American Wrecking Co. v. McManus

181 N.W. 235, 174 Wis. 300, 1921 Wisc. LEXIS 92
CourtWisconsin Supreme Court
DecidedMay 31, 1921
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 181 N.W. 235 (American Wrecking Co. v. McManus) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wisconsin Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
American Wrecking Co. v. McManus, 181 N.W. 235, 174 Wis. 300, 1921 Wisc. LEXIS 92 (Wis. 1921).

Opinion

The following opinion was filed February 8, 1921:

Owen, J.

In support of the judgment appealed from respondent first relies upon the principle of law that a public officer acting within the scope of his authority and within his official capacity is not personally liable on contracts executed in behalf of the government unless he expressly and unequivocally agrees to be bound, and cites to this proposition, among other authorities, the case of McCurdy v. Rogers, 21 Wis. 197, where the following language is used:

“The law raises a very strong presumption against any credit being given to a public agent acting within the scope of his authority, and requires a clear intention on his part to charge himself, to make him personally liable. This presumption of the law is equivalent to an implied agreement [305]*305that he shall not be liable while acting within his authority. If he acts in a case where he has no authority, and fully discloses to the party with whom he is acting his want of authority, or the want of authority is known to such party, and he does not exact the individual undertaking of the agent, we see not why the same presumption should not then be raised against the liability of the agent, as when he was acting within the scope of his authority.”

It is said that by virtue of this principle neither the sheriff nor the deputy would be liable under the contract of employment of plaintiff in the absence of an express agreement on their part to assume personal liability, and that from the mere fact of employment such liability does not arise by implication. We have no disposition to question the Tide under consideration, but we do question its applicability to the situation under consideration. The rule is applicable, to the relation of principal and agent and applies where the agent (the officer) attempts to bind his principal (the public) by contract upon a subject concerning which he has some semblance of authority to contract, but where, in entering into the contract, he exceeds the scope of his authority and fails to bind his principal, the public. Under such circumstances it is held that an intention on the part of either of the contracting parties to create a liability on the part of the agent, the officer, will not be implied.

Where a sheriff in the service of a writ finds it necessary to secure assistance to execute the commands of the writ, such as the seizure or removal of property, or its safekeeping after, the same has been taken into his custody, he is not acting as agent for the public. There is no provision of law which gives him the least semblance of authority to bind the public in such respect. If such services are employed for his convenience, or to enable him to properly discharge his official duties so as to save him from official responsibility, it is his individual matter, and in entering into such agreements he is acting as principal and not as [306]*306agent for. the public. It is an official duty which he is called upon to render and for the discharge of which the statute makes provision for his compensation or reimbursement. In sec. 59.28, Stats., which prescribes the schedule of fees for the sheriff, we find these provisions:

“(24) For serving any writ or other process with the aid of the county, two dollars and fifty cents and all necessary expenses incurred thereby.
“(25) All such necessary expenses incurred in taking possession of any goods or chattels and preserving the same as shall be just and reasonable in the opinion of the court.”

' These provisions of the statute provide for the sheriff’s reimbursement for expenses such as were incurred in the instant case, and the person for whom the writ was served is responsible to the sheriff therefor. No other person has any interest in such disbursements, and there can be no pretense that in entering into such agreements of employment as the one consummated between the deputy sheriff and the Wrecking Company either the sheriff or the deputy is acting on behalf of the public. The sheriff, under such circumstances, acts as principal and not as agent for the public, and he is liable upon an implied promise to compensate him who is employed to assist him in the discharge of his official duty. A like conclusion was reached by the Iowa court under a statute containing provisions similar to those above quoted. Rowley v. Painter, 69 Iowa, 432, 29 N. W. 401.

The fact that the sheriff is compensated by the county upon a salary basis rather than under a fee system does not affect our conclusions. His official responsibility and powers are the same. It should also be said that he has it within his power to protect himself against personal responsibility under such circumstances, as it is his privilege to demand his legal fees and charges in ádvance. Carlisle v. Estate of Soule, 44 Vt. 265; Jones v. Gupton, 65 N. C. 48; Adams v. [307]*307Dinkgrave, 26 La. Ann. 626; Atkinson v. Hulse, 30 Ark. 760; Alexander v. State, 42 Ark. 41. Where, however, he undertakes the service of the’writ without demanding his fees in advance he waives their prepayment. Carlisle v. Estate of Soule, supra.

It is further contended by the respondent that even though the sheriff be held personally responsible upon such agreements when made by himself, nevertheless a deputy sheriff' has no power or general authority to bind the sheriff in such respect, and this has been held by a number of courts. Dooley v. Root, 13 Gray, 303; Dow v. Rowe, 58 N. H. 125; Lucier v. Pierce, 60 N. H. 13; Kendrick v. Smith, 31 Me. 162; Miller v. Bruff, 64 Pa. Super. Ct. 177; Krum v. King, 12 Cal. 412. The first case in which it was so held seems to be Dooley v. Root, supra. The entire report of that case covers less than a page, and the conclusion there reached rests upon the following observations:

“But there is nothing in the relation of a sheriff to his deputy which can malee the sheriff answerable upon the contracts of his subordinate officer. It is no part of the official duty of a deputy sheriff to make contracts with other persons to assist him in the discharge of his official duties. If he makes such contracts he makes them for his own convenience and on'his own responsibility.” ■

It will thus be seen that in that case the fundamental relations existing between the sheriff and his deputy received but passing consideration.

In Kendrick v. Smith, 31 Me. 162, the subject received more extended consideration, but we are not impressed with the logic upon which the court rested its conclusion, the gist of which is revealed by the following sentence:

“The deputy obtains the aid, which has been referred to, that neither he nor his principal should be liable for any claim for misconduct or negligence, and it could not have been intended by the authors of the statute that the sheriff should be liable on the-one.hand for the omission of official [308]*308duty in his servant, and for the means used by the latter to secure him for this liability on the other.”

The statutes of that state* contained a provision similar to our present sec. 59.22', making the sheriff responsible for the default or misconduct in office of his deputy.

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Bluebook (online)
181 N.W. 235, 174 Wis. 300, 1921 Wisc. LEXIS 92, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/american-wrecking-co-v-mcmanus-wis-1921.