Court Opinion

ID: 9545891
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 17:21:42.865298+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:15:41.750767
License: Public Domain

DIMOND, Senior Justice,
joined by MATTHEWS, Justice, dissenting.
I agree with the majority’s holding that the appellants’ delay in bringing this action — two. years and eight months after they knew of the annexation — was unreasonable. But I disagree with the holding that the prejudice to the City of Yakutat is adequate to support the superior court’s application of laches so as to bar the relief appellants seek.
The superior court found that some of the appellants voted in city elections, which they were entitled to do only because they were residents of the city after the annexation. The court believed that setting aside the annexation could affect those elections. I believe that here the superior court was mistaken. Yakutat City Ordinance 4.36.020 provides that if an election is not challenged within ten days of when the results are declared the election results “shall be conclusive, final and valid in all respects.”1 By its own ordinance, therefore, Yakutat’s elections cannot be affected if a contest is not initiated within approximately ten days of the election. There is no means by which the appellants’ votes in past elections could now be set aside.
*1050The superior court found that one of the appellants had become a member of the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission, which was a position that could only be held by a resident of the city. The court concluded that if the annexation were set aside this appellant’s vote would have to be discounted on all matters heard by the Commission while she was a member, and that this would probably affect some of the Commission’s decisions. This, the court found, would be another item of prejudice to the city that would call for the application of laches so as to bar the relief sought by appellants.
I believe that the superior court was mistaken in reaching this conclusion. If the annexation were set aside, the appellant who sat on the Commission would retrospectively lose her status as a resident of the City of Yakutat, and thus would be retrospectively disqualified to have been a member of the Commission. But the doctrine of “de facto officer” would prevent this from having any effect on the decisions made by the Commission while this appellant was a member.
This doctrine provides that a person who is ineligible to hold a governmental office but assumes the office under color of law is a de facto officer whose official acts cannot be challenged on the basis of the disqualification. As one court stated:
A person who assumes and performs the duties of a public office under color of authority and is recognized and accepted as the rightful holder of the office by all who deal with him is a de facto officer, even though there may be defects in the manner of his appointment, or he was not eligible for the office, or he failed to conform to some condition precedent to assuming the office.
State v. Miller, 222 Kan. 405, 565 P.2d 228, 235 (1977), quoting Olathe Hospital Foundation, Inc. v. Extendicare, Inc., 217 Kan. 546, 539 P.2d 1 (1975).
The Georgia Supreme Court explained the doctrine, stating:
Although a person may be absolutely ineligible to hold any civil office whatever in this state, yet his official acts, while holding a commission as a public officer, are valid as the acts of an officer de facto.
Health Facility Investments, Inc. v. Georgia Department of Human Resources, 238 Ga. 383, 233 S.E.2d 351 (1977), quoting Wright v. State, 124 Ga. 84, 52 S.E. 146 (1905).
In this case, the appellant who sat on the Commission took office under color of law. Everyone involved believed that she was eligible to sit on the Commission and everyone acted as though she were a proper member. I believe that, under these facts, if the annexation were set aside the appellant would be a de facto officer. Setting aside the annexation would not affect the validity of the Commission’s decisions.
As another reason for applying the doctrine of laches, the superior court found that, while “no great extent of services” was provided, police and fire protection had been available since the annexation.
The mere fact that municipal services, such as police and fire protection, have been available to the appellants since the annexation of their land does not constitute the type of prejudice necessary to support a finding of laches. The typical prejudice resulting to a city from a belated attack upon an annexation is that the city has already extended substantial services to the annexed area, such as making street improvements, supplying water and electricity, and installing sewer systems, sidewalks and curbing. See Alexander v. Trustees of Village of Middleton, 92 Idaho 823, 452 P.2d 50, 52-54 (1969); Finucane v. Village of Hayden, 86 Idaho 199, 384 P.2d 236, 240 (1963). No services of this nature were provided to the area in which appellants live.
Finally, the superior court applied the doctrine of laches because to set aside the annexation would require the City of Yaku-tat to refund taxes that it had assessed and collected on the annexed property.2 A mu*1051nicipality undoubtedly sustains some harm whenever it is required to unexpectedly refund taxes that it has collected. In some circumstances, when a plaintiff unreasonably delays before challenging an annexation, the prejudice that this causes the municipality will be sufficient to justify invoking laches to bar maintenance of the action. Depending upon the size of the area annexed and the tax rate involved, the money collected in property taxes from the area could be substantial. The longer the owners of the area wait before challenging the annexation, the more money the municipality has collected and believes is available for its use. Refunding this money could seriously affect the municipality’s financial position. However, in other circumstances, relatively little money could be involved, so that refunding the taxes would not cause any significant harm to the municipality.
The record does not show the amount of taxes involved. In order to ascertain whether the City of Yakutat would suffer such prejudice as to invoke the doctrine of laches against appellants if the city were obliged to refund taxes, a determination would have to be made of the amount of taxes paid by appellants and other owners of the annexed property. I would remand the case for such a determination by the superior court. Then, and only then, can it be decided whether Yakutat would be significantly prejudiced if it had to refund this money to the owners of the annexed property. In the absence of such a finding by the trial court on remand, I believe that the majority is mistaken in holding that laches preclude appellants from asserting their claim.

. This ordinance is similar to AS 29.28.050(e), which governs when a municipality does not enact its own ordinance on the subject. AS 29.28.050(e) provides, in part, as follows:
No person may appeal or seek judicial review of a city or borough election for any cause or reason unless the person ... has commenced, within 10 days after the assembly or council has finally declared the election results, an action in the superior court in the judicial district in which the municipality is located. If no such action is commenced within the 10-day period, the election and election results shall be conclusive, final and valid in all respects.

. The superior court and all parties have assumed that if the annexation is set aside Yaku-*1051tat will have to refund the property taxes it collected from the area. We accept this assumption for the purpose of discussion, but express no opinion as to its validity.