Title: State v. City of Jackson
Citation: 403 S.W.2d 304
Docket Number: N/A
State: Tennessee
Issuer: Tennessee Supreme Court
Date: May 16, 1966

403 S.W.2d 304 (1966) STATE of Tennessee, ex rel. A. L. ROBBINS, Jr., et al., Appellants, v. The CITY OF JACKSON, Tennessee, etc., Appellee. Supreme Court of Tennessee. May 16, 1966. Walter C. Drake, Jackson, for appellants. Russell Rice, City Atty., and Roger Murray, Jr., Asst. City Atty., Jackson, for appellee. CRESON, Justice. This appeal comes from the Circuit Court of Madison County, Tennessee. Suit was filed on August 24, 1965, by appellants here, seeking to enjoin the appellee City from annexing a large area of land and approximately 1,500 citizens into the corporate limits of the City of Jackson. The trial judge, without the intervention of a jury, found in favor of the appellee, and the appellants timely effected their appeal to this Court. Appellants assign as error the following: *305 Appellants' first Assignment of Error requires a review of the record, which is largely undisputed on this question. This action was brought under T.C.A. Sec. 6-310, which provides "any aggrieved owner of property lying within territory which is the subject of an annexation ordinance prior to the operative date thereof, may file a suit in the nature of quo warranto proceeding in accordance with secs. 6-308 6-320 and chapter 28 of title 23, to contest the validity thereof on the ground that it reasonably may not be deemed necessary for the welfare of the residents and property owners of the affected territory and the municipality as a whole and so constitutes an exercise of power not conferred by law." The appellants here live within an area that the City of Jackson has undertaken to annex by ordinance, as provided in T.C.A. Sec. 6-309, which is as follows: In initiating this proposed annexation the City Council caused to be published in The Jackson Sun, a newspaper of general circulation in the municipality an advertisement which advised that there would be a public hearing on July 30, 1965, to consider annexation of the involved territory. Prior to that, on June 23, 1965, The Jackson Sun published an extended and front page news article referring to the proposed annexation and public hearing to be had in this connection. The article set forth the area to be included in the proposed annexation. The trial judge found that these two published articles constituted substantial compliance with the notice requirements set forth, as follows, in T.C.A. Sec. 6-308: In the light of the opinion of this Court in State v. Quarterly County Court (1961) 209 Tenn. 153, 351 S.W.2d 390, we feel the trial judge reached the proper conclusion. In that case, this Court said the following, which we think is particularly analogous to the instant case: The following from 2 McQuillin Municipal Corps. 339 (3rd Ed.-Sec. 7.29) also supports the trial court's finding: Thus, we find that appellants' first Assignment of Error is without merit. Appellants' second Assignment of Error urges that the trial court erred in holding that the proposed plan of services for the area to be annexed was reasonable. Suffice it to say, in connection with this Assignment of Error, that if there is evidence upon which reasonable men could differ as to the reasonableness of the proposed annexation, as is the case here, this Court will not substitute its discretion or judgment for that of the legislative body of the City. See Morton v. Johnson City (1960) 206 Tenn. 411, 333 S.W.2d 924; State ex rel. Senff v. City of Columbia (1961) 208 Tenn. 59, 343 S.W.2d 888; State ex rel. Hardison v. City of Columbia (1962) 210 Tenn. 514, 360 S.W.2d 39. The evidence contained in this record abounds with conflicting testimony as to the reasonableness or unreasonableness of the proposed annexation. In light of this, the Court must apply the rule as stated in Morton v. Johnson City, supra, as follows: It appearing that neither of appellants' Assignments of Error are meritorious, the judgment of the trial court, supported by an excellent Opinion, is affirmed, with costs against the appellants. BURNETT, C. J., and WHITE, DYER and CHATTIN, JJ., concur.