69 Neb. 779 | Neb. | 1903
Lead Opinion
This action was brought by the county of Clay against Mitchell, formerly the clerk of said county, and the sureties on his bond, to recover moneys received by Mitchell as such officer in excess of the compensation allowed him by law. The answer, among other things, alleged that Mitchell had performed certain extra services for the county for which no fees Avere provided and had made out and presented claims for such services to the county board, Avhich said board in due course allowed and ordered paid; that no appeal had ever been taken from said judgments and orders and they remained in full force, unappealed from, unreversed and unmodified; that warrants had been issued to him for said amounts by order of said board, and that this suit was brought to recover back the sums alloAved and paid him as aforesaid. Trial was had to the court which found for the plaintiff. The items in controversy are of two kinds. On the one hand, there are allowances for services as • clerk of the county board in accordance Avith section 14, chapter 28, Compiled Statutes (Annotated Statutes, 9040). On the other hand, there are items for services in canvassing election returns, for which the statute provides a specified compensation.
An examination of the reported decisions of this court will disclose that three different views have been taken as to the effect of such settlements with county officers.
The earliest case in the reports dealing with this matter is Brown v. Otoe County, 6 Neb. 111. The question in that case was whether an action could be brought against the county for printing and publishing a delinquent tax list, or the claimant must be left to appeal from the action of the county board. The court held that the action of the commissioners on a claim of that character was judicial and that their determination was conclusive unless reversed upon error or appeal.
In State v. Board of County Commissioners of Buffalo County, 6 Neb. 454, another phase of the same question arose with reference to a claim for money due on a contract for building a portion of a bridge lying in two counties. It was held that the action of the board on such claim was judicial and conclusive unless appealed from, and hence that the board could not afterwards vacate its own adjudication. The question whether a board of county commissioners could vacate an order allowing a claim
“Fees of the county clerk for preparing the tax list and duplicate are definitely fixed by law, and the board can not make them any greater or any less, and therefore the duty of the board is merely ministerial, and that is, to issue a warrant to the clerk for the amount so fixed by •law for preparing the tax list and duplicate.”
Richardson County v. Hull, 24 Neb. 536, was a suit against the county to recover a sum claimed to have been paid as taxes upon a tract not subject to assessment. It was held that this cause of action must be prosecuted by presenting a claim to the county commissioners in the first instance, and that the action of the commissioners on such a claim was judicial and conclusive unless appealed from. In this case, in order to ascertain whether or not the lands were subject to assessment, it was necessary to find, as a question of fact, whether one Wilbur, whose widow and heirs at law held title to the land, was a union soldier in the service of the United States during the civil war and lost his life in such Avar, and to find that said land was the only property possessed by them in the state and did not exceed $2,000 in value during the years it was assessed. Hence it is apparent that questions of fact were involved which it was necessary for the commissioners to decide upon evidence. State v. Roderick, 25 Neb. 629, Avas a similar case to Kemerer v. State, supra. A writ of mandamus was applied for to compel the county treasurer to pay to relator, the city treasurer, moneys in his hands alleged to belong to the municipality. The county treasurer claimed to retain the sums in dispute as commissions and as fees for certain services for which fees were fixed by statute. The statute also fixed precisely the amount of
“Where the fees are fixed by statute,” said Reese, C. J., “the county board act ministerially, and not judicially, in allowing and paying such fees, and the allowance of any amount, in excess of that fixed by law, is simply void.”
This case was followed in County of Logan v. Doan, 34 Neb. 104, in which the court said:
“Nor has the county board the power to allow a public officer a compensation in excess of that allowed by statute, nor where none is authorized.” - »
Ragoss v. Cuming County, 36 Neb. 375, was an action by a county against a former county clerk to recover fees collected by him while in office. The items in dispute were for making the tax list in two separate years, for making-assessors’ books for the same two years, for extra services for one of the years, and for searching the records in a case against the county. The defense was that certain assistants or deputies had been appointed by order of the county board and that the sums in question had been paid to such assistants. The action of the board involved was its allowance of money paid out of excess fees to deputies and assistants upon claims filed by the clerk. How many assistants the clerk required was left to the judgment and. discretion of the board by the statute applicable to that county at the time; and hence its action was clearly one requiring the exercise of discretion within the rule announced in Kemerer v. State. Accordingly the court held that the allowance of the claims was not open to collateral attack in the absence of fraud.
Thus far, it will be seen, the authorities are entirely consistent. The principle clearly to be deduced from them is that county commissioners act quasi judicially in passing upon claims against the county whenever such action involves the determination of questions of fact upon evi
The first real departure, therefore, from the ruling established by the prior decisions is to be found in Sioux County v. Jameson, 43 Neb. 265. In that case the county board employed an assistant and presented claims to the county commissioners for the remuneration of such assist
“The petition raises the question,, could the county commissioners alloAV a claim for the service of a clerk or an assistant to the county clerk and order the amount of the claim paid from the general fund of the county? This Avas for them to determine at the time the claims were presented for their examination and allowance or disalloAvance, and from their decision the legislature has provided for an appeal. ‘It has been definitely settled by repeated decisions of this court that the county board, in the examination and allowance or rejection of claims against the county, acts judicially, and its judgments or orders in such cases are conclusive unless reversed in the manner provided by law/ ”
The court did not intend, if we may judge from the opinion, to depart from the principles theretofore announced. It either overlooked the line of cases holding that alloAvance for compensation in excess of the amount expressly fixed by statute was of no force or else it assumed that the county commissioners had a quasi judicial power to construe the statutes. No suggestion to the latter effect is to be found in the opinion, and we may take it that the cause was argued and presented to the court as one involving judicial action on the part of the
Heald v. Polk County has been followed in Ragoss v.
The opinion in Heald v. Polk County does not make it very clear upon what principle the court separated the action of the commissioners into two parts governed by distinct rules, namely, the adjustment of the account, on the one hand, and the alloAvance of the claims presented in connection therewith on. the other. This point was dealt with in Trites v. Hitchcock County, supra, in which the court held substantially that when the commissioners act under section 37, article 1, chapter 18, Compiled Statutes (Annotated Statutes, 4455), they act judicially, while when they act under section 43 their action is ministerial only.
*790 “Where a full and complete settlement of a county officer with the county commissioners, who are authorized to make the same, has been made, such settlement is final and conclusive, unless there is fraud, mistake or imposition in making the same.”
The question was as to the sufficiency of the answer in an action by the county against a former sheriff. The answer, as stated in the opinion, did not allege that any claims had been filed and allowed under said section 37, but merely set up a full accounting, adjustment and settlement. This was held sufficient. It will be seen that while the court in Gage County v. Hill and County of Douglas v. Bennett did not expressly overrule any of the prior cases, these cases constitute a third line of decision, entirely inconsistent with either of the prior courses of adjudication, and, if adhered to, substantially alter the usual,interpretations of sections 43 and 44, article 1, chapter 18, Compiled Statutes (Annotated Statutes, 4461, 4462).
Since the decision in Heald v. Polk County, the court has adhered in several cases to the original line of authorities. As recently as Perkins County v. Keith County, 58 Neb. 323, the court cites Kemerer v. State with approval. In this case, a county had been divided and, in the process of division, a balance was due from one county to the other, which was definitely settled and agreed upon. Of course, it became necessary, before a warrant could be issued, to go through the form of making a claim and allowing it. The court held, however, that there was nothing in such a case upon which the county board of the debtor county could “exercise judgment or discretion,” and hence that an original action might be brought in the district court. The court said on page 327:
“No case, we' are sure, has gone to the length of holding that a single demand, the amount and validity of which has become unalterably fixed, must be presented to the county board to be audited and allowed.”
Nevertheless, the court had been holding for a long
“These periodical settlements assigned by our statutes to be made with county treasurers do not have the elements in them of a judicial determination of the subjects involved. It would not be contended that if the county commissioners state, as a matter of record, as the result of one of these so-called settlements, that the treasurer Avas short in his accounts in a stated sum and consequently indebted to the county in such sum, that this would constitute an adjudication of the whole matter, and, unless appealed from, it would be final and binding on the parties, and not open to attack. No more can the result obtained by the examination be said to be binding and conclusive upon the county in regard to the amounts reported on hand by the treasurer being the exact, true amounts, or their payment by the treasurer preclude the institution and successful prosecution of an action for any further sums which he has failed to report or to pay over. It can have no further or greater conclusiveness than any settlement made between private persons.”
In Stenberg v. State, 48 Neb. 299, 306, the court said:
“A county board has exclusive original jurisdiction to examine and pass upon claims or demands against the county properly cognizable for audit and alloAvance, and the jurisdiction of the district court, as to such, is appellate merely.” In this case there was an ’application for a writ of mandamus to compel the county commis*792 sioners to issue a warrant for payment of a judgment recovered against tbe county. Tbe question was raised whether this judgment was invalid by reason of not having been presented to the county commissioners in the first instance, so that the district court which rendered the 'judgment acquired no jurisdiction of the claim. What the court said in the quotation above noted was not necessary to the determination of the case, but is noteworthy on account of the use of the words “properly cognizable.”
The foregoing review of the authorities would seem sufficient to demonstrate that this entire subject is in need of revision. The doctrine of Gage County v. Hill and County of Douglas v. Bennett can not be reconciled with the plain import of said section 44, which contemplates that an adjustment or a settlement of accounts with a county officer shall be simply a basis for the recovery at law of any balance which may be found due. Moreover, those cases are absolutely irreconcilable with the line of decisions beginning with Heald v. Polk County in which a distinction is made between the allowance of claims under section 37 and the adjustment of accounts under section 43. This distinction is not without plausibility; but if it is to be maintained it must follow that in every case in which a claim contractual or quasi contractual is asserted against a copnty, whether or not the statute absolutely fixes the course which the commissioners shall follow or the amount which they may allow, they have a discretion, arising from the. mere fact that a claim is filed, to take such action or make such allowance as they please. The opinion of the court in Kemerer v. State is a complete answer to any such contention, and we heartily concur in the expression of surprise in the opinion of Sullivan, J., in Perkins County v. Keith County, supra, that any case should be found contending-for such a proposition. Kemerer v. State having been approved and relied upon in Perkins County v. Keith County, the situation is that three different doctrines upon this subject are to be found in the reports, all of
Under such circumstances we think the question may fairly be treated as res nova, and) looking at it in that way, we have no doubt that the doctrine of the older cases should be preferred and ought to be finally adhered to.
When the law commits to an officer the. duty of looking Into facts and acting upon them, not in a way which it specifically directs, but after a discretion in its nature judicial, the function is quasi judicial. State v. Hastings, 37 Neb. 96, 117. This we think is the true criterion. It is not the form of the action taken by the commissioners, but the nature and character of the action itself, by which we are to judge whether it is ministerial or quasi judicial. County commissioners act quasi judicially in passing upon claims against the county whenever their action is not-merely a formal prerequisite to the issuance of a warrant but involves the determination- of questions of fact upon evidence, as in Richardson County v. Hull, 24 Neb. 536, or the exercise of discretion in ascertaining or fixing the amount to be allowed, as in Ragoss v. Cuming County, 36 Neb. 375. But they have no judicial power or discretion as to interpretation of the law. If this power is to be conceded to county commissioners, it follows that their action in such matters can not be controlled by a Avrit of mandamus, and that, hoAvever absurd or erroneous the construction Avhich they put upon the- statutes; the sole remedy is by petition in error in the district court. Whenever the course to be pursued or the amount to be allowed is fixed by law, they must follow the law, and their acts in so doing or endeavoring so to do are ministerial only no matter what form such acts may take. So far as Heald v. Polk County held that the action of county commissioners in adjusting the accounts of county officers under sections 43 and 44, article 1, chapter 18, Compiled Statutes (Annotated Statutes, 4461, 4462), is ministerial only, that decision is not only in accord with the prior cases but is absolutely required by the terms of the statute. This
“When the amount of the defendant’s liability was settled by contract, there remained nothing in regard to the matter upon which its commissioners could exercise discretion. There was nothing to examine and adjust or audit and allow. It would be a work of supererogation for the commissioners to examine and allow a claim which, under the authority of the statute, they had already fully examined and legally allowed.”
In other words, the only substantial function of a claim in such cases is to serve as the formal basis for the issuance of a warrant. Hence it would seem clear that a settlement with a county officer which, .in substance, is an adjustment of his accounts, does not become quasi judicial, so as not to be reviewable otherwise than by appeal, because claims were filed for sums claimed to be due such officer and allowed for the purpose of enabling warrants to be drawn therefor. If, in such case, the compensation to be allowed the officer is fixed by law, the allowance of the claim is formal only. On the other hand, if the amount to be allowed is in the discretion of the board, or if, in fixing such amount, the law requires the commissioners to decide questions of fact, their action is quasi judicial.
It is therefore recommended that the judgment of the district court be reversed and the cause remanded.
For the reasons stated in the foregoing opinion, the judgment of the district court is reversed and the cause is remanded.
Reversed.
Rehearing
The following opinion on rehearing was filed February
Upon reargument of this case, we find that the conclusion reached by the commissioner upon the first hearing, ante, p. 779, is wrong. We have no doubt that the correct rule, by which to determine whether the action of the county board, in any given case, is ministerial or judicial, is announced in the opinion referred to. We are entirely satisfied with the reasoning of the commissioner, from which he derives his conclusion upon that point. We are equally well satisfied that, in the determination of this case, material facts disclosed by the record have been overlooked.
There is no doubt that the county board, in fixing the amount to be allowed to the county clerk as- compensation for his services as clerk of the board, acts judicially, but when the board has so acted, and the compensation has been so fixed, it is paid to the clerk as fees of his office; and as such must be accounted for as other fees. State v. Silver, 9 Neb. 85, State v. Russell, 51 Neb. 774; Hayes County v. Christner, 61 Neb. 272; Holcombe v. Dawson County, 1 Neb. (Unof.) 743. In this case, the fees received by the clerk, including the fee of $400 for each year allowed by the county board for his fees as clerk of the board, exceed the amount that he was entitled by law to retain, as found by the trial court.
It is suggested that, since the county board acted judicially in fixing these fees of the clerk, it must be held
The judgment of the district court is therefore right; the former judgment of this court is vacated, and the judgment of the district court
Affirmed.