Monell v. Irey
Monell v. Irey
Opinion of the Court
Lucinda Monell, the appellee, brought this action in the district court of Douglas county July 13,1892, alleging in her petition that she had been the owner of lot 6, block 106, of the city of Omaha for ten years before the commencement of this action, and by virtue of her continued ownership she prayed the relief which afterwards was granted. As her grounds for this relief she alleged that on July 16, 1890, Adam Snyder, the then treasurer of Douglas county, had offered the said lot for sale and had made a pretended sale thereof to the defendants Grant & Grant for an alleged- unpaid and special assessment levied and assessed against the said premises by the said city of Omaha in the year 1879 for curbing and gutter
In tbe decree from which this appeal has been prosecuted there was tbe following language: “It being unnecessary, in tbe court’s opinion, to a proper decision of. tbe case, no finding is made on tbe question as to said premises being cbnrcb property and exempt from taxation during tbe years 1864, 1866, and 1867, and tbe court does not •determine tbe same.” In respect to appellants’ rights as to all tbe taxes outside tbe paving and guttering tax we shall follow tbe line pursued by tbe district court, and shall consider tbe case as though tbe only rights involved were such as depend directly upon the paving and guttering tax.
In tbe course of tbe trial in tbe district court there was by tbe appellants offered in evidence tbe county treasurer’s certificate showing tbe sale •of tbe aforesaid lot on July 16, 1890, to Grant & Grant, for $422.51, tbe amount of a paving and guttering tax. By tbe appellee there was offered In evidence tbe following record:
“Gilbert C. Monell v. William F. Heins et al.
“Now come tbe parties herein by tbeir attor*216 neys, and thereupon this cause came on for hearing on the pleadings and evidence and was submitted to the court, on consideration whereof, and. all parties consenting thereto, the court do find on. the issue joined for the plaintiff and that the plaintiff is entitled to the relief prayed for. It is. therefore considered and decreed that the defendants be, and they hereby are, perpetually and forever enjoined from, in any manner, collecting the curb and gutter tax levied on lot 6, block 106, ini the city of Omaha, Douglas County, Nebraska. It is further considered that the plaintiff recover from the defendant his costs herein expended* taxed at $-.”
There is neither in this decree, nor in any evidence offered in connection with it, any indication of its date. As this action, upon the theory of the appellee, was only maintainable upon the theory that the enforcement of the paving and guttering: tax having been enjoined, the said tax no more justified a sale of the lot than though such paving: and guttering tax had never existed, it devolved: upon the party relying upon the decree to show that the sale called in question had been made* notwithstanding the fact that this decree was. then in existence. No presumption of the performance by the county treasurer of his duty can. aid us in this matter, for the presumption that he would not have made a sale in violation of the decree is as strong as any other that can be invoked. It may be, as alleged in the petition, that this decree was entered on May, 1886, but this* with other averments, was put in issue by the answer, and, as has already been stated, there was-no showing by proofs what in fact was the date of this decree. There was in evidence, as we have
Reversed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.