Board of Supervisors v. Vincent

33 N.W. 44, 65 Mich. 503, 1887 Mich. LEXIS 622
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedApril 21, 1887
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 33 N.W. 44 (Board of Supervisors v. Vincent) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Board of Supervisors v. Vincent, 33 N.W. 44, 65 Mich. 503, 1887 Mich. LEXIS 622 (Mich. 1887).

Opinions

Sherwood, J.

The 'defendant in this case was sheriff of Mecosta county four years, commencing on the first day of January, 1877, and ending on the thirty-first day of December, 1880. He was also made under-sheriff by his successor, John Shaw, and acted in that capacity, from the close of his term as sheriff, until the month of October, 1882.

The plaintiff brings this action of assumpsit against the defendant, to recover back certain moneys which it is alleged .he received from the treasurer of the county during the period he acted as sheriff and under-sheriff aforesaid, and which he has never accounted for to the county, and claimed upon the trial to be entitled to recover the sum of $724.73, with interest.

The declaration contained two special counts, with the common counts added.

The defendant pleaded the general issue, and gave notice that he would show set-off to the plaintiff’s claim under all the common counts; also that the several claims presented by plaintiff in its declaration were each and all of them barred by the statute of limitations.

[505]*505The cause was tried in the Mecosta circuit hy jury, and verdict and judgment was obtained for plaintiff for $792.04. Defendant brings error.

On the eleventh day of January, 1871, the board of supervisors adopted the following resolution:

“Kesolved, by the board of supervisors of Mecosta county, that the sheriff of Mecosta county be, and is hereby, authorized to draw on the county treasurer, from time to time, for such sums of money as shall be necessary to defray his actual expenses incurred on behalf of the county.”

And on the thirteenth day of October, 1871, the committee of the board on sheriff and jail made the following recommendation, which was adopted by the board:

“Your committee would further recommend that no further orders be drawn by the sheriff upon the county treasurer, unless in some extraordinary criminal cases; and, further, that, when said sheriff presents his accounts to this board, a full statement of all his receipts from the county treasurer be fully stated, and the net balance actually due him.”

The foregoing resolution and recommendation remained in force until the fourteenth day of June, 1882, when they were rescinded.1 All the orders drawn in payment of defendant’s bills were delivered to him, and were paid by the county treasurer shortly after, except three, — Nos. 984, 990, and 1225. The first was drawn in 1877, and the other two in 1878. They were indorsed by the defendant to George W. Crawford, and were presented by him to the treasurer for payment, who, on the ninth day of February, 1885, paid the same at their face value, viz., $736.86, and they were allowed [506]*506in the settlement made by the treasurer of that year with the-board of supervisors; the paid orders being presented by the-treasurer to the committee of supervisors as his vouchers for such payment.

This suit was commenced on the sixteenth day of January, 1886.

The plaintiff filed. a bill of particulars under its declaration, from which it appears that it claimed the defendant-had failed to account for $455 received in 1877; and for $344.73, in 1878; also $241.36, in 1882, — said sums being amounts paid defendant, for items of service and expenses as-sheriff and under-sheriff, more than was allowed him for the same by the board of supervisors; also to account for the moneys paid George W. Crawford on the three orders above mentioned.

It is the theory of the plaintiff in this case that the defendant fraudulently obtained these moneys from the treasurer of the county, and that he concealed the facts until within two years of the time of bringing this suit, and that, so far as relates to the remainder of the plaintiff’s bill of items in 1882, they are all within six years, and therefore the plaintiff’s action is well brought as to them; that the defendant fraudulently obtained the three county orders, and that the fraud was only fully consummated when the money was paid thereon to Crawford, and that, by waiving the tort, the plaintiff had the right to recover that money under the common count for money paid, and the judgment was therefore right.

The theory of the defense, on the trial below, was that the items previous to 1882 were barred by the statute of limitations ; that the items claimed as arising while defendant was-under-sheriff were not within the declaration; and that, under the declaration, no recovery can be had for money paid by the treasurer on the three orders.

The court rejected the claims for 1882, and of this ruling [507]*507the defendant cannot complain.1 Thirteen witnesses were sworn for plaintiff, and all, except Crawford, who was the assignee of the three orders, and Palmer, one of the defendant’s counsel, were either of those who had been supervisors or county officers, either clerks or treasurers. In addition to the testimony given by these witnesses, the annual settlements of the county treasurer with the board of supervisors, appearing of record, were offered in evidence during all the' years the defendant was sheriff or under-sheriff, and from' each of which it appears that the accounts of the treasurer,, and the manner in which they were kept, were entirely satisfactory, and that the treasurer was able, in each case, to furnish the vouchers for all moneys disbursed by him.

The fact that the defendant had drawn from the treasury the several sums of money as alleged was admitted; and the board of supervisors, who at all times had access to, and the-means of examining, the treasurer’s books and vouchers; and whose duty it was so to do, must be conclusively presumed to know the contents of such books and vouchers. Robert v. Morrin, 27 Mich. 306; Advertiser & Tribune Co. v. Detroit, 43 Id. 119; Dill. Mun. Corp. § 176; Ang. & A. Corp. § 303; Field v. Mayor, 6 N. Y. 179 ; Nichols v. Boston, 98 Mass. 39; Williamsport v. Richter, 81 Penn. St. 508; Wood v. Carpenter, 101 U. S. 140; Brunson v. Ballou, 70 Iowa, 34 (29 N. W. Rep. 794); Rouse v. Southard, 39 Me. 404.

It was also the duty of the board of supervisors to settle with the sheriff of the county, and, knowing the amount of money received from the treasurer, and what for, they had the right to know, and it was their duty to ascertain, in what manner and for what purpose the sheriff, during the year,, had disbursed the same.

The defendant put in no testimony in this case, and all that was offered and received is contained in the record. I [508]*508have examined the record carefully, and have found no testimony tending to prove that the defendant obtained these several sums charged, from the treasurer, through any fraudulent representation, pretense, or other deceptive means whatever.

But it is claimed by the learned counsel for the plaintiff, •in his declaration, and it was urged upon the trial,—

“That the defendant fraudulently concealed from the knowledge of the board the fact that he had drawn these moneys from the county treasury.”

This could not be, so long as the board was conclusively presumed to know this fact.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Board of County Road Commissioners v. Midland Contracting Co.
225 N.W. 539 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1929)
Oconto County v. MacAllister
143 N.W. 702 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 1914)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
33 N.W. 44, 65 Mich. 503, 1887 Mich. LEXIS 622, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/board-of-supervisors-v-vincent-mich-1887.