Fevold v. Board of Supervisors

210 N.W. 139, 202 Iowa 1019
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedSeptember 21, 1926
StatusPublished
Cited by35 cases

This text of 210 N.W. 139 (Fevold v. Board of Supervisors) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Fevold v. Board of Supervisors, 210 N.W. 139, 202 Iowa 1019 (iowa 1926).

Opinion

Vermilion, J.

The plaintiffs are resident taxpayers of Webster County, and some of them are owners of breeding-cattle. The defendants are the members of the board of supervisors, the county attorney, the sheriff, -the auditor> arL<^ treasurer of the county, and the secretary of the department of agriculture of the state. The relief asked was, an injunction restraining the defendants from proceeding to enforce the statutes with reference to the suppression of bovine tuberculosis. The relief was denied below, and the petition dismissed; and from this judgment the appeal is taken.

I. The appellants attack -the constitutionality of the statutes at many points, on many grounds, and from many angles, and also question the validity of the proceedings theretofore taken under the statute. The acts involved are Chapter 287, Acts ■ of the Thirty-eighth General Assembly, Chapter 48, Acts of the Fortieth General Assembly, and Chapter- 23, Acts of the Extra Session of the Fortieth General Assembly. The present corresponding statutory, provisions will be found - in Chapter 129 .of the Code of 1924, ns amended.

•Section 10, Chapter 287, Acts of the Thirty-eighth General Assembly, provided that owners of cattle might have them tested for tuberculosis, on application ■ to the commission of animal health, and the. execution of an agreement to -conform to and abide by the rules and regulations laid down by the commission, and to follow the instructions of the commission designed” to *1022 prevent the reinfection of the herd. The section further provided for the appraisal of the animals to be tested, and for the payment of a portion of the appraised value of cattle which it was found advisable to slaughter.

By Chapter 48, Acts of the Fortieth General Assembly, the foregoing act was amended by adding thereto provisions for the establishment of what was designated as the “county-area” and the “county-accredited-area” plans of eradicating bovine tuberculosis. Chapter 48 went into effect July 4, 1923. Section 10-b thereof is as follows:

“Whenever'a petition signed by fifty-one per cent of the owners of -breeding cattle within the county, as' shown by the assessor’s reports, together with agreements as provided in Section 10 hereof, shall be presented to the board of supervisors, the board shall make application to the commission of animal health of the state for the enrollment of said county under the county area plan and shall, at the same time, forward to the commission of animal health the agreements signed as provided herein. The commission of animal health shall, when it receives agreements signed by fifty-one per cent of the owners of breeding cattle within such county, designate such county as a county area testing unit and it shall forthwith proceed with the eradication of bovine tuberculosis in such county under the county area plan as provided herein. ”

By Section 10-f it was provided that the commission of animal health, when it had designated any county as an area for the eradication of tuberculosis under the county-area plan, should make provision for the testing of the cattle of such owners as had signed agreements therefor.

Section 10-d provided that the board of supervisors, of such county should levy a tax of not more than three mills on the dollar on the taxable property in the county, the proceéds of which should’be known as the county-tuberculosis-eradication fund.

In September, 1923, there- was filed in the office of the county auditor of Webster' County a petition addressed to the board of supervisors, signed by 51 per cent of the owners of breeding cattle 'in the county, asking the board to make application to the state department of agriculture'for the enrollment of the county under the county-area plan, and containing an *1023 agreement that the signers would permit their herds to be examined and tuberculin-tested, and would conform to and abide by all rules and regulations laid down, or which might be adopted, by the department. The board of supervisors thereupon adopted a resolution finding the petition sufficient, making such application, and levying a tax of two mills on the taxable property in the county for the eradication fund. In 1924, the board levied a like tax in the sum of $33,000.

Thereafter, Chapter 23 of the Acts of the Special Session of the Fortieth General Assembly was enacted, and went, into effect by publication on March 10, 1924. Section 25 thereof was as follows:

“Whenever 75 per cent of the owners of breeding cattle in any county operating under the county area plan, shall have signed agreements with the department of agriculture, the department shall enroll the county under the accredited area plan and notify the board of supervisors of such county accordingly. The board shall cause to be published a notice of such enrollment once in two official newspapers of the county and thereafter every owner of breeding cattle within the county shall causé his cattle to be tested for tuberculosis as provided in this act and shall comply with all the requirements for the establishment and maintenance of a tuberculosis-free accredited herd.”

It was stipulated by the parties on the trial below that Webster County was enrolled under the accredited-area plan in October, 1924. A veterinary inspector for Webster County was appointed by the state secretary of agriculture. He testified that it was his purpose and intention to continue in the work of testing cattle for tuberculosis and to quarantine or condemn them, as his judgment dictated, if he believed they had tuberculosis, unless restrained by injunction. The record discloses no other acts or purpose on the part of the defendants, nor was it shown that any of the plaintiffs have been, or will be, affected thereby, save as taxpayers and as the owners' of breeding cattle in the county are necessarily affected.

Some apparent confusion of terms in designating the state official or body in whom authority is vested under the various acts is readily explained by the fact that, by Chapter 46, Acts of the Fortieth General Assembly, the commission of animal health was consolidated with the state department of agricul *1024 ture, tbe office of secretary of agriculture was created, and such, officer was invested with all the powers and duties of the commission. Peverill v. Board of Supervisors, 201 Iowa 1050.

We assume, although the record before us is silent on the subject, that the appellants did not sign the agreements contemplated by the statute for the testing of their herds, and agree to conform to and be bound by the rules and regulations of the department of agriculture. As' pointed out in Peverill v. Board of Supervisors, supra, upon the enrollment of the county under the county-area plan provided for in Section 10-b, Chapter 48, Acts of the Fortieth General Assembly, the only inspection by that section authorized was of the herds of such owners as had signed such agreements. Of this plaintiffs cannot complain. It was only when the county had been enrolled under the accredited-area plan that plaintiffs, as the owners of breeding cattle, could be affected by the provisions of the statute relating to compulsory inspection and testing, which -were being carried out by the appellees.

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210 N.W. 139, 202 Iowa 1019, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fevold-v-board-of-supervisors-iowa-1926.