Cole v. Norborne Land Drainage Dist. of Carroll Cty.

Background

This case involves a group of landowners who sued to stop a local drainage district from entering their property and collecting taxes under Missouri's 1913 Drainage Laws. The owners said section 40 was unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment and that officials had unfairly included their land so they would pay for benefits they did not share. The district had been lawfully created earlier and later enlarged to take in nearly 24,000 additional acres, including the plaintiffs’ land, after supervisors petitioned to expand the boundaries.

Reasoning

The Court focused on whether adding the land was an arbitrary, unconstitutional taking. It accepted the state trial court’s finding that the plaintiffs’ bottomland would be benefited, and it found no evidence of a secret or improper purpose. The Court explained that original owners who joined or created a district accept the plan and its risks, and later additions of contiguous, benefited land may fairly be required to share costs. The Court also noted that Missouri law makes the state circuit court’s territorial determination final and that the plaintiffs had sought and failed to get relief in state court. The District Court’s decision was therefore affirmed.

Real world impact

The ruling lets Missouri drainage districts add adjoining lands found to benefit from drainage and collect taxes to pay for the work, even over the owners’ objections, so long as state procedures are followed and state courts have decided the matter. The decision is final here, and the plaintiffs’ federal challenge was rejected.