Village of Lester Prairie v. City of Minneapolis

42 N.W.2d 416, 231 Minn. 144, 1950 Minn. LEXIS 669
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedMay 5, 1950
DocketNo. 35,118
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 42 N.W.2d 416 (Village of Lester Prairie v. City of Minneapolis) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Village of Lester Prairie v. City of Minneapolis, 42 N.W.2d 416, 231 Minn. 144, 1950 Minn. LEXIS 669 (Mich. 1950).

Opinion

Magnet, Justice.

In an action to determine the legal settlement for purposes of poor relief of one Olive Underwood, the court determined that the county of Freeborn was the place of such settlement. The county appeals from an order denying its motion for a new trial.

Olive Underwood is 36 years old. On August 1, 1923, the Underwood family moved to the city of Waterville. They remained there until about June 1, 1942, when they moved to Wabasha. While [145]*145in Wabasha, Mrs. Underwood, the mother, died. On or about November 1, 1942, the family moved back to Waterville. It then consisted of Joseph Underwood, the father, Olive, the oldest of the children, another daughter, and three sons. One of the sons was away at school. Joseph owned his own home in Waterville. On March 15, 1943, he went to work at a creamery in London, a small community in Freeborn county. As a part of his employment agreement, he rented a house from the creamery. This he sublet to his helper. He himself occupied a room in the creamery, and took his meals with the helper’s family. He maintained the home at Waterville and went back there “most week ends, at least probably every other week end.” After the death of the mother, Olive requested that she be put in a rest home. She gave as a reason that she “didn’t want to be a burden to my sister or to my brothers either.” On June 18, 1944, she was placed in the Aberdeen Rest Home in Minneapolis by her father. In the latter part of June 1944 the father sold his home in Waterville. He auctioned off his household belongings, with the exception of some articles which were divided amongst the members of the family. He continued to work at the London creamery until April 1, 1947, when, because of a heart ailment, he was forced to quit work and went to live with a son in Minneapolis. Olive remained in the Aberdeen Rest Home until November 15, 1946, at which time she was placed in the Alice Hanney Rest Home in Lester Prairie, where she was living at the time of the commencement of these proceedings. Both rest homes were private ones for the care of invalids and the aged. Her father paid for her care at the rest homes until January 1, 1948, when, because of his ill health, with resulting loss of income, he could no longer continue to do so. He first requested poor relief for Olive from the city of Waterville in the fall of 1946, but no relief was ever granted.

The question for determination by the trial court under the above facts was whether the legal settlement of Olive for poor relief purposes was in the city of Waterville in Le Sueur county, in the city of Minneapolis in Hennepin county, or in the village [146]*146of Lester Prairie in McLeod county, all of which operate under the town system of poor relief, or in the county of Freeborn, which operates under the county system. As stated, the court found that the county of Freeborn was the legal settlement of Olive for poor relief purposes.

Olive is incapacitated from making a living by reason of a physical condition known as spastic paralysis.

The court made 11 separate findings of fact. The county of Freeborn made a motion for amended findings in certain particulars. It also made a motion for a new trial on the following grounds in the event the motion for amended findings should be denied:

(a) That the findings are not justified by the evidence.
(b) That the findings are contrary to law.
(c) That the conclusions -of law are not sustained by the findings of fact.
(d) That the decision is not justified by the evidence and is contrary to law.

As recently as Kiebach v. Kiebach, 227 Minn. 328, 332, 35 N. W. (2d) 530, 533, we have held that an assignment that “the findings of fact are not sustained by the evidence and contrary to law” is wholly insufficient to challenge any specific finding of fact. If no other grounds were stated in the motion for new trial, no question would be presented by this appeal, and an affirmance would follow.

However, the county of Freeborn made a motion for a new trial on the further ground that the conclusions of law are not sustained by the findings of fact, and assigns as error the conclusions of law which were based on the court’s findings of fact.

The following facts are undisputed: Olive is unable to walk, but crawls or rolls when she wishes to go from one place to another. She is able to get out of bed and make her own bed. She is able to feed herself, but is shaky in doing so. There is a slight impairment in her hearing, and her speech is rather indistinct. She [147]*147writes on the typewriter. In her own words, “I punch with one finger.” She has never attended school. Her mother and other members of the family taught her to read. She picked up writing on the typewriter, and writes letters to relatives and members of invalid clubs with whom she gets in touch via the radio. Her I. Q. is 84. At the time of this mental test she was very nervous and upset. One time at Waterville, she voted in a national election for local and national candidates of her own choice from information she had received over the radio. She said that she has had no chance to vote since. She has attended a camp for crippled children. It was her own idea to go to a rest home, and it was also her idea to change from one to the other. Her father testified that mentally she is all right and that her trouble is physical. She was called as a witness in these proceedings and demonstrated by her answers that her father’s observation as to her mental condition was correct.

The court’s finding of fact No. 8 is as follows:

“That because of her physical and mental condition the said Olive Underwood is and ever since her birth has been wholly dependent upon her father, Joseph Underwood, for financial' care and support, and up to the time that she left Waterville, Minnesota, about the 1st day of June, 1944, was wholly dependent upon her father and the other members of her immediate family for care and attention, and that such condition has existed since her departure from Waterville, Minnesota, about June 1, 1944, and still exists; that the status of the said Olive Underwood is and always has been the status of an infant; that she does not possess the intelligence of an infant seven years of age, nor does she possess the physical propensities of an infant two years of age; and that ever since birth she has been and still is wholly dependent upon her father, Joseph Underwood, and the other members of her family.”

The court concluded as a matter of law that the legal settlement of Olive was in Freeborn county, where, it states, the father [148]*148resided for a period of approximately four years prior to April 1947, when lie moved to Minneapolis. It further concluded “that the legal settlement * * * followed that of her father, Joseph Underwood, and was the same as that of her father,

The applicable statute is M. S. A. 261.07, which reads in part as follows:

“Every person except those hereinafter mentioned, who has resided two years continuously in any county, shall be deemed to have a settlement therein, if it has the county system; if it has the town system, he shall have a settlement in the town, city, or village therein in which he has longest resided within two years.

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Related

State v. Nelson
842 N.W.2d 433 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 2014)
Distillers Distributing Co. v. Young
113 N.W.2d 175 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1962)
In Re Settlement of Underwood
231 Minn. 144 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1950)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
42 N.W.2d 416, 231 Minn. 144, 1950 Minn. LEXIS 669, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/village-of-lester-prairie-v-city-of-minneapolis-minn-1950.