Opinion
No. 18,130.
Decided December 16, 1957.
Action to enjoin enactment of zoning ordinance. Judgment for defendants.
Writ of Error Dismissed.
1. APPEAL AND ERROR — Moot Question — Dismissal. Where it appears that the acts sought to be restrained have been done and nothing would be accomplished by determination of the writ of error, the writ will be dismissed.
Error to the District Court of the City and County of Denver, Hon. William A. Black, Judge.
Mr. THEODORE EPSTEIN, Messrs. CREAMER CREAMER, for plaintiffs in error.
Mr. JOHN C. BANKS, Mr. EARL T. THRASHER, Mr. HANS W. JOHNSON, for defendants in error.
PLAINTIFFS in error, plaintiffs in the District Court, sought to enjoin the City and its officers from (1) enacting a certain proposed zoning ordinance; (2) publishing or paying for the publication of said ordinance; and (3) to enjoin the defendant, F.W. Dodge Corporation (publisher of The Daily Journal, a legal newspaper), from publishing said ordinance or receiving compensation for such publication.
It now abundantly appears from the record, from the briefs, from oral arguments and admissions made to this court at the time of oral arguments by counsel representing all parties hereto, that said ordinance has long since been enacted, published, costs of publication paid by the City and accepted by F. W. Dodge Corporation; further, that the legality of said ordinance is now being tested by the plaintiffs in error in Civil Action No. B 13644 in the Denver District Court.
The plaintiffs in error have urged several points for reversal that could involve a determination of public rights or interests under conditions which may be repeated in the future. Though such circumstances have been held to deny the status of mootness we do not believe this to be such a case. See 1 C.J.S. 1017-18, subsec. d, and Parker v. The People, 135 Colo. 206, 309 P.2d 605. Here a reversal would accomplish nothing — that which was sought to be restrained has been done. Affirmance accomplishes nothing that has not already been accomplished by the judgment of the trial court. See Londoner v. Denver, 52 Colo. 15, and Wendell v. City of Peoria, 274 Ill. 613, 113 N.E. 918.
The writ of error is dismissed.