Roehl v. City of Milwaukee
Roehl v. City of Milwaukee
Opinion of the Court
Tbe judgment for the recovery of tbe amount assessed against tbe plaintiff as tbe excess of benefits over tbe damages awarded in tbe proceedings is assailed upon tbe ground tbat be voluntarily paid it. It appears tbat plaintiff protested against payment of tbis sum, but that such payment was demanded as a condition of receiving payment of
The proceedings for the talcing of plaintiff’s land are assailed as wholly void upon the ground that the city omitted to comply with the provisions of sec. 3187a, Stats. (1898). The provisions of this section apply to the proceedings under which the city attempted to. take plaintiff’s property for the improvement of Island avenue. The resolution of the common council declaring the necessity for the widening of this street is the only proceeding recorded with the register of deeds of the county. This is, however, not sufficient to meet the requirements of the statute. It is to he noted that this resolution fails to comply with the statute in the material particulars that it fails to give a full and accurate description of the land affected thereby and it is not accompanied by a map showing the location thereof. The statute provides that a “resolution . . . made by any such body, whereby any land shall be taken or affected without an application having been made therefor, shall have no effect and shall not be notice to any subsequent purchaser or incumbrancer unless such resolution ... be recorded.” Sec. 3187a, Stats. (1898). It was decided in Svennes v. West Salem, 114 Wis. 650, 91 N. W. 123, that the requirement “be recorded” meant recorded in the office of the register of deeds. It is evident that the part of the statute just quoted refers back to the part immediately preceding it, and that the reference to a “resolution or order,” whereby land shall be taken or affected, embraces the resolutions or orders specified in the preceding sentence, namely, a “final resolution or order.” It therefore follows
It is argued that the effect of the statute should be limited to “subsequent purchasers or incumbrancers.” Such an interpretation would, in our judgment, be contrary to the intent of the legislature and contradict the plain meaning of the act.
Under the circumstances the plaintiff had the right to restrain the city from taking his land, and to recover the sum of money he had been forced to pay the city because of the illegal proceedings.
By the Court. — Judgment affirmed.
Reference
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- 1. Payment of a special assessment under protest, upon refusal of the tax collector to receive other taxes assessed against the, same property unless this special tax were also paid, is not a voluntary payment. 2. The provision in sec. 3187a, Stats. (1898), relating to proceedings to take land for highways, that a “resolution or order made by any such body, whereby any land shall be taken or affected without an application having been made therefor, shall have no effect and shall not be notice to any subsequent purchaser or incumbrancer unless such resolution or order be recorded,” refers to the “final resolution or order . . . giving a full and accurate description of the land affected thereby, and accompanied with a map showing the location thereof,” mentioned in the-preceding part of the section. Such a proceeding is void, therefore, where the only thing recorded was a resolution of a common council declaring the necessity for the widening of a street. 3. The nullity of the proceedings resulting from failure to record the final resolution or order under sec. 3187a, Stats. (1898), is not limited to “subsequent purchasers or incumbrancers.”