City of Milwaukee v. Drew

265 N.W. 683, 220 Wis. 511, 104 A.L.R. 1387, 1936 Wisc. LEXIS 279
CourtWisconsin Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 3, 1936
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 265 N.W. 683 (City of Milwaukee v. Drew) 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
City of Milwaukee v. Drew, 265 N.W. 683, 220 Wis. 511, 104 A.L.R. 1387, 1936 Wisc. LEXIS 279 (Wis. 1936).

Opinion

Wickhem, J.

The appeal is-taken, (1) by the personal representative of the city treasurer, whose official acts are in question; (2) by the defendant Rosenberg, whose transactions with Drew are claimed to have resulted in a breach of duty by Drew; and (3) by the sureties who, during the several terms of Drew as city treasurer, were obligated upon his official-bonds.

Since the parties to this appeal have divergent interests, and since the appeal presents quite complicated questions, some of which affect all of the appellants and some of which do not, it will be convenient first to consider whether the first and second paragraphs of the complaint state a cause of action, (1) as to Drew and Rosenberg, and (2) as to the various surety companies.

(1) With respect to defendants Drew and Rosenberg.

The first question is whether any cause of action is stated against either of these defendants in the first paragraph of the complaint.^ This paragraph alleges the illegal hypothecation of securities purchased under the authority of the resolution set forth in the complaint and the use in the private business of Drew and Rosenberg of the proceeds of this hy-pothecation. The acts of Drew and Rosenberg in this respect are alleged to have been illegal, and while this characterization, standing alone, amounts merely to a conclusion of the pleader, it is apparent from an examination of the resolution and from a consideration of facts that are either alleged or are within the scope of.judicial notice that the acts charged are illegal. That an officer of the city intrusted with city funds may so employ them without sustaining a liability to the city for resulting profits is a doctrine that we repudiate without hesitation; that any person acting in concert with him, may, with imp-unity from civil liability, keep his share of the profits from such an unlawful enterprise we likewise deny.

[519]*519In State v. McFetridge, 84 Wis. 473, 54 N. W. 1, 998, at page 506, this court said:

“For reasons hereinafter stated it is unnecessary to determine whether, if the treasurer illegally made such deposits, he fulfilled his obligations to the state when he paid over the funds thus deposited as required by law. It may be observed, however, that, whatever the rights of the sureties are in such case, to allow the treasurer to escape accounting to the state for gains accruing from his illegal use of the public funds looks very much like allowing a public officer to profit by his own wrong and breach of official duty. Courts should be slow to assert the right of a delinquent official to- such gains, unless compelled to do so by plain rules of law. ...”

While it is true that this statement was not necessary to the determination of the case in view of the court’s previous holding that the state treasurer had made a valid investment, it is sound in legal and ethical principle and we do not hesitate to state it as a rule of law.

The second cause of action states the facts differently, in that the hypothecation of bonds and the use of the proceeds to engage in private business is not alleged, it merely being asserted that the funds of the city of Milwaukee were intrusted to Rosenberg, a broker; that investments were made in United States securities; that these were bought and sold and profits realized upon the transactions. While it is not specifically so alleged, it is fairly to be implied from the allegations that the profits resulted from an excess of the selling price over that at which the bonds were purchased. This paragraph repeats its characterization of the conduct as illegal, but if the allegations support the conclusion of illegality, it is only with respect tO' the procedure or manner of investment, and not with respect to the fact of investment. It plainly appears from the resolution that an investment in United States securities was authorized and the purchase and sale for the purposes, respectively, of employing surplus [520]*520funds and securing cash for the city’s needs, are plainly within the authorization. Whether the manner of investing through Rosenberg as a broker constituted an improper execution of Drew’s powers we find no occasion to' determine. If it did, the irregular manner of carrying out the directions of the resolution would not make the investment illegal.

While the distinction between the first and second causes of action is material in connection with the liabilities of sureties, it does not in any manner affect the liability of Rosenberg or that of the personal representative of Drew. The only legal consequence of the difference pointed out is that in the case of the wholly illegal transactions, the profits do not attach as an accretion to the public funds in such a way as to make a failure to account for these profits a breach of the official bond, while in the case of the lawful investment a contrary conclusion is required by the doctrine of the McFetridge Case, supra.

It is, of course, unnecessary in consideration of questions raised by general demurrer to determine whether an action of conspiracy survives or whether the city may have an accounting against the personal representative of the deceased treasurer. It is true that the first cause of action appears to be stated in terms of a conspiracy between Drew and Rosenberg to consummate an illegal transaction, while the second is grounded upon a supposed right to have an accounting. In testing the sufficiency of a complaint on general demurrer, however, we are not concerned with the theory of the pleader, nor does the fact that the allegations fail to measure up to the theory evidently entertained authorize the conclusion that the demurrer should be sustained. The sole question is whether the complaint states a cause of action, and if one is disclosed by the allegations of the complaint, the demurrer must be overruled. We conclude that each paragraph contains allegations sufficient to disclose a right in the plaintiff [521]*521to recover from Rosenberg and from the estate of Drew the profits resulting from the transactions set forth.

(2) With respect to defendant surety companies.

It now becomes necessary to consider whether a cause of action is stated against the defendant surety companies or any of them. This involves several wholly separate and distinct considerations.

1. It is contended that while a cause of action against Drew may have been stated, no such breach of duty is disclosed as will render liable the sureties upon his official bonds. This .contention is predicated upon the claimed unlawfulness of the investments charged and upon the distinction taken in the McFetridge Case between lawful investments and those wholly illegal. While it may be argued that in the McFetridge Case the court did not determine the validity of this distinction for the reason it actually found the investments there involved to have been lawful in character, we conclude, (1) that the court there determined the lawfulness of the investments involved out of recognition of the validity of this distinction; (2) that the distinction is a valid one. Where a municipal treasurer has unlawfully invested the public funds or securities in his hands for the purpose and with the result of making private profits, and where, before demand, he has restored these funds with interest, it cannot be urged that the profits illegally made attach as an accretion to the funds in such a manner as to make his failure to account for them a breach of his official bond.

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Bluebook (online)
265 N.W. 683, 220 Wis. 511, 104 A.L.R. 1387, 1936 Wisc. LEXIS 279, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-milwaukee-v-drew-wis-1936.