Municipal Securities Corp. v. Kansas City

Citations

• 246 U.S. 63
• 38 S. Ct. 224
• 62 L. Ed. 579
• 1918 U.S. LEXIS 1520

Syllabus

<p>If the decision of the state court rests upon a ground of general law adequate to support it, independently of the decision upon alleged violation of federal right, the case is not reviewable here.</p> <p>So heldj where the plaintiff, as assignee of special tax bills issued by a city in payment for sewer construction, claimed that, by appropriating a. certain lot in the sewer district through condemnation . proceedings and by thus preventing the'lien of the tax bills from attaching thereto, the city took property without due process and so rendered itself liable, whereas the state court, construing the sewer contract; the city ordinance and charter and state constitution and laws, held that there could be no recovery against the city on the tax bills themselves, and that the'cause of action, if any, for the alleged wrongful taking, was a separate matter not covered by the assignment.</p>