126 Iowa 539 | Iowa | 1905
The pleadings are very voluminous and complicated, covering more' than 20 printed pages of the abstract, and we shall not attempt to set them out in extenso. The case was tried upon an agreed statement of facts, which, so far as material, are as follows: Bernhard I. Mahon was conducting a saloon under the so-called “ Mulct Law ” at San-born, in the county of O’Brien, during the year 1901, and on April 15th of that year he filed a bond with the Bonding and Trust company as sureties, conditioned that he (Mahon) “ should faithfully observe and comply with all the provisions of the laws of the State of Iowa relating to the beeping and selling of intoxicating liquors; and especially with the requirements of the act of the 25th General Assembly [page 63, chapter 62] known as an act to tax the traffic in intoxicating liquors, and to regulate and control the same, and shall pay
Appellant’s argument does not comply with our present rules, and we have had much difficulty in ascertaining just what its points are which are relied upon for a reversal. Taking up what is called its “ argument,” we extract the following as being the claims relied upon: First, the defendant bonding company is not liable on its bond for the amount of the tax in any event; second, it is only liable for such taxes as accrued while Mahon was operating under the mulct law, and as soon as he failed to pay the tax he was not operating thereunder, and defendant is not liable for anything, accruing after Mahon’s failure to pay; third, it is not liable because the plaintiff county failed and neglected to collect the tax from Mahon, who was responsible when the tax accrued, but who thereafter frittered away his property; fourth, the county cannot recover the full tax, because one-half of it is due the town of Sanborn; fifth, the bond does not cover the tax for the quarter ending June 30th, for the reason that it was not given until April 15th; sixth, the bond does not describe the property and is therefore void; seventh, the bond does not cover interest; eighth, the bond is without consideration; ninth, the county, by inaction, lost its lien against the property whereon the business was conducted, and the surety is. therefore released; tenth, the county should have resorted to its lien upon Mahon’s property, and cannot hold the defendant bonding company without first exhausting that property,
No complaint is made of the rulings on the pleadings attacking the surety company’s cross-petition; nor is any complaint made of the final decree in so far as any issue was tendered thereby.
We have now considered every proposition which we are able to discover in the prolix brief filed by counsel for appellant. If‘any point has escaped us, it has been due to their failure to follow our rules, and they, of course, have no cause for complaint. We might well have refused to consider the case because not presented according to rule, but have preferred to take up such points as seem to be presented, and to decide them on their merits.
Finding no error, the judgment is affirmed,