Opinion
No. 28,129.
November 21, 1930.
Action to enforce payment of town orders.
This action involves the payment of certain indebtedness evidenced by four certain town orders and subsequently a fifth one which was given in exchange for the four. The original four orders were issued by the clerk, signing his own name, and also signing the chairman's name by the clerk. Such execution was pursuant to a long established custom and with the acquiescence of the chairman. It is held:
Four original orders were valid.
1. The original four orders were valid.
Assignee of fifth order was equitable owner of the others.
2. Plaintiff, an assignee of the fifth order, was the equitable owner of the four original unpaid orders.
Estoppel of town officers.
3. The town officers' conduct, stated in the opinion, estopped them from questioning the validity of any of said orders.
Orders were non-negotiable.
4. Such orders were non-negotiable.
Mandamus in the district court for Todd county upon the relation of Farmers National Bank of Hutchinson, as assignee of four town orders issued to one Archie Drager for services, to compel payment of the orders by respondent as treasurer of the town of Little Sauk. There were findings for relator, and respondent appealed from an order, Carroll A. Nye, J. denying his motion for a new trial. Affirmed.
H.B. Sherwood and J.N. Peterson, for appellant (respondent below).
Jensen Morrison, for respondent (relator below).
Appellant has appealed from an order denying his motion for a new trial.
1. Four town orders were issued by A.G. Anderson, the clerk, who signed his own name as such and who also signed the name of the chairman of the board, by said A.G. Anderson. This was with the knowledge and consent of the chairman. There was a long established custom covering the period here involved for the town to issue town orders in this manner and to honor and pay orders so issued. No one objected thereto. The orders were so given, as these were, for just obligations. Such orders were valid.
2. The payee sold these orders to the Little Sauk State Bank, and he indorsed his name on the back of each. Thereafter this bank effected an exchange with the officers of the town wherein the four original orders were delivered to the town in exchange for another order for $937, that being the total amount of the four orders. The new order was also made payable to the same payee, and he in turn indorsed and delivered it to said bank, which later sold and transferred it to the plaintiff. The four orders so surrendered to the town have never been paid, nor has the last order which was so assigned to plaintiff.
This proceeding is to enforce a step in the collection of the indebtedness evidenced by such orders. It is claimed that the last order was invalid because not issued in legal form. Assuming such claim to be true, the respondent herein was the equitable owner of the four original orders and is entitled to payment of the money payable thereon.
3. After the purchase and acquisition of the duplicate order by respondent it advised the officers of the town that it had purchased and was holding the same, and neither at that time nor at any time thereafter, until after the closing of the Little Sauk State Bank, did any of the town officers claim the invalidity of the duplicate order, but on the contrary assured the respondent, both in writing and orally, that said duplicate order was good and would be paid. The relator, the respondent herein, believed and relied upon such statements and assurances and refrained from sooner enforcing payment. By reason of such conduct the court found that the town and its officers are estopped from denying liability on the four original orders and are further estopped from denying relator's claim to recover on said four original orders by reason of relator's purchase and ownership of the duplicate order. The evidence supports the findings.
4. The orders were non-negotiable. Kalman v. County of Grant, 167 Minn. 458, 209 N.W. 638. But under the findings of fact, which are sustained by the evidence, this is not important.
Affirmed.