Case Name: WELLS v. CITY OF SOUTHFIELD
Court: Michigan Court of Appeals
Jurisdiction: Michigan
Decision Date: 1968-11-29
Citations: 14 Mich. App. 393
Docket Number: Docket No. 1,790
Parties: WELLS v. CITY OF SOUTHFIELD
Judges: Levin, J., concurred with T. G. Kavanagh, J.
Reporter: Michigan appeals reports; cases decided in the Michigan Court of Appeals.
Volume: 14
Pages: 393–395

Head Matter:
WELLS v. CITY OF SOUTHFIELD
Municipal Corporations — Charters—Limitation op Actions — Taxation — Special Assessment — Sewers.
City charter provision that no suit or aetion of any kind shall be instituted or maintained for the purpose of contesting or enjoining collection of any special assessment unless within 30 days after confirmation of the special assessment roll, written notice is given to the council of intention to file such suit or action, stating grounds on whieh it is claimed such assessment is illegal and unless such suit or action shall be commenced within 60 days of confirmation of the roll held, invalid and not to bar suit against city to declare invalid an assessment for the installation of the sewer (Southfield city charter, § 9.26 M>.
Reference por Points in Headnote
48 Am Jur, Special or Local Assessments §§ 242, 243.
Appeal from Oakland, Pratt (Phillip), J.
Submitted Division 2 December 5, 1967, at Lansing.
(Docket No. 1,790.)
Decided November 29, 1968.
Rehearing denied January 13, 1969.
Complaint by James E. Wells against the city of Southfield to enjoin proposed installation of a sewer. Accelerated judgment for the city. Plaintiff appeals.
Reversed and remanded for trial.
James E. Wells, in propria persona.
James M. Ginn, for defendant.

Opinion:
T. G-. Kavanagh, J.
On December 7, 1964, the assessment roll for the installation of a sewer in the city of Southfield was confirmed. The project has been completed. Plaintiff had brought suit in March, 1964, to enjoin the proposed project, but the suit was not prosecuted until after the work was finished, when plaintiff amended his complaint to pray that the assessment be declared invalid and to ask for the return of the assessed installments he had assertedly paid under protest.
The trial court granted the city's motion for accelerated judgment which was based on failure to comply with section 9.26(c) of the Southfield city charter which reads as follows:
"No suit or action of any kind shall be instituted or maintained for the purpose of contesting or enjoining collection of any special assessment unless within thirty (30) days after confirmation of the special assessment roll, written notice is given to the Council of intention to file such suit or action, stating grounds on which it is claimed such assessment is illegal and unless such suit or action shall be commenced within sixty (60) days of confirmation of the roll."
Although other questions were stated and argued on appeal, inasmuch as the motion was based solely on the asserted failure to comply with that charter provision and the judgment by its terms determined only that issue, we have addressed ourselves only to the question of whether these • charter, provisions requiring notice of intention to sue and limiting the time for suit are valid.
For the reasons set forth in Smuczynski v. City of Warren (1968), 14 Mich App 464, we held that the previously mentioned provisions of section 9.26 (c) of the Southfield charter are invalid and hence do not bar.this suit.
Reversed and remanded for trial, with costs to appellant.
Levin, J., concurred with T. G. Kavanagh, J.
Although not raised in plaintiff's original motion papers, this issue was presented to the trial judge in "Plaintiff's Brief after hearing on Accelerated Judgment Motion."