Blanchard v. Ladd

SMITH, C.

The suit was brought to enforce the lien of an assessment on land of defendant for grading the crossing of Capitol Avenue and Farallones Street in the city of San Francisco.

The court found all the allegations of the complaint to be

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true, except the allegations that at the time mentioned in the complaint, the width and grade of the streets named had been officially established, and that the amount of the assessment was due. These it found to be untrue. Afterwards an order was made granting the plaintiff a new trial, from which the defendant appeals.

In this we think there was no error. The plaintiff’s evidence consisted of the warrant, assessment, engineer’s certificate, and diagram, with the affidavit of demand and nonpayment,—all of which, it appeared, had been duly recorded in the office of the street superintendent; and no other evidence was introduced. This, under the express provisions of the statute, established the plaintiff’s

prima facie

case, and hence established, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, all the facts constituting his cause of action, including the fact that the width and grade of the streets in question had been officially established. (Street Improvement Act, sec. 12 (Stats. 1889, p. 168);

Fanning

v.

Bohme,

76 Cal. 151;

Fanning

v.

Leviston,

93 Cal. 187;

McDonald

v.

Conniff,

99 Cal. 391;

Clarke

v.