Bexar County v. Linden

205 S.W. 478, 1918 Tex. App. LEXIS 773
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJune 15, 1918
DocketNo. 6070.
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 205 S.W. 478 (Bexar County v. Linden) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bexar County v. Linden, 205 S.W. 478, 1918 Tex. App. LEXIS 773 (Tex. Ct. App. 1918).

Opinions

MOURSUND, J.

.W. O. Linden sued Bexar county, its county judge, county commissioners, and county auditor, to recover $6,919.23, alleged to have been paid to the county treasurer of- said county by him as district attorney under the excess fee statute, it being alleged that the statute, in requiring the payment of excess fees to the county treasurer is unconstitutional. Bexar county, in addition to asserting its right to the excess fees so paid by plaintiff, filed a cross-action, seeking to recover of plaintiff $2,818.12, alleged to be still due and unpaid on plaintiff’s excess fee account. Upon trial, without a jury, judgment was rendered for plaintiff against Bexar county for the sum sued for, with interest, dismissing the other defendants at the cost of the county, and against the county on its cross-action:

[479]*479Mr. Linden, while district attorney of Bex-ar county, paid into the county treasury, on February 19, 1915, as excess fees, $5,056.47, and on February 14, 1916, the further sum of $1,863.23. If the county is entitled to the excess fees, Mr. Linden still owes the excess of those collected during the latter portion of his tenure in office; his theory being that the sum is $2,651.50, while the county auditor estimates it at $2,81S.12. If the expenses should he deducted from the total amount of excess fees, the auditor is right. If plaintiff is entitled to one-fourth of the excess before deducting expenses, plaintiff is right.

Bexar county liad more than 38,000 population according to the census of 1910. Plaintiff made written demand of Bexar county for the repayment of the two sums so paid by him as required by law, and for the cancellation of the claim of the county for further sums. In the two sums paid by plaintiff into the treasury there was included the sum of $780, received by him as commissions on forfeited bail bonds. The remainder constituted fees of office received by him out of the state treasury under the provisions of articles 1118, 1119, 1132, 1133, and 1134 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. It appears that in the money retained by plaintiff, which the county is seeking to recover, there is included an item of $20, received as commission on a forfeited bail bond. Article 5, § 21, of the Constitution, provides that district attorneys shall receive an annual salary of $500 and such fees, commissions, and perquisites as may be provided by law. Prior to the passage of chapter 5 of the Acts of the Special Session of the Twenty-fifth Legislature, which is the first act in which a limit was undertaken to be fixed as to the compensation of certain officers, including district attorneys, the Legislature had provided for certain fees to be paid the district attorney, and had also prescribed the method to be pursued in order to obtain payment thereof out of the state treasury. See Articles 1131-1134, Code Criminal Procedure 1911. The said act, known as chapter 5, Acts Sp. Sess. 25th Leg. 1897, has the following caption:

“An act to fix certain civil fees to be charged by certain county and precinct officers, and to fix and limit the fees and compensation of clerks of the district court, district attorneys, county attorneys, sheriffs and constables in felony cases, to be paid by the state, and to fix the compensation of assessors and collectors of taxes, and to limit and regulate the compensation of the sheriff, clerk of the county court, county judge, district and county attorney, clerk of the district court, assessor and collector of taxes, justices of the peace and constables, and to prescribe penalties for the violation of this act, and to repeal all laws in conflict herewith.”

Sections 1 and 3 of the act, taken together, provide what fees the district or county attorneys shall receive, in counties in which there have been cast 3,000 votes or over, and section 3 has been carried into the Code of Criminal Procedure without reference to section 1, as article 1118, with an additional provision relating to anti-trust suits, with the origin of which we are not concerned in this case. Section 10 of said act provides:

“That hereafter the maximum amount of fees of all kinds that may be retained by any officer mentioned in this section as compensation for services shall be as follows.”

Then follows a provision fixing the amount to be retained by named officers, which applies to all counties, except those for which a different rule is prescribed; then follows a provision as to counties with 25,000 inhabitants ; then follows the provision relating to counties containing a city of over 25,000, or in which there are as many as 37,500 inhabitants, as to wliich it is provided that the district attorney shall receive an amount not exceeding $2,500 per annum, inclusive of the $500 allowed by the Constitution and paid by the state, and that in addition each officer should receive one-fourth of the fees collected by him. Section 11 of the act provides for a report to the district court, by the officers, of fees, and that:

“All fees collected by officers named in section 10 of this act during the fiscal year, in excess of the maximum amount allowed and of the one-fourth of the excess of the maximum amount allowed for their services, and for the services of their deputies or assistants hereinafter provided for, shall be paid to the county treasurer of the county where the excess accrued.”

The act in question repeals all acts in conflict therewith. At the same session of the Legislature, by chapter 15, section 10 of said chapter 5 was amended, but the change did not affect district attorneys. In the Revised Statutes of 1911, section 10 of said act was divided into many different articles, beginning with No. 3881, and article 3883 is the one which applies to Bexar county, it being a county containing a city of over 25,000 inhabitants and the county having a population in excess of 37,500. That part of section 11 providing for payment of excess into the county treasury is brought forward as article 3889. In 1913 the Legislature (chapter 121,. Regular Session) amended articles 38S1, 3882, 3883, 3889, and other articles. It omitted district attorneys from article 3881, and made the following changes in article 3883, viz.: A slight change as to population of counties to which it relates; changes in the amounts allowed some of the officers other than district attorneys; the provision giving the officers, in addition to the sum mentioned, one-fourth of the excess of the fees collected, was omitted. Article 3889 was amended so as to provide that each officer should, out of the fees of his office, first pay the amount allowed him “under the provisions of this chapter, together with the salaries of his assistants or deputies”; that if such fees exceed the amount necessary for such purpose, the difference shall be deemed excess fees, and the officer should retain one-fourth thereof; that all amounts received [480]*480by such, officer as fees of Ms office, besides those which he is allowed to retain “by the provisions of this chapter, shall be paid into the county treasury of such county.” Article 3897 was amended so as to require a monthly report by each officer of expenses other than those for salaries of assistants or deputies, and provides that:

“The amount of such expense shall be deducted by the officer, in making each report, from the amount, if any, due by him to the county under the provisions of this act.”

[1] Appellee contends that the omission by the Legislature in the act of 1913 (page 246, Reg.

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Related

Weber v. Walker
591 S.W.2d 559 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1979)
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275 S.W.2d 709 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1955)
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280 S.W. 851 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1925)

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205 S.W. 478, 1918 Tex. App. LEXIS 773, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bexar-county-v-linden-texapp-1918.