145 Iowa 22 | Iowa | 1909
As will be noted from the opinion on the former appeal plaintiff claims the right to the position under the provisions of the Soldiers’ Preference Act, Chapter 9, of the Laws of 1901. To this petition the defendants answered in substance as follows: Admitting that plaintiff had been acting as janitor of the courthouse under the appointment of the board from March 1, 1905, to February 25, 1907, the date of the pleading, and that plaintiff is an honorably discharged soldier of the United States who served in the late Civil War, they allege that plaintiff’s term of appointment will expire at the end of the current month, and admit he has made due application to be continued in that position. They further admit that they do not intend to grant the plaintiff’s application, and have appointed to the position another. person who is also an honorably discharged soldier 'of the Civil War, which person they have found upon investigation to be possessed of superior qualifications for the place, but they deny that in any manner they have failed to observe the spirit or intent of the statute in question. Plaintiff demurred to this answer, and, his demurrer being overruled, he appealed to this court, where the ruling of the trial court was reversed. The cause being remanded to the district court, the defendants amended their answer, and alleged that upon application made by the plaintiff he was originally employed to act as janitor of the courthouse for the period of one year beginning March 1, 1905, at a stated salary of $70.83 1-3 per month, and that before the expiration of
That the mere fact of annual appointment to a continuous service does not deprive its tenure of the indefinite character which is protected by the law was clearly recognized by us on the former hearing. It was so held by the New Jersey court in Peterson v. Board, 63 N. J. Law, 57 (42 Atl. 844). There the plaintiff was appointed janitor of a courthouse in 1891, and at each annual meeting of the board thereafter for several years he was reappointed. At the expiration of the last of such appointments another per
Other questions have been argued by counsel, but as we do not find them essential to a disposition of the appeal we shall not discuss them.
For the reasons stated, the judgment below is reversed and cause remanded to the district court, with direction to issue writ of mandamus as prayed, and for such further proceedings in harmony with this opinion as may be required for the assessment of plaintiff’s damages.