Court Opinion

ID: 9561820
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 18:16:56.829303+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:14:32.689465
License: Public Domain

THOMAS, Justice,
specially concurring, with whom RAPER, Justice, joins.
I concur in the result in this case, but I cannot agree with the grounds for disposition reflected in the majority opinion.
The opinion of the Court treats this agreement as void because the term of the agreement is construed as being perpetual. There is no express language in the agreement stating that it was to be in force in perpetuity. Relying upon the general presumption that the parties intend the contract to be legal and binding, and the rule that if susceptible to alternative constructions it should be afforded the one that will result in its being valid and enforceable,1 I *1155would construe this agreement as being one for a reasonable period. This is one of the possible constructions indicated in the following language which is quoted in the Court’s opinion with only the emphasis being changed:
“Contracts to continue for an unlimited time, if construed to continue in perpe-tuo, are generally considered invalid, although courts have held such contracts valid in the absence of any constitutional limitations. Contracts for an indefinite time are sustained where construed as continuing in force only at the will of the parties or for a reasonable time only, and in some jurisdictions the reasonable time for which such contracts are allowed to run is determined by analogy to constitutional provisions limiting the terms of franchises.” [Footnotes omitted and emphasis supplied] 63 C.J.S. Municipal Corporations § 979b, p. 534 (1950).
I would conclude that this contract is not void for the reason assigned in the majority opinion, but instead was intended to be in existence for a reasonable period of time. Bullock County v. Sherlock, 242 Ala. 262, 5 So.2d 800 (1942); and West Caldwell v. Caldwell, 26 N.J. 9, 138 A.2d 402 (1958).2 I would hold further that a reasonable time had not yet run, and would be forced to dispose of the issue relating to the collective bargaining nature of this agreement. I would dispose of that issue by holding that the City of Casper, in the absence of legislative authority to do so, had no power to enter into a collective bargaining agreement with the Police Protective Association of Casper, substantially in accordance with the rules in Justice Raper’s concurring opinion in which I join.

. City of Orlando v. Murphy, 84 F.2d 531 (5th Cir. 1936), cert. den. 229 U.S. 580, 57 S.Ct. 45, 81 L.Ed. 427 (1936); Bullock County v. Sherlock, 242 Ala. 262, 5 So.2d 800 (1942); City of Los Angeles v. Superior Court, 51 Cal.2d 423, 333 P.2d 745 (1959); Mt. Lebanon Tp. v. Metropolitan Casualty Ins. Co., 106 Pa.Super. 209, 161 A. 632 (1932); City of El Campo v. South *1155Texas Nat. Bank, 200 S.W.2d 252 (Tex.Civ.App.1946). See Walton Water Co. v. Village of Walton, 238 N.Y. 46, 143 N.E. 786 (1924), reargument denied, 238 N.Y. 555, 144 N.E. 889 (1924); Suburban Club of Larkfield, Inc., v. Town of Huntington, 56 Misc.2d 715, 289 N.Y.S.2d 813 (S.Ct.1968), modified on other grounds, 30 A.D.2d 541, 291 N.Y.S.2d 1013 (1968); Massasoit Housing Corporation v. Town of North Kingston, 75 R.I. 211, 65 A.2d 38 (1949). See also 17 C.J.S. Contracts § 918, pp. 181 et seq., and § 586, p. 1136 (1963).

. I can find no inherent barrier in the cases which would prevent the City of Casper from entering into this agreement for a reasonable time beyond the terms of office of the governing officials. I think this particularly is true in view of the contractual language which contemplates an annual review of the terms of the agreement. See Town of Lovell v. Menhall, Wyo., 386 P.2d 109 (1963); and Hyde v. Board of Commissioners of Converse County, 47 Wyo. 101, 31 P.2d 75 (1934).