Bacas v. Adler

Citations

• 112 La. 806
• 36 So. 739
• 1904 La. LEXIS 468

Syllabus

<p>APPEAL — JURISDICTION — PAVING ASSESSMENT —LIMITATION—ESTOPPEL—PROVISION AS TO MAINTENANCE.</p> <p>1. This court has jurisdiction when the amount to be distributed exceeds $2,000.</p> <p>2. Article 186 of the Constitution relates to third persons. The defendant, by whom the article is invoked, is not a third person, and is therefore without right to the protection it affords to third persons. The price in the hands of the sheriff was subject to the lien and privilege claimed by plaintiff; for the property to the moment of the sale was subject to his (plaintiff’s) lien and privilege. Prescription is not a bar.</p> <p>3. The Legislature authorized one-fourth of the owners of the property abutting the street to select the material with which to pave the street.</p> <p>One-fourth of the property owners presented a petition to the council, which that body received ; it selected the material named in the petition; advertisements were made for bids; and the contract was adjudicated, and the work done, without objection from any one.</p> <p>The contract under the legislation, which may have been inadvisable and objectionable at the time, was not an absolute nullity. The property owner could estop himself by his acts so as to bind himself.</p> <p>4. The property owner was silent; paid part of the claim; many years have passed; and he promised to pay the remainder due of plaintiff’s claim.</p> <p>Property owners must, in order to be in position to defend themselves, object in due time. Mayor & Board of Trustees v. Eontelieu, 32 South. 369, 108 La. 460.</p> <p>5. The law (as interpreted at the time that the contract was awarded) was not averse to the maintenance clause, with the right reserved to the city to compel the contractor to sprinkle the city.</p> <p>6. While the best thought of late years is opposed to the maintenance clause, and considers it an improper burden upon property owners and a means to possible undue advantage on the part of the contractor, this view exp