Webb v. Clatsop County School Dist. No. 3

• Decision Date: 28 February 1950
• Citation: 188 Or. 324,215 P.2d 368
• Parties: WEBB et al. v. CLATSOP COUNTY SCHOOL DIST. NO. 3 et al.
• Court: Oregon Supreme Court

215 P.2d 368

188 Or. 324

WEBB et al. v. CLATSOP COUNTY SCHOOL DIST. NO. 3 et al.

Supreme Court of Oregon, En Banc.

February 28, 1950

Argued Jan. 5, 1950.

M. E. Reynolds, of Astoria, argued the cause and filed a brief for appellants.

Thomas T. Chave, Jr., of Seaside, argued the cause and filed a brief for respondents Clatsop County School District No. 15 and Gearhart School District No. 15 Consolidated.

HAY, Justice.

This was a proceeding under the Uniform Declaratory Judgments Act sections 6-601 to 6-616, O.C.L.A., in which the plaintiffs sought a declaratory judgment to determine the validity of a special school election, by virtue of which Clatsop County School District No. 3 and Clatsop County School District No. 15 were purported to have been consolidated under the name of Gearhart School District No. 15, Consolidated. The plaintiffs are registered voters of Clatsop Plains Precinct and of School District No. 3, in Clatsop County, Oregon. The defendants, in addition to the three school districts above mentioned, are the members of the Clatsop County School District Boundary Board and the members of the election board of said School District No. 3. The complaint sets forth, in three separate causes of action the existence of controversies alleged to have affected the validity of said election. These may be summarized as follows:

First Cause of Action: The posted notices of the special meeting at which the election was to be conducted stated that such meeting would be held at the school house in District No. 3, on May 2, 1949, at 7:00-9:00, p. m. Contrary to such notices, the election board opened the polls for said election at 6:00 o'clock, p. m., and closed them at 8:00 o'clock, p m. Between the hours of 8:00 and 9:00 o'clock, p. m., on said day, plaintiff Claude Huckleberry, a registered voter, attended at said school house for the purpose of voting in such election, but found the polls closed. Had the polls been open, said plaintiff would have voted against the proposed consolidation of school districts, whereby the result of the election would have been 38 ballots for consolidation and 38 ballots against consolidation, and the proposed consolidation would have been defeated.

Second Cause of Action: At said election, plaintiff Harry Webb, a registered voter, presented himself before defendant John S. Dellinger, chairman of the meeting, and was told that he, Webb, did not have the right to vote. Dellinger thereupon failed to administer to Webb the statutory oath touching his qualifications as an elector, and failed to interrogate him, under oath, respecting his place of residence and length of residence in School District No. 3. If, after taking the oath and being interrogated, Webb had been allowed to vote, he would have voted against the proposed consolidation of school districts, which vote would have caused the result of the election to have been 38 ballots for consolidation and 38 ballots against consolidation, and the proposed election would have been defeated.

Third Cause of Action: Seven named persons, residents and inhabitants of Clatsop Plains Precinct aforesaid, presented themselves at the polling place in said special election, and had their right to vote therein challenged. Defendant John S. Dellinger, chairman of said meeting and election, failed to administer to such persons an oath touching their qualifications as electors, and failed to interrogate them, under oath, respecting their places of residence and length of residence in the district. Said persons were denied the right to state, under oath, their qualifications for voting, and were denied ballots in said election. Defendant Marjorie Reith, clerk of said election, failed to list upon the poll books the names of said persons whose right to vote was denied. The failure of said clerk to record the votes of said persons as rejected rendered the election illegal and void.

The defendant Clatsop County District Boundary Board moved for an order to dismiss plaintiffs' complaint and the three causes of action therein, as against said defendant, upon the following grounds: (1) that the allegations of the complaint were insufficient to constitute a cause of suit or action against said defendant; (2) that said defendant was not a necessary party to the determination of the validity of said election; (3) that said defendant, having, on the basis of the election returns, declared that the two school districts had been consolidated, had performed its duty and had no further jurisdiction in the premises.

The court allowed said motion as to the first and third causes of action, but denied it as to the second.

Defendant Clatsop County School District No. 15 demurred to each cause of action, on the ground that it did not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action or cause of suit. The court sustained the demurrer as to the first and third causes of action, but denied it as to the second.

Thereafter, defendant Clatsop County School District No. 15 answered the plaintiffs' second cause of action by general denial. For a further and separate answer, said defendant alleged facts tending to show that plaintiff Harry Webb was not a legally registered voter at the time of said election, and was not entitled to vote therein. Defendant Clatsop County District Boundary Board, notwithstanding the fact that, as to it, the first and third causes of action had been dismissed, answered the whole complaint by general denial, except for certain formal admissions.

No appearance was made by Clatsop County School District No. 3, or by any of the natural persons named as defendants, either in their individual capacity or otherwise.

The case was tried by the court without a jury, and, at the conclusion of the trial, the trial judge delivered his opinion orally from the bench, whereby he found that the plaintiffs had failed to sustain the allegations of their complaint, and concluded that the election in question was legal and valid in all respects. Accordingly, on July 22, 1949, the court entered a judgment declaratory of his said findings, adjudging that the consolidation of School District No. 3 and School District No. 15 was legal and valid, and dismissing plaintiffs' complaint.

From this judgment, plaintiffs have appealed.

The errors assigned are: (1) the court's failure to overrule the demurrer of School District No. 15 to plaintiffs' first and third causes of action and to deny the motion of Clatsop County District Boundary Board to dismiss plaintiffs' first and third causes of action, and (2) the entrance of the declaratory judgment declaring that the consolidation of the two school districts was legal and valid.

It is suggested by respondents that there was no showing that a justiciable controversy existed between the parties and, therefore, that there was no foundation for a declaratory judgment. Oregon Creamery Manufacturers Ass'n v. White, 159 Or. 99, 107, 78 P.2d 572.

The complaint clearly shows that the plaintiffs were seeking relief under the Declaratory Judgments Act, and concludes with an appropriate prayer in that regard. In essence, the action sought to determine the validity of a special school election, and the three separate causes of action set up, as grounds of controversy, irregularities which were alleged to have been committed by the election officials in the conduct of the election, and which, if so committed, affected the result thereof. Issue was joined by answer; the existence of the alleged controversies between the parties respecting the validity of the election was admitted; and we think that the pleadings in that regard were sufficient. Borchard, Declaratory Judgments, 2d ed., p. 868; Anderson, Declaratory Judgments, section 386; 16 Am.Jur., Declaratory Judgments, sections 45 and 64.

A justiciable controversy having been stated, the test of the sufficiency of the complaint was not whether or not it showed that plaintiffs were entitled to a declaratory judgment in accordance with their theory, but whether or not they were entitled to any declaration at all, even if they were mistaken in their theory. Cabell v. Cottage Grove, 170 Or. 256, 261, 130 P.2d 1013, 144 A.L.R. 286; Anderson, Declaratory Judgments, section 101, p. 271. Moreover, even though the plaintiffs had not been entitled to a favorable declaration upon the facts stated in their complaint, if the complaint stated a justiciable controversy between the parties the general demurrer thereto should have been overruled, and the controversy should have been determined by a judicial declaration. Central Oregon Irr. Dist. v. Deschutes County, 168 Or. 493, 507, 124 P.2d 518; Cabell v. Cottage Grove, supra.

Demurrer may be used to test the sufficiency of the complaint in these cases, if it is vulnerable upon any of the statutory grounds of demurrer. Fox v. Title & Trust Co., 129 Or. 530, 534, 277 P. 1003; Central Oregon Irr. Dist. v. Deschutes County, supra; Cabell v. Cottage Grove, supra; Paron v. Shakopee, 226 Minn. 222, 32 N.W.2d 603, 2 A.L.R.2d 1227, 1232. A motion to dismiss the complaint on the ground that it fails to state a cause of action, however, while permissible in the federal courts (Anderson, Declaratory Judgments, section 102) is not a proper pleading under our Oregon practice. In the present case, the motion of Clatsop County District Boundary Board to dismiss the complaint because of failure to state sufficient facts to constitute a cause of action against that defendant, appears to have served the office of a demurrer, and to have been so treated by the trial court. No error is assigned in that connection.

The first cause of action involved the closing of the polls before the expiration of the time during which, in accordance with the...