Frenna v. Sunnyside Land Co.

Citations

• 124 Cal. 437
• 57 P. 302
• 1899 Cal. LEXIS 1014

Syllabus

<p>Street Assessment—Defective Certificate of Engineer—Signature by Employee.—No lien can be acquired under a street assessment without the record of a valid certificate of the city engineer required by law to be recorded with the warrant, assessment, and diagram in the office of the superintendent of streets. If such certificate is not signed by the city engineer either in person or by deputy, but his name is signed thereto In the hand■writing oí a mere employee, who did the surveying and measuring required to be done and certified by the city engineer, it is fatally defective and invalid, and its record cannot constitute the basis of a lien.</p> <p>Id.—Recitad in Subsequent Certificate—Defect not Aided by Proof. A subsequent certificate signed by the city engineer, merely certifying that the record of the former certificate shows certain specified facts, cannot have the effect to aid or cure the defective certificate, but is at best only secondary evidence of its contents. The defective certificate cannot be cured by any proof that the facts stated therein are true.</p>