Walling v. North Central Texas Mun. Water Auth., No. A-8426
| Court | Supreme Court of Texas |
| Writing for the Court | WALKER |
| Citation | 162 Tex. 527,348 S.W.2d 532 |
| Parties | J. E. WALLING, Jr., et al., Petitioners, v. NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS MUNICIPAL WATER AUTHORITY et al., Respondents. |
| Docket Number | No. A-8426 |
| Decision Date | 26 July 1961 |
Page 532
v.
NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS MUNICIPAL WATER AUTHORITY et al., Respondents.
[162 Tex. 528] King, Willoughby & Vletas, Abilene, for petitoners.
McMahon, Smart, Sprain, Wilson & Camp, Abilene, Brookreson & Brookreson, Seymour, for respondents.
WALKER, Justice.
This is a class suit instituted by a number of taxpayers, petitioners, against North Central Texas Municipal Water Authority and the members of its board of directors, respondents, seeking an injunction restraining respondents from levying and collecting taxes on the ground, among others, that the statute 1 creating the Authority is unconstitutional. There is an alternative prayer for a declaratory judgment determining the validity of the Act. Respondents moved to dismiss the suit, alleging that it is an attack on the existence of the corporation which can be made only by a quo warranto proceeding brought in the name of the [162 Tex. 529] State. The motion to dismiss was granted by the trial court, and the Court of Civil Appeals affirmed. 345 S.W.2d 312.
It has often been said that quo warranto proceedings are the sole and exclusive remedy by which the legality of the existence and organization of a public or private corporation may be questioned. See 74 C.J.S. Quo Warranto § 4, p. 181; 44 Am.Jur. Quo Warranto § 8, p. 94. That is the rule where the attack is made on a de facto corporation created and existing under color of law. When a body has acted and has been dealt with as a corporation after atempting to comply with the requirements of a valid statute authorizing its creation as such, only the State may question its corporate existence on the ground that the law was not followed. La Salle County Water Improvement Dist. No. 1 v. Guinn, Kuhn v. City of Yoakum, Tex.Com.App., 6 Kuhn v. City of Yoakum, Tex.Civ.App., 6 S.W.2d 91; Bowen v. Board of School Trustees, Tex.Civ.App., 16 S.W.2d 424 (no wr.). But as pointed out in Miller v. Davis, 136 Tex. 299, 150 S.W.2d 973, 136 A.L.R. 177, an unconstitutional statute does not constitue color of law. See also Fritter v. West, Tex.Civ.App., 65 S.W.2d 414, wr. ref.
Petitioners are tax-paying citizens owning property within the limits of the Authority, and there is nothing to suggest that they are in any way estopped from questioning its corporate existence. In so far as they seek to enjoin the levy and collection of...
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Save Our Springs v. Lazy Nine Mun. Utility, No. 06-05-00058-CV.
...1995, no writ). 3. No challenge is made as to the reasonableness of these awards. 4. Walling v. N. Cent. Tex. Mun. Water Auth., 162 Tex. 527, 348 S.W.2d 532, 533 (1961). "Through quo warranto proceedings, `the State acts to protect itself and the good of the public generally, through t......
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Todd v. Helton, No. B--3489
...under an unconstitutional statute may be raised even in a collateral proceeding. Walling v. North Central Texas Municipal Water Authority, 162 Tex. 527, 348 S.W.2d 532 (1961); Parks v. West, 102 Tex. 11, 111 S.W. 726, 729 (1908). An entire lack of jurisdiction over the territory will tender......
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Yoakum County Water Control and Imp. Dist. No. 2 v. First State Bank, No. B-1235
...precluded from using any other method of contesting the District's validity. In Walling v. North Central Texas Municipal Water Authority, 162 Tex. 527, 348 S.W.2d 532 (1961), this Court 'When a body has acted and has been dealt with as a corporation after attempting to comply with the requi......
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City of Granite Shoals v. Winder, No. 03-08-00323-CV.
...deny to the plaintiffs the protection sought of their property rights. Id. at 729; see also Walling v. North Cent. Tex. Mun. Water Auth., 162 Tex. 527, 348 S.W.2d 532, 533 (1961) (approving Parks and affirming taxpayers' right to maintain suit against water authority for recovery of taxes o......
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Save Our Springs v. Lazy Nine Mun. Utility, No. 06-05-00058-CV.
...1995, no writ). 3. No challenge is made as to the reasonableness of these awards. 4. Walling v. N. Cent. Tex. Mun. Water Auth., 162 Tex. 527, 348 S.W.2d 532, 533 (1961). "Through quo warranto proceedings, `the State acts to protect itself and the good of the public generally, through t......
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Todd v. Helton, No. B--3489
...under an unconstitutional statute may be raised even in a collateral proceeding. Walling v. North Central Texas Municipal Water Authority, 162 Tex. 527, 348 S.W.2d 532 (1961); Parks v. West, 102 Tex. 11, 111 S.W. 726, 729 (1908). An entire lack of jurisdiction over the territory will tender......
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Yoakum County Water Control and Imp. Dist. No. 2 v. First State Bank, No. B-1235
...precluded from using any other method of contesting the District's validity. In Walling v. North Central Texas Municipal Water Authority, 162 Tex. 527, 348 S.W.2d 532 (1961), this Court 'When a body has acted and has been dealt with as a corporation after attempting to comply with the requi......
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City of Granite Shoals v. Winder, No. 03-08-00323-CV.
...deny to the plaintiffs the protection sought of their property rights. Id. at 729; see also Walling v. North Cent. Tex. Mun. Water Auth., 162 Tex. 527, 348 S.W.2d 532, 533 (1961) (approving Parks and affirming taxpayers' right to maintain suit against water authority for recovery of taxes o......