Field v. Barber Asphalt & Paving Company

These cases are appeals from the decree of the circuit court of the United States for the western district of Missouri. Richard H. Field, as owner of certain lands abutting on Main street, Baltimore avenue, and Wyandotte street, in Westport, Missouri, which city was then a suburb and has since become a part of Kansas City, filed a bill of complaint against the paving company. The relief sought was against certain tax bills, issued to pay for the paving of the abovenamed streets, held by the defendant company, and to have the same declared void because (1) the act under which they were assessed violated the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States; (2) that the paving in question was unnecessary, and the contract for the same was the result of undue and illegal influence on the part of the agents of the defendant company, exercised upon the board of aldermen of the city of Westport; (3) that the contracts for the paving required the same to be constructed of Trinidad Lake asphalt, thereby cutting off competition with other kinds of asphalt suitable for street paving; (4) that the proceedings and agreements by which such asphalt was designated in the resolutions, ordinances, and rules for the construction of said pavements were in violation of the interstate commerce clause of the Constitution of the United States (art. 1, § 8); and (5) that the said resolutions, ordinances, and contracts, and the action of the defendant company in securing the same, were in violation of the Federal antitrust act of July 2, 1890 [26 Stat. at L. 209, chap. 647, U.S.C.omp. 1901, p. 3200].

Upon the trial, the circuit court held against the prayer of the complainant for relief upon the Federal grounds alleged, but, holding that the paving of Wyandotte street was unnecessary, granted the prayer of the bill as to the tax bills issued for work done on that street, and dismissed the bill as to the other two streets.

From so much of the decree as held the tax bills for the work done on Wyandotte street invalid the paving company also appealed. (Case No. 202.)

Mr. Richard H. Field in propria persona for appellant and cross appellee.

Messrs. William C. Scarritt, J. K. Griffith, Elliott H. Jones, and Edward L. Scarritt for the Barber Asphalt Paving Company.

Mr. Justice Day delivered the opinion of the court: