Great Northern Railway Co. v. City of Seattle

Citations

• 73 Wash. 576
• 132 P. 234
• 1913 Wash. LEXIS 1640

Syllabus

<p>Municipal Corporations — Improvements — Assessments—Determination of Benefits — Review by Courts. The determination by a city council that property within an assessment district will be benefited by the improvement cannot be reviewed by the courts, in the absence of any showing of fraud or arbitrary action.</p> <p>Same — Property Benefited — Railroad Property. Railroad property abutting upon a street may be benefited by a local improvement and assessed for the benefits, although it is devoted exclusively to railroad purposes.</p> <p>Same — Property Subject — Abutting Property — Distinct Lots. Under a city charter providing that abutting property shall be assessed to a distance of at least ninety feet from the line of the improved street, uplands and contiguous tide lands, without any intervening street or alley, should be included for at least the minimum distance, notwithstanding that the uplands and tide lands had been separately platted into distinct lots, where it appears that the relative positions of the tide lands and uplands is such that the contiguous lots constitute practically but one lot.</p> <p>Same — Methods of Casting Assessments — Objections—Prejudice — Waiver. Objections to the method of casting assessments for benefits which were not made to the city council or the superior court cannot be asserted on appeal, in the absence of a showing that the appellants were prejudiced by the method adopted, or that assessments cast under the proper method would have reduced appellants’ assessments had it been applied to all the property assessed.</p>