Wea Township v. Cloyd

91 N.E. 959, 46 Ind. App. 49, 1910 Ind. App. LEXIS 48
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 24, 1910
DocketNo. 6,764
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 91 N.E. 959 (Wea Township v. Cloyd) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wea Township v. Cloyd, 91 N.E. 959, 46 Ind. App. 49, 1910 Ind. App. LEXIS 48 (Ind. Ct. App. 1910).

Opinion

Hadley, J.

Appellee instituted this action in the Superior Court of Tippecanoe County against appellant to recover damages for sheep killed and maimed by dogs.

The complaint consisted of one paragraph charging, in substance, that appellee was a resident of Wea township, and owned in that township a certain number of sheep which were killed by dogs, averring the assessment of damages as required by the statute, and setting forth the amount of damages sustained by appellee. Appellant answered the com-» plaint by filing a general denial and by an affirmative para[51]*51graph admitting that appellee’s sheep were injured in said township, as averred in the complaint, and setting up a tender of an amount which, in the opinion of the trustee, equaled the damages sustained to the property of appellee. The tender was kept good by the payment of the money into court. The cause was tried and judgment rendered in favor of appellee for $365. Appellant filed a motion for a new trial, which was overruled. The error relied upon for reversal is the ruling of the court upon the motion for a new trial.

1. The first instruction of the court was as follows: “Under the admissions in this case, the only question for you.to consider is the amount of the damages plaintiff is entitled to recover. You will remember the averments of the complaint upon the question of damages, and before he can recover he must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that he was damaged as alleged, and the extent thereof. ’ ’ Appellant insists that this instruction was erroneous for the reason that there was no admission in the record that there was on hand and in possession of appellant sufficient money to pay said damages. "While the complaint averred that the trustee had funds on hand sufficient to pay said damages, this averment was surplusage, and need not have been proved.

[52]*522. [51]*51The dog tax provided for by statute is for the purpose" of paying damages for stock maimed or killed by dogs. The claims must be paid in the order of their presentation. If there are not sufficient funds on hand at that time to pay them, they should be paid with the money when received. It was not intended by the statute that the .claims for one year should be settled by the taxes for that year, unless the taxes of that year or the funds on hand were sufficient fully to pay such claims. The claim is against the township, but can only be paid out of the special fund, and a judgment for such damages may be recovered, although at the time of the judgment there are no funds on hand out of which it may be [52]*52paid. When so recovered, it must stand as a claim against the township, to he paid in its order out of the dog-tax fund, as such fund is paid in. Shelby Tp. v. Randles (1877), 57 Ind. 390. Appellant insists that it was erroneous for the further reason that it was not admitted that appellee was the owner of the flock of sheep in Wea township, Tippecanoe county, Indiana. Appellant, by its second paragraph, admitted “that certain sheep of plaintiff’s were killed by dogs, as averred in his complaint. ’ ’

3. 4. Appellant also admitted that it tendered to appellee $120 for his said damages, and brought the tender into court for the benefit of appellee. The tender was a statutory one, as provided under §3269 Burns 1908, Acts 1897 p. 178, §12, and, under the circumstances, was an admission of the township’s liability to appellee for damages to some amount. Abel v. Opel (1865), 24 Ind. 250; 28 Am. and Eng. Ency. Law (2d ed.) 15; Bacon v. Inhabitants of Charlton (1851), 7 Cush. (Mass.) 581. Appellant insists that it was not admitted that the dogs which damaged the sheep were not owned nor harbored by appellee. This fact was expressly admitted in the trial. Appellant further insists that it was not admitted that the number of sheep killed, as averred, is correct, or the number averred to have been injured, correct, or that the sheep were of the number and value as alleged in the complaint. These were matters relating solely to the question of the amount of damages, and the court expressly charged the jury, in the instruction in question, that appellee had the burden of proving these facts, and that that was the question they had to determine.. Furthermore, an examination of the record shows- that it was specifically agreed that the claim for the damages of appellee for injury to sheep, belonging to him, in Wea township, was properly filed with the trustee of said township, in accordance with the statute, and that thereafter said trustee made a tender to appellee of the amount he [53]*53thought equaled the claim; that'all of the formal averments of the complaint were testified to by witnesses, and were unquestioned by appellant; that the sole controversy at the trial was upon the amount of damages recoverable and in no place 'in the record was the liability for damages questioned. The giving of the instruction did not injuriously affect the substantial rights of appellant, even if it was not technically correct and is therefore not available on appeal.

5. Appellant argues that the court erred in modifying instruction five, as asked, and giving it as modified. The record does not disclose any modificatidn of instruction five. Instruction five, requested by appellant, is set out as asked, and the record shows no refusal to .give it, but does show that it was given in the form as asked. There is a recital at the end of the instructions, that the court modified said instruction by inserting certain words; but this recital is a plain contradiction of the other portions of the record, and therefore does not affirmatively show any error. It is not proper to modify an instruction asked by á party, and give it as a modification. Such instruction can only be given as one given by the court on its own motion. But the record here shows no reversible error in this respect. §561 Burns 1908, Acts 1907 p. 652.

There is no error shown in the record in the giving of instruction five.

6. Objection is made to the introduction of certain testimony as to the kind and character of the sheep killed. By this testimony it was shown that the sheep were blooded, pedigreed Shropshire sheep; that some of the sheep killed had been prize winners at fairs and exhibitions,. and that there was an open market for this class of sheep;. that sheep of the breed and pedigree of the ones killed and injured had an actual market price for breeding purposes that was in excess of the price of ordinary sheep for food purposes. The statute provides that the stock must be valued at the actual cash value for which it would have sold if [54]*54placed on the market at the time such damage was sustained. §3269 Burns 1908, Acts 1897 p. 178, §12.

This provision of the statute means the highest actual cash price which said sheep would bring in the market for any and all uses to which the sheep in question were, on the day and date of their injury, adapted, and for which they were available. It was shown without contradiction that these sheep were adapted to and were available for breeding purposes. This being true, it was proper to show their kind and character in order to determine what their actual cash value was for that purpose on the market.

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Bluebook (online)
91 N.E. 959, 46 Ind. App. 49, 1910 Ind. App. LEXIS 48, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wea-township-v-cloyd-indctapp-1910.