[Download] "Smith v. Board of Education" by Supreme Court of Illinois " Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Smith v. Board of Education
- Author : Supreme Court of Illinois
- Release Date : January 18, 1950
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 61 KB
Description
July 19, 1949, appellant, Carl L. Smith, in a representative capacity as a taxpayer, filed a complaint in the circuit court of Kendall County for an injunction to restrain the Board of Education of Oswego Community High School District No. 300, in Kendall and Will Counties, from proceeding with a contract for the construction of a new high school building. A motion to strike the complaint, on the ground that it did not state a cause of action, was sustained by the trial court. An appeal has been perfected to this court, a constitutional question being involved. The complaint alleges, inter alia, that on May 23, 1949, the Board of Education of the district entered into a contract with Arnold Lies Company, Inc., for the construction of a new high school building for the sum of $540,000; that said sum was substantially more than prior offers of other bidders; that the school board and the other parties to the contract entered into a conspiracy resulting in the cheating and defrauding of the taxpayers of the district out of upwards of $75,000; that examples of fraud were that the school board had been advised to investigate all other bids received, had personal knowledge that additional sums could be saved in the construction of the high school building; and that false and fraudulent information that the board was delaying the project in order to secure lower construction costs was disseminated to induce taxpayers to support the $350,000 building bond issue; that the taxpayers, in reliance on fraudulent and misleading information voted the bond issue; that, if section 10 of article 7 of the School Code (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1947, chap. 122, par. 7-10,) be interpreted as permitting boards of education to arbitrarily let such contracts by private negotiations, article Ill, which provided for distribution of the powers of government, and section 2 of article 11, the due-process clause, of the State constitution, would be violated; that the letting of the contract to Arnold Lies Co., Inc., violated public policy of the State by stifling competition and inviting favoritism.