205 Ky. 640 | Ky. Ct. App. | 1924
Opinion op the Court by
Affirming.
The Greensharg graded common school white district number 1, by itself, its treasurer and its board of trustees brought this action in the Green circuit court against appellant and defendant below, L. M. Yanee, to recover from him the amount of his written subscription of $500.00 which he executed and delivered on February 28, 1921, agreeing and promising to pay the district that sum for the construction of a new schoolhouse and the purchasing of a suitable site therefor, at such times and in such installments as the board of trustees should call for. It was alleged that the schoolhouse had been com
The substance of the answer containing the defense and to which the demurrer was sustained, was that defendant had been for a long time and was then the chairman of the board of trustees of the graded school and that the trustees, including himself, had discussed the proposition of raising money to construct a more modern and very much needed school building on grounds to be thereafter purchased for the purpose, and they concluded to have a public meeting at one of the churches in Greensburg at which a drive to obtain subscriptions from the patrons of the school would be inaugurated. Defendant and one Durham voluntarily assumed to act as a committee to select a speaker to address the audience at the church and to set forth the intentions and purposes of the board of trustees and to use such persuasive arguments as would be calculated to induce subscriptions; that, defendant and Durham selected one Woodson Lewis, who was the largest taxpayer in the district, to make the address at the meeting and instructed him as to the substance of what he should say in that address and that he did make the speech according to directions. It is then averred that Lewis stated in his address, among other things, that the schoolhouse was to be modern and up to date in all of its appointments ; that it was to cost not less than $40,000.00, and to be built under the supervision of a competent architect
But, however that may be, the answer shows that the representations made by Lewis in his speech were not authorized by the board of trustees but were such as defendant instructed Lewis to make, and the latter was his agent for that purpose. Bo that the real case is that the defendant, as chairman of the board of trustees, through his own selected agent for the purpose, represented to himself the character of building that he, representing the board of trustees, intended to construct with the subscriptions obtained, and that the speech so made by him through his selected agent induced him to malee the subscription sued on “and that but for such conditions and stipulations (made by Lewis as his selected agent) he would hot have executed the writing-sued on herein.” In other words, the defense is, as we construe the answer, that defendant made a speech to
However, if it were otherwise the questions raised were presented and determined by us adversely to defendant’s contention in the very recent case of Lewis v. Durham, etc., idem 403. That case was a suit against Lewis, who made the speech at the instance of the defendant herein' and whose subscription was made not by Lewis, but by this defendant as secretary of the meeting, but of course at the instance of Lewis. It was held in the opinion referred to that the representations made by Lewis were not obligatory on the part of the trustees, since they were not made upon the instance and suggestion of the board as such, but at the instance of Vance, its chairman, and without any direction by the board for him to do so. This case is a stronger one for denying the defense than was the Lewis case, the reasoning of which we again approve, and it is conclusive upon us on this .appeal.
Wherefore, the judgment is affirmed.