Wilson v. King's Lake Drainage & Levee Dist.

Decision Date05 July 1913
Citation158 S.W. 931
PartiesWILSON v. KING'S LAKE DRAINAGE & LEVEE DIST.
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals

Defendant drainage and levee district was organized to take the place of a previous district, the organization of which was held invalid on appeal to the Supreme Court. Plaintiff had constructed a levee for the original district prior to the judgment of the Supreme Court, and the defendant district took over such levee. Held that, as R. S. 1909, § 5573, providing that the drainage act shall be liberally construed to promote the reclamation of wet and overflowed land, the building of necessary embankments or levees, and the preservation of any system already constructed, authorized defendant district to take over the levee already constructed, defendant district is liable to plaintiff for the benefits received from his work, even though the original district was not even a de facto corporation.

9. DRAINS (§ 49) — EQUITABLE ESTOPPEL — PERSONS ESTOPPED.

While an estoppel may not be invoked against a municipal corporation which acts entirely beyond the scope of its charter, yet the doctrine of estoppel applies in case of municipal contracts or acts within the charter; hence where a drainage and levee district took over a levee system constructed by plaintiff for its predecessor, whose organization was held invalid by the courts, it is estopped from claiming exemption from payment for plaintiff's work merely because all of the details pertaining to the employing of the old levee were not complied with.

10. DRAINS (§ 49)LIABILITY OF DRAINAGE DISTRICT — DEFENSES.

Where plaintiff constructed a levee for the predecessor of the defendant drainage and levee district, whose organization was held invalid by the courts, the old levee being taken over by defendant, defendant cannot escape liability on the theory that plaintiff did the work at his peril, where it appeared that he completed his work before a decision of the Supreme Court holding the original corporation invalid was rendered.

Reynolds, P. J., dissenting.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Lincoln County; James D. Barnett, Judge.

Action by Thomas C. Wilson, as administrator, etc., against the King's Lake Drainage & Levee District. From a judgment sustaining a demurrer to the petition, plaintiff appeals. Judgment reversed, and cause certified to the Supreme Court.

See, also, 237 Mo. 39, 139 S. W. 136.

F. L. Schofield, of Hannibal, and E. B. Woolfolk, of Troy, for appellant. O. H. Avery and W. A. Dudley, both of Troy, for respondent.

NORTONI, J.

This is a suit in equity and the question for decision arises alone on the face of the bill. Defendant interposed a demurrer to plaintiff's bill, and the court sustained it. From this judgment so sustaining the demurrer, plaintiff prosecutes the appeal here.

Omitting caption and signatures, the bill is as follows; however, the italics employed therein are our own:

"Plaintiff states that at all the times hereinafter mentioned the defendant was and yet is a body corporate duly incorporated as a drainage district under and by virtue of article 5 of chapter 122 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri 1899, and by virtue of the proceedings in the county court of Lincoln county, Missouri, in a certain cause therein pending, entitled `In the Matter of King's Lake Drainage and Levee District,' and by virtue of the certain findings, orders and judgments of said court in said cause duly made and entered of record therein on the 25th day of May, 1895, and on the 29th day of November, 1904.

"Plaintiff further states that the lands embraced and included within and affected by said drainage district lie partly in Lincoln county and partly in Pike county, both in the state of Missouri, and that the greater part of said lands lie in the said county of Lincoln.

"That heretofore, to wit, on the ____ day of ____, 1894, there was filed in the office of the clerk of the county court of said Lincoln county a petition duly signed by the majority of the owners of all the lands in said above-mentioned district and by the owners of more than half of said lands, all of said petitioners and owners being adults of lawful age, praying and applying for the organization of a drainage district embracing said lands by the said name of `King's Lake Drainage and Levee District,' and with the boundaries thereof proposed, setting forth said proposed name and the necessity for said district and the organization thereof, and for the construction therein and thereby of drains, ditches, levees, and other works, and the maintenance and keeping same in repair, with a description of its and their proposed starting point, route, and termini, and a general description of the said lands proposed to be affected thereby, with the names of the owners of all said lands, and praying and applying for the appointment of commissioners for the execution of such proposed work according to the provisions of the act aforesaid, and which said petition was accompanied by an affidavit giving the names and places of residence of such of the owners of said lands within said district as were non-residents of said counties of Lincoln and Pike so far as known, and so far as unknown stating that upon diligent inquiry their places of residence could not be ascertained.

"That thereupon the clerk of said county court of Lincoln county duly docketed said matter and cause on the docket and record of his said court for further proceedings therein under and by the name and title, `In the Matter of the King's Lake Drainage and Levee District,' and that all the proceedings in said court hereinafter referred to were had and done in said matter and cause and under the name and title aforesaid, and that he caused due notice of the presentation and filing of said petition to be given in all the modes and within the time provided by law to all the owners of said lands and all others interested therein, which said notices contained a statement that said petition had been filed in said court, the date when same was filed, the starting point, route, termini, and general description of the said proposed work, the boundaries of said proposed drainage district, and the said name thereof, and that the petitioners would ask a hearing of said petition at the July term of said county court then next to be holden at the court-house in the city of Troy in said county.

"That thereafterwards such proceedings were duly had in said county court; that on, to wit, the 17th day of August, 1894, at and during a term and sitting of said court duly held in the courthouse in said city of Troy, the hearing of and upon said petition was duly had by and before court, and the said court, after hearing all competent evidence offered before it for and against said petition and the various matters involved in said proceeding, duly found and adjudged that said petition had been signed by a majority of the owners of all the lands in said district and by the owners of a majority of all said lands; and it further then and there appearing to the said court that the said proposed drains, ditches, levees and other works were necessary and would be useful for the drainage of the said lands proposed to be drained thereby for agricultural and sanitary purposes, the said court then and there duly so found, declared, ordered, and adjudged; and thereupon by its further order and judgment in said proceeding said court appointed William J. Seaman and William H. Baskett of Lincoln county and Frank L. Wilson of Pike county as commissioners to lay out and construct said...

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  • Donovan v. Kansas City
    • United States
    • Missouri Supreme Court
    • November 1, 1943
    ...contends contra. We have no quarrel with the result of the cases here stressed by plaintiff, viz.: Wilson v. King's Lake Drainage & Levee District (Banc), 257 Mo. 266, 165 S.W. 734; Edwards v. Kirkwood, 147 Mo.App. 599, 127 S.W. 378; Schueler v. Kirkwood, 191 Mo.App. 575, 177 S.W. 760; Unit......
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    ... ... as will appear by reference to the decision of the Supreme ... Court overturning it. [See King's Lake Drainage Dist ... v. Jamison, 176 Mo. 557, 75 S.W. 679.] ...           [176 ... Mo.App. 492] It has been said the judgment of the Supreme ... Court ... ...
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