Anderson v. City of Seven Points

In Anderson v. City of Seven Points, 806 S.W.2d 791, 793 (Tex. 1991), citizens of the City of Seven Points filed a petition requesting that the city's mayor order an election on the question of abolishing the corporate existence of the city. "The petition requesting that the mayor order . . . an election was filed pursuant to section 62.002 of the Texas Local Government Code which states: The mayor of the municipality shall order an election on the question of abolishing the corporate existence . . . if a majority of the qualified voters of the municipality is less than 400 and the petition is signed by at least two-thirds of the qualified voters of the municipality." Anderson, 806 S.W.2d at 793. After the mayor refused to order the election, a group of citizens filed a petition for writ of mandamus in district court. After a hearing on the merits, the trial court granted the petition for writ of mandamus and ordered the mayor to order the election. The court of appeals reversed, concluding "the citizens failed to discharge their burden to present evidence that demonstrated that the mayor's refusal to grant the petition and order the election was arbitrary and unreasonable." Id. In reviewing the trial court's decision to mandamus the mayor, the Texas Supreme Court reasoned that section 62.002 spelled out the act to be performed by the mayor with "sufficient certainty so that nothing was left to the exercise of discretion." Id. Thus, once the "trial court determined that a majority of the qualified voters was less than 400 and the petition was signed by at least two-thirds of the qualified voters, the mayor had no discretion; therefore, the act became ministerial and the trial court was required to grant the petition for writ of mandamus and order an election on the question of abolishing the city's corporate existence." Id. at 793-94. The Court then determined whether "the evidence was legally sufficient to support the trial court's finding that the petition was signed by at least two-thirds of the qualified voters." Id. at 794.