J. B. STOCKMAN
v.
CITY OF TRENTON
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J. B. Stockman appealed a judgment allowing foreclosure of special assessment liens for street improvements in Trenton, Florida. The Florida Supreme Court reversed, holding that the trial court erred in striking Stockman's affirmative defenses showing the improvements provided no benefit or were detrimental to his property.
The court held that Stockman's affirmative defenses constituted a complete defense to the assessment and the trial court erred in striking them. Special assessments cannot exceed the benefits they confer, and if they do, they violate due process. Where improvements provide no benefit or are detrimental to property, the cost cannot be imposed on that owner.
“special assessments should in no case exceed the benefits they confer to the property improved and that if the governmental entity imposes an assessment in excess of benefits, it will be held to the extent of the excess as the taking of property without due process of law”
Establishes the constitutional limitation on special assessments and the due process constraint
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceIn February 1936, the City of Trenton filed to foreclose special assessment liens against Stockman's property for street improvements including paving…
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In February, 1936, Appellee as complain-ant filed its bill of complaint in the Circuit Court to foreclose special assessment liens. Appellant as defendant and owner of the .lands described in the liens moved to dismiss but his motion having been overruled, he filed an answer in which he denied the material allegations of the bill of complaint and set up among others the following affirmative defense; that the improvement for which the special assessments accumulated consisted in paving, sewage, stormy sewers, curbing, and other improvement extending 3820 feet over Wade Street in the City of Trenton, that AVade Street ran over a State highway through the said city which had previously been paved, that for topographical and other reasons, said improvements were worthless to appellant and his lands, that the curbs and gutters caused large volumes *408of' excess water to accumulate and stand on his lands and thereby detracted from their value, and that a large portion was for extra width paving to widen the street in front of appellant’s premises which was also worthless and of no value whatever to him or his premises.
These defenses are more meticulously .set out in paragraphs (d), (e), (k), (1), (m), (n), (o), and (p) of the original answer and in paragraphs 5, 10, 11, 12, and 13 of the answer as amended. If the defenses set up in these paragraphs are proven they constitute a complete defense to the assessment complained of. The decree granting the motion of complainant to strike them constituted error for which the cause must be reversed.
The Courts of this country are committed to the doctrine that special assessments should in no case exceed the benefits they confer to the property improved and that if the governmental entity imposes an assessment in excess of benefits, it will be held to the extent of the excess as the taking of property without due process of law. Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company v. Lakeland, 84 Fla. 347, 115 So. 669; Abell v. Town of Boynton, 95 Fla. 984, 117 So. 507; Atlantic Coast Railroad Company v. City of Winter Haven, 114 Fla. xxv, 151 So. 321; McQuillen on Municipal Corporations, Vol. 5, Sec. 2240, 2nd Edition.
Even the Legislature in the exercise of its power to tax, the power to condemn, and the police power cannot strike down personal and property rights secured to the individual •by organic law. If the proof shows that the curbs and gutters were of no use or value to appellant’s property or were in reality as he alleges a detriment to it, there is no theory under which the1 cost could be imposed on him.
Likewise there is no theory under which avenues and white ways and the cost of such improvements can be im*409posed on the abutting owner. Their purpose and essence is public. They are made necessary to let a large volume of traffic pass with dispatch and safety where a smaller one formerly passed, and being so, the public and not the individual should bear the cost of them. The mere fact that one, owns lands abutting on a.highway does not connote that he may also be required to build a pavement by them for the public to drive over. The demand for through highways and broad avenues has very much modified the front foot rule as early defined for providing them.
From this, it follows that the judgment below must be- and is hereby reversed.'
Reversed.
Ellis, C. J., and Whitfield, Brown, Buford and Chapman, J. J., concur. ,
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Citator
Cited By
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City of Miami Beach v. Tenney, 150 Fla. 241 (Fla. 1942)…the payment of this improvement were bonds constituting. the general obligation of the City and in nowise pledging special assessments for the payment of the same. The appellant insists that our opinions in the cases of Stockman v. City of Trenton, 132 Fla. 406, 181 Sou. 383; DeLand v. Boyd, 109 Fla. 328, 147 So. 575, and Abel v. Boynton, 95 Fla. 984, 117 Sou. 507; Escott v. City of Miami, 107 Fla. 273, 144 Sou. 397, are controlling of the questions here involved and upon authority of these opinions the or…
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City OF Treasure Island v. Strong, 215 So. 2d 473 (Fla. 1968)…al assessments should not exceed the benefits [*476] accruing to the properties improved and that an assessment in excess of benefits is deemed a taking of property without due process to the extent of the excess. Stockman v. City of Trenton (1938), 132 Fla. 406, 181 So. 383. We are of the view, however, that a property owner may be precluded under certain circumstances from asserting lack of benefit as a defense to a foreclosure of the assessment lien. In Abell v. Town Boynton (1928), 95 Fla. 984, 117 So.…
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Gottfried Andrew Anderson and Anna Maria Anderson v. The City OF N. Miami, 99 So. 2d 861 (Fla. 1957)…nts. See also Webb v. Scott, 129 Fla. 111, 176 So. 442, 446-447. Returning to F.S. § 170.01, F.S.A., we search the statute in vain for authority to assess property for the installation of a white way lighting system. In Stockman v. City of Trenton, 132 Fla. 406, 181 So. 383, 384, we said, of a white way lighting system, that its “purpose and essence is public”. Again we agree with appellants the cost of such system should not have been included in the special assessments. Appellants next urge that the imp…
Previewing 3 of 7 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Atl. Coast Line R.R. Co. v. City of Lakeland, 94 Fla. 347 (Fla. 1927)
- Abell v. Town of Boynton, 95 Fla. 984 (Fla. 1928)
- Glass v. State, 117 So. 507 (Ala. Ct. App. 1928)
- Atl. Coast Line R.R. Co. v. City of Winter Haven. (3 Cases.), 112 Fla. 807 (Fla. 1933)