Funke v. City of Evansville

290 N.E.2d 787, 154 Ind. App. 694, 1972 Ind. App. LEXIS 951
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 27, 1972
DocketNo. 1-872A59
StatusPublished

This text of 290 N.E.2d 787 (Funke v. City of Evansville) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Funke v. City of Evansville, 290 N.E.2d 787, 154 Ind. App. 694, 1972 Ind. App. LEXIS 951 (Ind. Ct. App. 1972).

Opinion

Lowdermilk, J.

Defendant-appellee, City of Evansville, a second class city, filed its motion to dismiss pursuant to the provisions of Rule TR. 12 of the Indiana Rules of Procedure; said motion was sustained, appellant refused to plead over and judgment was entered against the plaintiff-appellant.

Appellant timely filed his motion to correct errors, which was by the court overruled and this appeal follows.

Plaintiff-appellant alleged in his amended complaint for a declaratory judgment that there was due him from the appellee, City of Evansville (“Evansville”), the sum of $3,788.25 for 15,153 certifications of record to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles during the time period in question, and during which time he was functioning as the clerk of the city court of appellee Evansville.

Plaintiff-appellant contends he received the adverse ruling because of the fact the State Board of Accounts refused to approve payments of the kind in question based on a 1959 Elected Officials Salary Act, IC 1971, 18-2-1-11, Burns § 48-1233(a).

We are here concerned by three separate Acts of the General Assembly. The first in question was a 1949 Act, Burns § 47-1052 (d) which reads as follows:

“(d) Upon the conviction of any person for any offense which authorizes or requires the clerk of a court or the judge of a court which has no clerk, to certify an abstract of the record of such conviction to the Commissioner or the department, a certification fee of twenty-five cents shall be taxed by the court as a part of the costs against the defendant and in favor of the party authorized or required to make such certification and a permanent operator’s record fee of one dollar and fifty cents shall be so taxed by the court as a part of the costs against the defendant and in favor of the Commissioner. The certification fee of twenty-five cents shall become the property of the officer making the certification and the permanent operator’s record fee of one dollar and fifty cents taxed in favor of the Commissioner shall be paid over to the Commissioner upon due demand and receipt therefor. When the Commissioner shall have collected any such permanent operator’s [696]*696record fee, he shall forthwith pay the same into the general fund subject to the provisions of the existing law and when so paid, shall to the extent of such payment, diminish any and all assessments for expenses of administration made under and pursuant to section 45 of this act.” (Our emphasis.)

Appellant functioned as clerk of the city court of Evansville as well as doing the general duties of the clerk of said second class city and contends under the statute he is entitled to a fee of twenty-five cents for every motor vehicle violation his office was required to certify to the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles and that said fee was to be paid to him as clerk for his own use under the aforesaid Act. This Act was amended in 1951, 1953, and again in 1963, with the 1963 amendment substantially re-stating the original 1949 Act, including the twenty-five cent fee for the city clerk for certifications to the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles.

Our General Assembly in 1965, under Burns § 47-1052 (b) again enacted a statute providing for a twenty-five cent certification fee for city clerks functioning as clerks of the city court, which statute reads as follows, to-wit:

“The following fees shall be collected by the Clerk of a court or the judge of a court which has no clerk on behalf of the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles:
Upon the conviction of any person for any offense which authorizes or requires the clerk of a court or the judge of a court which has no clerk, to certify an abstract of the record of such conviction to the commissioner or the department, a certification fee of twenty-five cents (25(0 shall be taxed by the court as a part of the costs against the defendant and in favor of the party authorized or required to make such certification and a permanent operator’s record fee of two dollars ($2.00) shall be so taxed by the court as a part of the costs against the defendant and in favor of the commissioner, and the suspension of either of these fees by the judge shall mean the suspension of both. The certification fee of twenty-five cents (25f) shall become the property of the officer making the certification and the permanent operator’s record fee of two dollars ($2.00) taxed in favor of the commissioner shall be paid [697]*697over to the commissioner upon due demand and receipt therefor. When the commissioner shall have collected any such permanent operator’s record fee, he shall forthwith pay the same into the general fund.” (Our emphasis.)

Our General Assembly, in 1959, enacted the Elected Officials Salary Act, the same being Burns § 48-1233 (a), and which reads as follows, to-wit:

“The salaries of the elected city officials as fixed by ordinance of the common council pursuant to the provisions of section 20a of this act shall be in full for all governmental services and in lieu of all fees, penalties, fines, interests, costs, forfeiture, commissions and percentages. The salaries of the elected city officials and employees of cities may be paid at any time and in any manner as may be prescribed by the common council: Provided, That such salaries shall be paid at least one time in each month.”

In 1966 the State Board of Accounts formally requested our Attorney General for an opinion relative to the twenty-five cent fee mentioned in the above statutes. The Attorney General’s Opinion No. 12 in response thereto determined that clerks, such as appellant herein, could not receive the twenty-five cent fee and the State Board of Accounts, pursuant to said opinion, immediately began to disallow the fee and so continued until the 1971 Acts, which deleted the twenty-five cent fee completely.

Appellant contends that the Attorney General’s Opinion No. 12, 1966, is erroneous and the 1959 Elected Officials Salary Statute is general in nature, while the 1965 fee statute is specific in nature. Appellant contends that this specific statute should control over general statutes. Appellant further contends that the re-enactment of the fee statute reaffirms the intent of the Legislature to allow clerks, such as the appellant, special fees.

Appellant contends that implied repeals of earlier acts by a later act are not favored, and, further, that when there are two acts dealing with the same subject both should be given effect, if possible, and if the two acts are repugnant [698]*698one to the other, or where there is conflict the more recent and specific provision should prevail.

Appellant further contends that the General Assembly expressed an intention when it adopted as a part of the Indiana Code in 1971 the clerk’s certification fee statute in question. That the 1971 Legislature after the adoption, repealed specifically that portion of the statute which gave the clerk twenty-five cents for each certification.

Appellant further urges that this is a case which is a problem of the General Assembly and that the judicial function is only to interpret legislation, and, further, that for this court to agree with the 1966 opinion of the Attorney General, supra, would, in effect, be legislating by interpretation.

Appellee’s argument is that the statutes in question can be interpreted in pari materia

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

Related

State Ex Rel. Palmer v. Circuit Court Etc.
192 N.E.2d 625 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1963)
Davis & Holmes Land Co. v. First National Bank
152 N.E. 723 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1926)
Heffner v. White
47 N.E.2d 964 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1943)
Boone v. Smith
77 N.E.2d 357 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1948)
City of New Albany v. Lemon
149 N.E. 350 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1925)
Public Service Commission v. City of Indianapolis
137 N.E. 705 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1922)
Fitzgibbons v. State
141 N.E. 241 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1923)
Thompson v. Mossburg
139 N.E. 307 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1923)
Huff v. Fetch
143 N.E. 705 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1924)
Sutton v. State
101 N.E.2d 636 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1951)
State v. Mayor of Newark
30 A. 543 (Supreme Court of New Jersey, 1894)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
290 N.E.2d 787, 154 Ind. App. 694, 1972 Ind. App. LEXIS 951, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/funke-v-city-of-evansville-indctapp-1972.