City of Jacksonville v. Ætna Steam Fire Engine Co.

20 Fla. 100
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedJune 15, 1883
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 20 Fla. 100 (City of Jacksonville v. Ætna Steam Fire Engine Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
City of Jacksonville v. Ætna Steam Fire Engine Co., 20 Fla. 100 (Fla. 1883).

Opinion

Ma. Justice Westcott

delivered the opinion of the court.

This is action of' assumpsit by some of the persons com[105]*105posing the Association known as AEtna Steam Eire Engine Company against the City of Jacksonville, to recover for services rendered from February 12, A. D. 1871, to the first of August, A. I). 1878, by the persons composing the AEtna Steam Fire Engine Company, in extinguishing fires in the City of Jacksonville, under an alleged contract of the city to pay the company twenty-five dollars per hour for actual service rendered.

The case was tried by a referee and the judgment of the Circuit Court is based upon his findings. The judgment rendered was in the name of the AEtna Steam Fire Company, no mention of the persons composing the company being made in the judgment. The declaration like the judgment is entitled in the name of the AEtna Steam Fire Engine Company, while the plaintiffs in the body of the declaration are alleged to be “ Charlie R. Bisbee,” twenty-one others who are named in the declaration, “ and others,” who are associated together-under the name of “ the AEtna Steam Fire Engine Company, for the purpose of carrying on and conducting the business of extinguishing fires in the City of Jacksonville and vicinity.” There is no allegation in the declaration that the company was a corporation, or that any of the “ others ” composing the company had died since the creation of the alleged contract or that they were in any manner disqualified to sue. Throughout the entire declaration the cause of action is alleged to have accrued to the “ plaintiffs,” which as a matter of course means the persons constituting the association or company, and not the company distinct from the members composing it.

To this declaration the city interposed five pleas which are stated by the attorneys for the city here to be substantially ;

First. That the plaintiffs were not ihcorporated.

[106]*106. Second. That the parties composing the company do not carry on the business of extinguishing fires as alleged, that they are members of a volunteer company, organized as a part of the fire department of the City of Jacksonville, under the ordinances of said city, and that the city “ never was indebted ” as alleged by plaintiffs.

• Third. That the city never promised, as alleged.

Fourth. Is a plea of the general issue to the common counts.

Fifth. Defendant plead, the city ordinances creating the fire department of the city, and in that connection set up the defence of ultra vires.

Plaintiff demurred to defendants first and fifth pleas, and joined issue on the second, third and fourth pleas. The demurrer was sustained. After trial by the referee there was a finding upon the merits for the plaintiffs, awarding damages and costs.

From this judgment the city appeals.

"We examine first the questions arising upon the demurrer to defendant’s first and fifth pleas.

As we subsequently discuss and dispose of this case upon its merits, we deem it unnecessary here to consider the question of the legal sufficiency of these particular pleas, and will only discuss the demurrer in reference to its bearing upon plaintiffs’ declaration.

The demurrer here is to defendant’s pleas in bar of the action. It reached the plaintiffs’ declaration, and whether the pleas were good or bad, if the declaration disclosed demurrable defects the judgment upon the demurrer should have been for the defendant, as even a bad or insufficient plea is a good answer to a bad declaration. Johnson vs. The Pen. and Per. R. R. Co., 16 Fla., 657.

It is certainly unnecessary to refer to adjudicated cases to [107]*107sustain the proposition that a suit by the members of an unincorporated association should be brought»in the name of all the individuals composing the company. Their relation is that of joint contractors. There are some cases of suits in a partnership name in which the courts declare that such a suit presents the case of misnomer of plaintiffs, and that the defect cannot be taken advantage of by a plea of non est factum, or like plea, where the contract was in the name of the company, but that it must be taken advantage, of by a plea in abatement. Such is the case of Porter vs. Cresson, 10 Sergt. and Rawle, 358, cited by the appellees here. The pleas there were non est factum and payment. Plaintiffs had declared on a note as given to Cresson, Wistar & Co., omitting the names of the members of the firm, and suit was brought in that name. On the trial it appeared that the company was composed of four persons, and the defendants requested the court to charge the jury that the plaintiffs were not entitled to recover because all the parties plaintiff were not named in the writ, but the court instructed that the defence was too late, and that the plaintiffs were entitled under the pleadings to a, verdict. Upon error this judgment was sustained. Duncan, J., for the court, says : “It is certainly true that in all legal proceedings the parties, plaintiffs and defendant, should be brought by name upon the record, and it is irregular to bring an action for or against a company without naming all the parties.. Yet, this is not error, for after a verdict a court will presume A B & Co. to be the real name of the party. There is a case decided, which I am not just able to lay my hands on, in which the widow Moler and her son was considered as the name and cognomen of a party.” The court held that under the plea of non est factum the issue was not whether this was a bill given to a company, whose names were A B & Co., but [108]*108whether the defendant did not execute the deed to Cresson, Wistar & Co. The court treats the case as one of misnomer of the plaintiff, and holds that it wTas to be taken advantage of by a plea in abatement as it would be in a case where “ the plaintiff misnames himself.” So in the case of Salisbury et al., vs. Gillet et al., 2 Scam., (Ill.,) 290. The action there was debt by “ Salisbury & Collins against Gillett & Avery.” The plea was nil debit. The proof was a note by “ Gillett & Avery” to “Salisbury & Collins,” and a judgment for the defendants was reversed upon error. The court remarks: “ The action is brought in the names of the payees, and if there is anything wrong, it must be in the Christian names of one or both of the. plaintiffs. Such a mistake, however, can only be taken advantage of by plea in abatement.” Declarations in the firm name were sustained under statutes in Gordon & Washburn vs. Jenney & Co., in 1 Iowa, 182, and in Abernathy vs. Lattimore, Jenkins & Co., 19 Ohio, 288. As to suits of this character, see also the following cases: Seely vs. Oschenck & Co., 1 Pennington, N. J., 75; 3 Caines, 170; 2 Penn., (N. J.,) 984; Tomlinson vs. Burke & Clarke, 5 Hal., (N. J.,) 295; Pate vs. Bacon & Co., 6 Munf., 219; Marshal vs. Hill & Henderson, 8 Yerg., 101. These cases present a variety of judicial opinion upon this subject, both interesting and instructive, and the'case in 10 Sergt. andRawle, is relied upon by the appellee as decisive of this case. We do not think, however, that this case or any of the others mentioned above are applicable to the pleadings here, and for that reason we will nof attempt to frame a rule from these inconsistent decisions.

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20 Fla. 100, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-jacksonville-v-tna-steam-fire-engine-co-fla-1883.