Ware v. State ex rel. Long

74 Ind. 181
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedMay 15, 1881
DocketNo. 8093
StatusPublished
Cited by26 cases

This text of 74 Ind. 181 (Ware v. State ex rel. Long) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ware v. State ex rel. Long, 74 Ind. 181 (Ind. 1881).

Opinion

Best, C.

This suit was instituted by the State, on the [182]*182relation of the Board of Commissioners of Howard county,. Indiana, against Isaiah C. Ware as principal, and John M. Leach, David Greeson, Henry Brunk, Jesse Ware and William T. Mannering, sureties, upon the official bond of said Isaiah C. Ware, as auditor of said county. It is averred that said Isaiah C. Ware was duly appointed auditor of Howard county, Indiana, to serve from the 1st day of'March, 1875, until the 1st day of March, 1876, and that he, with, his co-appellants as his sureties, on the 6th day of March, 1875, executed his bond and at once entered upon the duties-of said office; that said Isaiah C. Ware, on the 24th day of January, 1876, as auditor of said county, made to himself a pretended loan of one thousand dollars of the congressional township school fund, executed his mortgage, drew his warrant, and received upon it from the treasurer of said county said sum of money; that said Isaiah C. Ware violated the conditions of his bond in these particulars, viz.:

1st. In loaning to himself one thousand dollars of the congressional township school fund.

2d. In not causing an appraisement of the realty embraced-in said mortgage to be made by disinterested freeholders of the neighborhood before making said loan.

Sd. In not procuring from the clerk and recorder of Howard county, Indiana, certificates that there were no liens or encumbrances upon said realty before said mortgage was made.

It was further averred that, after said Ware’s term of office expired, his successor instituted a suit upon said mortgage, obtained a foreclosure, sold the property, and realized from the sale enough to pay all costs and to reimburse said fund, except $468.05, for which, with interest thereon, judgment was demanded.

No step Avas taken against Isaiah C. Ware ; John M. Leach was defaulted ; and the other defendants demurred, for want of facts, to the second and third breaches assigned. These demurrers were sustained, and the appellee excepted. There[183]*183upon the defendants answered, first, in denial, and, second, that the cause of action did not accrue within three years before the commencement of the suit. A demurrer for want of facts was filed and overruled to the second paragraph of the answer, to which the appellee excepted. A reply was filed, first, in denial, and, second, that the cause of action was concealed by said Isaiah C. Ware, until a period within three years before the commencement of the suit.

The issues thus formed were submitted to the court for trial, with a request that the court state the facts and its conclusions of law thereon. This was done. The facts found are, in substance, as follows: On the 6th day of March, 1875, Isaiah C. Ware as principal, and the other defendants as sureties, namiug them, executed to the State of Indiana their bond for $2,000, conditioned that said Isaiah C. Ware should faithfully perform the duties of auditor of Howard county, Indiana; that said Isaiah C. Ware was auditor of said county from the 6th day of March, 1875, until the 6th day of March, 1876 ; that, during this time, said Ware, as auditor, loaned to himself, as an individual, one thousand dollars of the congressional township school fund held by said county ; that, to secure said loan, said auditor and his wife executed a mortgage to the State of Indiana for the use of said fund, upon a lot in Kokomo, in said county; that afterward proceedings were instituted to foreclose said mortgage, and, on the 11th day of October, 1878, a judgment for $1,157.05 was obtained; that, on the 3d of November, 1878, there was due upon said judgment $1,266.92, at which time said property, upon said decree, was sold for $800 ; that said sum was placed to the credit of said fund, and, on December 7th, 1879, the auditor placed to the credit of said fund $466.52, vdiich fully reimbursed it; that said mortgage matured five years after date, was executed on January 24th, and recorded January 31st, 1876; that said auditor was not guilty of any acts of concealment as to the [184]*184existence of said mortgage, but the commissioners of said ■county had no actual knowledge of its existence, until the ■June term, 1876, at which time they made no order to protect or secure the investment; that this action was commenced on the 30th of January, 1879, and that a warrant was drawn by said Ware, as auditor, upon the treasurer of ■said county, for the payment of said loan, on the 24th of January, 1876, and that the treasurer of said county paid said order on the same day.

The conclusions of law by the court are as follows :

“1st. That the loan (so-called) by Isaiah C. Ware, whilst acting as auditor of Howard county, to himself, of the school funds, was illegal and void.
“2d. That the action of the board of commissioners, in causing the mortgage (so-called) to be foreclosed and the property sold, was an act for the benefit of the defendants in this case, and the amount received therefrom lessens the liability in this case, and therefore they have no light to complain thereof.
“3d. That the statute of limitations has not barred this case; that the cause of action did not accrue to the plaintiff until the payment was made by her to the school funds of the amount received by said Ware, which was less than three years last passed.
“4th. That the plaintiff is eutitled to recover of the defendants in this case the sum of $483.26, without relief from valuation or appraisement laws, and that judgment is rendered therefor. C. N. Pollard.”

To all and each of these conclusions of law the defendants excepted, and final judgment was rendered against them.

They appeal, and assign as error, among others, that the court erred in its conclusions of law upon the facts found. It is conceded that the appellee was entitled to a judgment upon the facts found, unless the action was barred by the statute of limitations. This depends upon the time when [185]*185the cause of action sued upon accrued. Section 211 of the' •code provides that “The following actions shall be commenced within the periods herein prescribed after the cause •of action has accrued, and not afterwards: * '* * All actions against a sheriff ■ or other public officer, or against such officer and his sureties on a public bond, growing out of a liability incurred by doing an act in an official capacity, or by the omission of an official duty, — within three years.”

The facts found are that the auditor, under pretence of loaning $1,000 of the congressional township school fund, drew his warrant upon the treasurer of the county, and received from him of such fund said sum, on the 24th day of January, 1.876, and this suit was commenced on the 30th day of January, 1879, more than three years thereafter.

The above statute applies to this case, and if the cause of action accrued when the warrant was drawn and the money obtained, the action is barred. The misappropriation of the money was complete when it was received, and nothing has since been done, or omitted to be done, by the auditor, that either created or matured a cause of action against him and his sureties upon his bond. All that he did to render them liable was done at that time, and ho reason has been suggested, nor do we know of any, why an action could not have been commenced at once against them.

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Bluebook (online)
74 Ind. 181, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ware-v-state-ex-rel-long-ind-1881.