Bussell v. Ross

Citations

• 60 Wash. 344
• 111 P. 165
• 1910 Wash. LEXIS 1048

Syllabus

<p>Public Lands — Tide Lands — -Fills—Certificates — Contract — Injunction. • Under Rem. & Bal. Code, § 8103, providing that the commissioner of public lands shall issue certificates on contracts for the filling of tide lands showing the actual cost of the fill, which certificates shall when filed be a lien upon the lands for the cost specified in the certificate, with fifteen per cent additional, with the proviso that the lien shall not be operative for an amount exceeding the cost of the work as stated in the contract, and § 8107, providing that the cost of bulkheads shall be apportioned by the commissioner to all lands benefited thereby in addition to the cost of the fill, and under a contract for filling tide lands which provides that the entire cost of the work “including the cost of the bulkheads” shall not exceed sixteen cents per cubic yard for each and every yard of earth put upon each tract of land, the lands are liable only for the maximum of sixteen cents per cubic yard fixed by the contract, except where additional costs of bulkheads are approved by the governor, pursuant to a clause in the contract; and where the commissioner is threatening to issue certificates in excessive amounts to include distributed street and alley fill and additional bulkheads without the governor’s approval, injunction will issue to restrain such action (Rudkin, C. X, Chadwick, Gose, and Fullerton, XL, dissenting).</p> <p>Injunction — Parties—Public Lands — Interest of State — Tide Land Fills. The state is not a necessary party to an action to enjoin the commissioner of public lands from issuing excessive lien certificates on a contract for filling tide lands, the state having sold the lands and not being liable for the price of the fills or having any interest in the matter except as benefited by the waterway, as to which no relief was sought; the whole controversy being between the contractors and the owners of the land.</p>