Columbia River Timber & Logging Co. v. Commissioners of Diking District No. 2

Citations

• 108 Wash. 148
• 183 P. 134
• 1919 Wash. LEXIS 868

Syllabus

<p>Drains (7)—Districts—Powers—Statutes. A diking district organized under Rem. Code, § 4091 et seq., becomes a legal entity as a public corporation, and its commissioners, under §§ 4104, 4122, have discretionary powers which will not be reviewed by the courts in the absence of fraud.</p> <p>Same (7)—Districts—Powers—Control by Courts. There is no sufficient evidence of fraud or arbitrary action by commissioners of a diking district to warrant interference by the courts, where it merely appears that there was a difference of opinion as to the necessity for the more elaborate improvements decided upon by the commissioners and increasing the cost, and a conflict in the evidence as to whether the attorney employed by them expected to profit in some improper way in the letting of the contract and the sale of bonds.</p> <p>Same (13-1)—Districts—'Liabilities—Contracts—Validity. It cannot be said that the commissioners abused their discretion in employing an attorney for $3,000 to do all the legal work in connection with the construction of an improvement costing $168,000, including the assessment of benefits and damages in eminent domain proceedings.</p>