street graded, and not included in any
ordinance authorizing any grade whatever; that after the
passage of said ordinance, and on said last mentioned day, a
duplicate thereof was made and delivered to the said
defendant, Truman Buck, treasurer aforesaid; to which said
duplicate the clerk of the city appended
a warrant in the usual and due form of law, requiring the
said treasurer to collect the said pretended special
assessment by distress and sale of the goods and chattels of
the person, persons, or bodies corporate owing such special
assessment, and also of the goods and chattels of this plaintiff if the same should not be paid before the
time fixed for the same to become delinquent, to-wit, the
17th day of January, 1885; that the said Truman Buck,
treasurer as aforesaid, is by law required to collect the
amount of such special assessment by distress and sale of the
personal property of plaintiff, in case the same is not paid
before said last mentioned date; and unless the said
defendant Buck is restrained by the order of this court, he
will make such levy and collect the amount of such
assessment, and this plaintiff will have no right of action
to recover damages whatever against said treasurer, for the
reason that by law the warrant aforesaid is a full and
complete justification to him in any such action, to recover
damages or costs for any act or proceeding by him done or
taken in conformity with the commands thereof; that by the
act of 1881, all special assessments are made a lien upon the
real estate assessed, and in case said defendant, the city
treasurer, should not see fit to collect said pretended
special assessment by distress and sale of the goods and
chattels of the plaintiff, then and in that case the same
would thereupon become a lien upon the plaintiff's real
estate hereinbefore described; and in that case and in case
said property is sold for such assessment, a cloud will be
cast upon the plaintiff's title thereto; that unless the
said defendant, the city treasurer, is restrained and
enjoined by order or decree of this court, he will report to
the county treasurer the said assessment, and thereupon said
real estate of said plaintiff will be advertised and sold for
such pretended assessment, as is by law provided in the case
of assessments properly made, and thus a cloud will be cast
upon the plaintiff's title; that the plaintiff is without
adequate remedy at law for the wrongs and injuries
hereinbefore set forth."