John and Lauri Askew, et al.
v.
Trustees of Mule Slough Drainage District
Appellee
John and Lauri Askew, et al.
Appellant
Trustees of Mule Slough Drainage District
Attorney for the Appellee
Matthew G. Woods
Attorney for the Appellant
Robert W. Goodwin
Court of Appeals
Court of Appeals Opinion
Opinion Number:
Date Published:
Summary
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Fremont County, Kathleen Kilnoski, Judge. AFFIRMED. Heard by Tabor, P.J., and Mullins and Schumacher, JJ. Opinion by Schumacher, J. (15 pages)
Defendant Trustees of Mule Slough Drainage District (Trustees) appeal the district court’s decision finding it had improperly annexed and reclassified land into the Mule Slough Drainage District (Mule Slough DD). OPINION HOLDS: We find the district court properly determined the trustees for the Missouri Valley Drainage District (Missouri Valley DD) could appear as plaintiffs in this action. We affirm the district court decision finding the Mule Slough DD did not properly annex the land in the Missouri Valley DD. The Mule Slough DD did not follow the statutory procedures to accomplish annexation, and it has not presented sufficient legal arguments to show why the statutory provisions should not be followed. Furthermore, without annexation, the Mule Slough DD did not have authorization to reclassify the land in question. We agree with the court’s conclusion that because there were errors in the annexation proceedings, the annexation in whole must be vacated. We affirm the decision of the district court.
