Opinion ID: 2316131
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Right of the Complainant to Maintain the Suit.

Text: As already noted, the appellant brought this suit as a taxpayer and as an owner of property in the City of Cumberland on behalf of himself and of any other taxpayer or interested party who might wish to come in as a complainant and contribute to the costs of suit. No one else has elected to join him as a party complainant. The City challenges his right to maintain the suit. We think it unnecessary to consider the possible rights of other, but unspecified, interested parties to join in the suit, or the right of the complainant to bring suit on behalf of such persons. We also think it unnecessary to determine whether the fact that the appellant owns property lying in the path of the proposed expressway gives him any special interest which would entitle him to maintain the suit on the ground that he may sue to prevent the improper condemnation of his property, even though he may be fully paid for his property. In this connection we note that under the Agreement, the Commission, and not the City, undertakes to acquire the right of way. There is, of course, no direct challenge to the State's power of condemnation. If it is in some way open to attack in this case, it would seem that such an attack would have to be based upon the theory that the State's power to condemn would be lost because of its being exercised in furtherance of an agreement which the complainant says the other party, the City, had no right to make. Such a contention might carry us far afield; and because of our views expressed below with regard to the complainant's right to maintain his suit as a taxpayer, we see no need to go into this matter any further. As the carefully considered opinion of the Circuit Court points out, a court of equity will restrain a municipal corporation or an administrative agency from entering into or performing an unlawful or ultra vires contract, when such action may injuriously affect the taxpayer's rights and property. Coddington v. Helbig, 195 Md. 330, 73 A.2d 454; Rushe v. Hyattsville, 116 Md. 122, 81 A. 278; City of Baltimore v. Gill, 31 Md. 375; City of Baltimore v. Keyser, 72 Md. 106, 19 A. 706; Ruark v. International Union of Operating Engineers, 157 Md. 576, 146 A. 797; Thom v. Baltimore, 154 Md. 273, 141 A. 125; Castle Farms Dairy Stores v. Lexington Market Authority, 193 Md. 472, 67 A.2d 490; Funk v. Mullan Contracting Co., 197 Md. 192, 78 A.2d 632. The City contends that the complainant has not shown that he will suffer any pecuniary loss, and bases this contention largely on the ground that he has not expressly stated that the carrying out of the Agreement will increase his taxes. The bill does allege that the sum of $70,000 a year is to be diverted for seven years from moneys which would otherwise be available to the City for highway maintenance and like purposes and is to be used to help to pay the cost of construction of the expressway. It seems evident from the fact alone that the latest City budget ordinance (a copy of which was filed with the bill) provides more than $127,000 for streets and alleys that the funds will have to be replaced by moneys derived through increased taxes, of which the complainant will have to pay his share. Cases relied on by the City, such as Williams v. City of Baltimore, 128 Md. 140, 97 A. 140, and Phillips v. Ober, 197 Md. 167, 78 A.2d 630, where no pecuniary loss could be shown, are not applicable. Funk v. Mullan Contracting Co., supra , also cited by the City, upheld the right of taxpayers to sue because of increased costs to which they would be subjected and distinguished Phillips v. Ober on the ground that in the latter case it was not alleged that the taxpayers would be pecuniarily affected. In the instant case we think the facts alleged are sufficient to indicate that taxpayers will be pecuniarily affected. Funk v. Mullan Contracting Co., supra , is also direct authority for the rule that although the taxpayer may be wrong in his contention, he nevertheless has the right to invoke the aid of a court in order to make his contention. The City's claim that the complainant's taxes would not be increased sufficiently to satisfy the twenty dollar jurisdictional requirement for maintaining a suit in equity was not pressed nor was it, nor could it have been, demonstrated to be arithmetically sound since the assessed value of only a part, but not of all, of the real estate in Cumberland owned by the plaintiff was shown. It is unnecessary to consider whether the interests of the taxpayers as a whole should be taken as the measure of the amount in controversy on the theory that this is a class suit.