Tillie Lewis Foods, Inc. v. City of Pittsburg

The two appeals herein are from a single judgment entered by the Contra Costa County Superior Court in two mandamus actions which were tried together pursuant to an order consolidating them for that purpose. The judgment invalidated proceedings which had been commenced for the annexation of certain unincorporated territory to the City of Pittsburg, and directed the issuance of a peremptory writ of mandate which terminated the proceedings. Separate appeals from the judgment have been taken (1) by the city and agencies and officers thereof, all of whom had been named as respondents in each of the actions as commenced; and (2) by inhabitants of the affected territory who appeared and participated in both actions as interveners in each.

Proceedings for the annexation of so-called “inhabited” territoiy to a city must ordinarily be conducted pursuant to the Annexation Act of 1913 (hereinafter “the 1913 Act”). Where the territory proposed to be annexed is “uninhabited” as that term is defined in the Annexation of Uninhabited Territory Act of 1939 (“the 1939 Act”), proceedings for its annexation are to be conducted pursuant to that Act. As will appear, the distinction between…