Sunter v. Fraser

228 P. 660, 194 Cal. 337, 1924 Cal. LEXIS 238
CourtCalifornia Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 25, 1924
DocketS. F. No. 10465.
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 228 P. 660 (Sunter v. Fraser) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sunter v. Fraser, 228 P. 660, 194 Cal. 337, 1924 Cal. LEXIS 238 (Cal. 1924).

Opinion

WASTE, J.

This ease was transferred to the supreme court after decision and judgment in the district court of appeal for the reason that the principal question involved is a new one in this state and it was thought well to give the opposing parties further opportunity to present their respective views. After such presentation and examination of the matter, we are satisfied that the conclusion reached by the district court of appeal in and for the first appellate district, division two, on the first point presented by the appeal is correct, and conclusively settles all of the matters involved in the present litigation. We therefore approve and adopt, as the opinion of this court, the following portion of the decision prepared by Mr. Justice Nourse:

' ‘ This is an appeal from a verdict in favor of the plaintiff and against the defendant Fraser, a police officer of the city of Eureka, and the defendants Hodges and McDonough as sureties upon his official bond. The complaint was framed in three causes of action, alleging, respectively, that the defendant Fraser had breached the obligations of his official bond in that he had subjected the plaintiff to a *339 false arrest; that he had committed a physical assault upon her in making the arrest; and that he had falsely imprisoned her as a result of the arrest. The verdict of the jury upon which the judgment rests awarded the plaintiff $2,000 against the defendant Fraser and $1,000 against the defendants Hodges and McDonough. In each cause of action the complaint relies upon the alleged breach by the defendant Fraser of the conditions of his official bond, the allegations in each ease being that he 1 committed a breach of his said official bond as aforesaid in that by reason of the premises as aforesaid he did not faithfully perform his official duties. ’
“The facts of the case are, generally, . . . that the defendant Fraser while acting in the course of his official duties attempted to restrain the plaintiff under the belief that she was insane or at least irrational at the time and that she immediately became either hysterical or ‘fighting mad’ as a result of which the two became engaged in a tussle. This became so violent on the plaintiff’s part that the defendant Fraser was required to call a citizen to assist him in making the arrest. These two thereupon forcibly took the plaintiff to the city prison, where she was booked upon a charge of disturbing the peace and turned over to the police matron, who kept her in her own home for the remainder of the night. The plaintiff was released early on the following morning, and a few days later, upon a hearing before the police court, the charge of disturbing the peace laid against her was dismissed.
“On this appeal the appellants urge that inasmuch as the bond upon which the suit is based was given to the city of Eureka in accordance with the terms of the municipal charter, it does not inure to the benefit of an individual who has been offended by the acts of the police officer and that accordingly the respondent in this action could not maintain her suit upon this’bond or against these sureties. The position of the appellants is that the city of Eureka having expressly provided in its charter the form of bond to be given by its public officials and having therein provided that the city of Eureka should be the obligee of said bonds, and there being no statutory authorization for someone other than the named obligee to sue for a breach of the bond, the common-law rule requiring the obligee to be the actual party plain *340 tiff obtains. Respondent answers that the ease is controlled by section 961 of the Political Code, which authorizes any person injured or aggrieved to bring suit on an official bond in his own name. In reply . . . appellants point out that section 961 is a part of article 9, which covers the subject of official bonds to be given by state, county and township officers only (Rowe v. Rose, 26 Cal. App. 744, 745 [148 Pac. 535]), and that all such bonds are required by section 958 to be made payable to the state of California ‘with such conditions as required by this chapter. ’ In section 961 it is then provided that such a bond ‘is in force and obligatory upon the principal and sureties therein to and for the state of California, and to and for the use and benefit of all persons who, may be injured or aggrieved by the wrongful act or default of such officer in his official capacity; and any person so injured or aggrieved may bring suit.’ (Italics ours.)

“Conceding, as we must, that the subject of requiring bonds of municipal officers and employees is a municipal affair and that the provisions of the municipal charter relating to a municipal affair are controlling over the general state laws, the question arises whether, without express statutory authority, an individual aggrieved by an act or default of a municipal officer may sue upon his bond which runs solely to the benefit of the municipality. The question is a new one in this state and there is, therefore, no California authority to aid us in a solution of the question. An examination of authorities from other jurisdictions satisfies us that the accepted rule is that under the common law an action upon a bond of a public official could be maintained only by the obligee named in the bond, and that, unless the right has been given to an individual by statute to maintain such an action in his own name, the right does not exist.

“The leading case upon this subject seems to be the City of Eaton Rapids v. Stump, 127 Mich. 1 [89 Am. St. Rep. 451, 86 N. W. 438], in which, in a case similar to the case at bar, the supreme court of Michigan say: ‘The bond was not given for the protection of third parties, but for the protection of the city alone. . . . There is no statute in this state providing that such actions may be brought on such a bond, in the interest of or for the benefit of a third party, *341 for damages arising by the act or omission of such appointive officer. Our statutes do provide for actions on official bonds, but suits by third parties on bonds given by appointive municipal officers are not included, and without the aid of some statute no such suit can be maintained. . . . The bond "in this case runs to the city of Eaton Rapids, and not to the people. The rule as stated by Murfee on Official Bonds is as follows: “The primary object of an official bond is, of course, to protect the interest of the beneficiary named in it,—the state, county, corporation, etc., as the case may be. By statute, however, it is usually provided that bonds given by officers of states and counties shall be available to protect the interests of private persons who may be aggrieved by the breach of such bonds. They cannot be used, however, for these purposes in eases unprovided for by such statutory enactment.” ’ (Italics ours.) To the same effect are Carr v. Knoxville, 144 Tenn. 483 [19 A. L. R. 69, 234 S. W. 328], Alexander v. Ison, 107 Ga. 745 [33 S. E. 657, State v. Stout, 26 Ind. App. 446 [59 N. E. 1091], United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co. v. Jasper, 56 Tex. Civ. 236 [120 S. W. 1145], Cushing v. Lickert, 79 Neb.

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Bluebook (online)
228 P. 660, 194 Cal. 337, 1924 Cal. LEXIS 238, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sunter-v-fraser-cal-1924.