Holley v. Board of Commissioners

199 N.E. 433, 101 Ind. App. 396, 1936 Ind. App. LEXIS 21
Indiana Court of Appeals·Decided January 28, 1936·No. No. 15,557.·Published

Opinion

Bridwell, J.

Appellant brought this action against appellee, alleging in her complaint, in substance, that during the year of 1934 she was the duly appointed, qualified, and acting sheriff of Lake County, Indiana; *397 that by virtue of the laws of this state, she, as such sheriff, was required to, and did serve writs and processes pursuant to her official duty to do so; that in order to serve such writs and processes, she furnished conveyances for use in the discharge of such duty; that as such sheriff under the laws of this state she was entitled to receive mileage at the rate of 6 cents per mile for each mile necessarily traveled in continuous trips by such conveyances; that the law required that she file, and she did file, with appellee, an itemized and verified claim and statement showing the trips made and the miles per trip made in the service of said writs and processes; that said claim (copy of which is filed with and made a part of the complaint, and which contains exhibits 1 to 280, inclusive) was wholly disallowed by appellee, and is unpaid; that there is due and owing to appellant from appellee the sum of $7,219.48. Judgment for this amount, for costs, and all other proper relief is prayed. Appellee filed its answer in general denial. The cause was tried by the court and there was a finding and judgment in favor of appellee. Appellant duly filed her motion for a new trial, assigning as causes therefor that the decision of the court is not sustained by sufficient evidence, and that said decision is contrary to law. This motion was overruled. Appellant reserved an exception to this ruling and thereafter perfected this appeal. The error assigned and relied upon for reversal is the alleged error in overruling appellant’s motion for a new trial.

A stipulation of facts constitutes the only evidence in the case, and is as follows:

“On the 1st day of January, 1934, the plaintiff in this action, Lillian M. Holley, was the duly appointed, qualified and acting sheriff of Lake County, Indiana and continued to be such sheriff until and including- the 31st day of December, 1934.
“That under the laws of the State of Indiana, *398 to wit: Burns’ Indiana Statutes Annotated, 1933, Section 49-2802, the sheriff of the county is charged with certain duties among which is to execute all process directed to him by legal authority, either in person or by deputy; that the plaintiff herein did execute and serve all process directed to her by legal authority by herself or lawfully constituted deputy over the period of time extending from the 1st day of January, 1934, until and including the 31st day of December, 1934.
“In order to execute and serve process so directed to her, the plaintiff herein, it was necessary that a means of conveyance be furnished to execute and serve said process; that said conveyance was furnished by said plaintiff in person as sheriff or through her lawfully constituted deputy on each and all occasions in the execution and- service of said process and that in no instance was a conveyance used that was a county-owned conveyance or in any part maintained by the county, and when such process was served by a deputy sheriff he used his own personal automobile or one furnished by the sheriff in serving such process.
“Under the laws of the State of Indiana, to wit: Section eight (8) of Chapter twenty-one (21) of the Acts of 1933 of the General Assembly of the State of Indiana it is provided that in the service of any writs or processes required to be served by the sheriff where conveyance is furnished by the sheriff such sheriff is entitled to receive mileage at the rate of six ($.06) cents per mile for each mile necessarily traveled in continuous trips by such conveyance, which mileage is the property of such sheriff.
“The plaintiff herein, as provided in Section eight (8) of Chapter twenty-one (21) of the Acts of 1933 of the General Assembly of the State of Indiana, did file with the defendant, the Board of Commissioners of the County of Lake, State of Indiana an itemized and verified claim and statements showing the trips made and the miles per trip made in the execution and service of writs and processes wherein conveyance was furnished by this plaintiff as sheriff in the manner as above set forth for the period of time extending from the 1st day of January, 1934, to and including the 31st day of December, 1934, all as shown by'Plain *399 tiff’s Exhibits One (1) to Two Hundred Eighty (280), inclusive, filed with and made a part of plaintiff’s complaint in the cause.
“That said claim is in the amount of Seven Thousand Two Hundred Nineteen and 48/100 ($7,219.48) Dollars and since it was filed with the defendant herein has been by said defendant disallowed in whole and now is and remains wholly unpaid.”

The question presented by this record requires a construction of certain provisions of our statutory law which constitute a part of Chapter 21 of the laws enacted by our General Assembly of 1933 (Acts 1933, page 88).

The title of the act discloses that it was enacted for the purpose of “fixing the compensation of certain public officials, their deputies and assistants, and fixing manner of payment thereof; authorizing the appointment of deputies and assistants; prescribing certain duties; making a division of deputy’s and assistant’s compensation unlawful, and providing a penalty therefor ; providing for the collection of fees and mileage and the disposition of same; repealing all laws in conflict therewith and fixing the time of taking effect.” It is provided in the act that it shall be in full force and effect on and after January 1, 1934.

Section 4 of the act fixes the annual salaries of officials named in the section in each of the counties of the state, and among the officials so named are sheriffs. The annual salary of the sheriff of Lake County is fixed at $4,800.00.

Section 5 of the act, so far as it has any bearing upon the question before us, is as follows: “The compensation provided in the foregoing section shall be in lieu of all salaries, fees, and per diem now provided by statute for the officials therein designated, their deputies and other assistants in the several counties of the State of Indiana, except as herein otherwise provided. All *400 fees and remuneration of whatsoever kind or character, for official services or involving official authority, now provided by statute or otherwise, shall be charged and collected by such officers and shall be the property of the county and shall be covered into the general fund, of the county except as herein otherwise provided; . .

Section 8 of the act, so far as it is pertinent to this controversy, relates to sheriffs’ fees, and is as follows: "The salaries herein provided for sheriffs shall be in full for all services required of the sheriffs by statute including the attendance upon all courts and boards, except as herein otherwise provided. The sheriffs’ fees accruing on process issued by courts outside of the county shall be the property of the respective sheriffs.

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Holley v. Board of Commissioners, 199 N.E. 433, 101 Ind. App. 396, 1936 Ind. App. LEXIS 21 (Ind. Ct. App. 1936).

199 N.E. 433 (Holley v. Board of Commissioners) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.