Opinion ID: 1732853
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Method of Service.

Text: Notice of the hearing on the petition to establish the drainage district was served by publication and ordinary mail, which is the manner prescribed by Iowa Code section 455.21 and made applicable to the joint district by section 457.6. Mammel concedes the notice was served according to statute but asserts the manner prescribed by it is not reasonable under the circumstances and fails the test of constitutionality. Dr. Angel and his wife denied receiving the mailed notice and denied having read the notice in the newspapers. Mammel points to this fact as support for the argument that the notice was not reasonably calculated to reach the owners. Mullane addressed the problem of the manner of service as well as the content of the notice. Regarding the manner of service, the court said: [t]he means employed must be such as one desirous of actually informing the absentee might reasonably adopt to accomplish it. The reasonableness and hence the constitutional validity of any chosen method may be defended on the ground that it is in itself reasonably certain to inform those affected, or, where conditions do not reasonably permit such notice, that the form chosen is not substantially less likely to bring home notice than other of the feasible and customary substitutes. 339 U.S. at 315, 70 S.Ct. at 657-58, 94 L.Ed. at 874. (Citations omitted.) See generally A. Jahr, Eminent Domain §§ 217-20, 338-42 (1953); F. James & G. Hazard, Civil Procedure § 12.18, at 640-41 (1977); I. Levey, Condemnation in U.S.A. § 42, at 452 (1969). Under these principles the Mullane Court held notice by newspaper publication alone would not satisfy due process where the action involved a known defendant's interest in intangible, personal property, viz., common trust funds: Where the names and post-office addresses of those affected by a proceeding are at hand, the reasons disappear for resort to means less likely than the mails to apprise them of its pendency. Id. at 318, 70 S.Ct. at 659, 94 L.Ed. at 875. It added, however, that due process requirements are less stringent when rights affecting tangible property, as opposed to intangible property, are involved: It is true that publication traditionally has been acceptable as notification supplemental to other action which in itself may reasonably be expected to convey a warning. The ways of an owner with tangible property are such that he usually arranges means to learn of any direct attack upon his possessory or proprietary rights. Hence, libel of a ship, attachment of a chattel or entry upon real estate in the name of law may reasonably be expected to come promptly to the owner's attention. When the state within which the owner has located such property seizes it for some reason, publication or posting affords an additional measure of notification. A state may indulge the assumption that one who has left tangible property in the state either has abandoned it, in which case proceedings against it deprive him of nothing, or that he has left some caretaker under a duty to let him know that it is being jeopardized. As phrased long ago by Chief Justice Marshall in The Mary (US) 9 Cranch 126, 144, 3 L.Ed. 678, 684, It is the part of common prudence for all those who have any interest in [a thing], to guard that interest by persons who are in a situation to protect it. Id. at 316, 70 S.Ct. at 658, 94 L.Ed. at 874 (citations omitted). As a result of Mullane, [1] section 455.21 was amended by the legislature, 1957 Iowa Acts ch. 219, § 1, to provide for notice by publication and ordinary mail to all affected landowners. Compare Iowa Code § 455.21 (1950) with Iowa Code § 455.21 (1979). The Supreme Court in Walker v. Hutchinson, 352 U.S. 112, 77 S.Ct. 200, 1 L.Ed.2d 178 (1956), considered whether newspaper publication alone was constitutionally sufficient in a proceeding to fix compensation for condemned land. Relying on Mullane the Court held such publication was inadequate under due process, although it indicated notice by ordinary mail would have sufficed: It is common knowledge that mere newspaper publication rarely informs a landowner of the proceedings against his property.... In the present case there seem to be no compelling or even persuasive reasons why direct notice cannot be given. [The landowner's] name was known to the city and was on the official records. Even a letter would have apprised him that his property was about to be taken and that he must appear if he wanted to be heard as to its value. Id. at 116, 77 S.Ct. at 202, 1 L.Ed.2d at 182. More recently, in Schroeder v. New York, 371 U.S. 208, 83 S.Ct. 279, 9 L.Ed.2d 255 (1962), the Court considered whether, in another condemnation proceeding, newspaper publication and posted notices in the vicinity of the affected property satisfied due process. Relying on Mullane and Walker, the Court again held such notice constitutionally inadequate, stating the defendant's obligation to give notice to the landowner was an obligation which the mailing of a single letter would have discharged. Id. at 214, 83 S.Ct. at 283, 9 L.Ed.2d at 260. We believe the publication and mailing of notice here was reasonably certain to inform parties affected by the project. Mullane, 339 U.S. at 314, 70 S.Ct. at 657, 94 L.Ed. at 873. In reaching that conclusion, we point out that Dr. Angel was the owner of a large tract of land in the flood plain of the Missouri River, that the proposed project was a very extensive one, and that the petition for establishment of the district had been under consideration by the board for nine years. As the Court in Mullane pointed out, the rule governing manner of service in such circumstances are less stringently applied in circumstances where an owner may be expected to arrange means of informing himself of an attack upon his possessory or proprietary interests. Id. at 316, 70 S.Ct. at 658, 94 L.Ed. at 874. The district raises an additional issue: that the plaintiff is judicially estopped to raise the notice issues because of allegedly inconsistent positions taken by it in connection with an earlier application for permission to file an interlocutory appeal, which was denied. Under our disposition of this case, it is unnecessary to discuss that issue. We find no error. AFFIRMED.