Shoener v. Schuylkill County

18 Pa. D. & C. 379, 1932 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 349
Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Schuylkill County·Decided July 25, 1932·No. No. 200·Published

Opinion

Houck, J.,

A summons in assumpsit was regularly issued and thereupon the parties agreed upon a case stated, which was filed on June 13, 1932. Subsequently, on June 27, 1932, an amended case stated was filed. This, however, is identical with the original except that it contains a more specific reservation of the right to appeal.

It is agreed by the case stated that Paul W. Houck was elected Treasurer of Schuylkill County and assumed his duties as such in January, 1932; that Schuylkill County is a municipal corporation subject to the provisions of section seven of the Act of March 31, 1876, P. L. 13, establishing a salary board to fix the number and compensation of deputies and clerks of county officers; that Thomas B. Shoener, plaintiff, is a clerk employed in the office of Paul W. Houck, county treasurer; that on January 25, 1932, the county commissioners, county controller and county treasurer met as a salary board, agreeably to the provi[380] sions of the Act of 1876, supra, and, by a vote of three to two, fixed the number and salaries of the employes in the office of the county treasurer for the year 1932 as follows: Joseph T. Lyons, first deputy, $3000; Eleanor M. Cuff, clerk, $2222.49; Charles A. Moyer, clerk, $1920; Joseph W. Miernicki, clerk, $1920; Thomas D. Straughn, clerk, $1920; J. Milton Hirst, license clerk, $2500; Thomas B. Shoener, clerk, $1920; Joseph Kromas, clerk, $1920; George Murphy, clerk, $1920; William H. Kelly, clerk, $1920; that when plaintiff demanded the sum of $160 for services during the month of April, 1932, being his salary at the rate of $1920 per annum, payment was refused by the county commissioners, who refused to draw a warrant for the same; that plaintiff discharged his duties in the office of the county treasurer diligently and satisfactorily; and that plaintiff was assigned by the county treasurer to the department in the county treasurer’s office for the collection of dog tax and the issuance of fishing and hunting licenses.

The question for disposition on the foregoing facts is thus stated:

“If the court shall be of the opinion that the employment of the plaintiff by the County of Schuylkill, as evidenced by the action of Paul W. Houck, treasurer, and the action of the salary board hereinbefore set forth, was lawful and binding upon the County of Schuylkill, irrespective of whether or not there will be sufficient funds derived from the State to pay the salary of the complainant, and that, notwithstanding the failure and refusal of the board of county commissioners to draw their warrant for the payment of the plaintiff’s salary at the rate of $1920 per annum, plaintiff is entitled thereto, then judgment shall be entered in the sum of $160 in favor of the plaintiff, being the amount of his salary for the month of April, 1932; otherwise judgment shall be entered for the defendant.”

The question must be determined upon the facts agreed upon and no others. A case stated is in the nature of a special verdict and is subject to the same rules. All the facts must be distinctly and unequivocally set forth and nothing left to inference; whatever is not expressly and distinctly agreed upon and set forth as admitted must be taken not to exist: S. A. Loux & Son v. Fox et al., 171 Pa. 68, 71; Schuldt v. Reading Trust Co. et al., 270 Pa. 360, 366; Hebron et al. v. Magda, 280 Pa. 508, 510. Consequently, we may not, as urged by defendant, take judicial notice of the fact that a separate and distinct license bureau has been established by the County of Schuylkill and that plaintiff is a clerk engaged solely in said bureau. The facts upon which our determination must rest, as found in the case stated, are that plaintiff is a clerk employed in the office of the county treasurer at a salary of $1920 per annum, regularly fixed by the salary board; and that the clerk was assigned by the county treasurer to the department in his office for the collection of dog tax and the issuing of fishing and hunting licenses. These facts seem to us to be decisive of the issue. The plaintiff is a clerk in the office of the county treasurer. His salary was fixed by the salary board in accordance with the provisions of section seven of the Act of 1876, supra, and he has performed his duties diligently. Under these circumstances, the question involved is simply whether the salary of a clerk of the county treasurer, whose appointment has been authorized and whose salary has been fixed and determined by the salary board, is a charge upon the county treasury. We think it too plain for argument that it is: Martin et al. v. Butler County, 94 Pa. Superior Ct. 152; Whalen v. Schuylkill County, 17 D. & C. 261.

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Shoener v. Schuylkill County, 18 Pa. D. & C. 379, 1932 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 349 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1932).

18 Pa. D. & C. 379 (Shoener v. Schuylkill County) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

County of Schuylkill v. Gruhler
82 Pa. Super. 392 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1923)
Martin v. County of Butler
94 Pa. Super. 152 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1928)
S. A. Loux & Son v. Fox
33 A. 190 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1895)
Schuldt v. Reading Trust Co.
113 A. 545 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1921)
Hebron v. Magda
124 A. 674 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1924)