Adams v. Plunkett
| Decision Date | 24 February 1931 |
| Citation | 274 Mass. 453 |
| Court | United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court |
| Parties | JOHN S. ADAMS & others v. CHARLES T. PLUNKETT & others. |
September 16, 1930.
Present: RUGG, C.
J., CROSBY CARROLL, SANDERSON, & FIELD, JJ.
Constitutional Law Impairment of the obligation of contracts. Adams. Municipal Corporations, Officers and agents, Contract accepting public gift, Hospital. Contract, Of town. Gift. Charity. A lifelong resident of the town of Adams, before his death in October,
1917, began the erection of a hospital with the publicly announced intention of giving it to the town, having stated to those whom he had named as executors in his will that he considered it of the utmost importance to keep the hospital "out of politics" and that the managing board should be chosen in some other manner than by popular vote. After his death the hospital was completed and equipped at the expense of his estate, and thereafter, pursuant to a warrant "to see if the town will take" the land and the hospital "as a gift to the town . . . subject to the condition that the same shall be used forever as a Hospital for the reception of persons who require relief during temporary sickness, and also subject to the condition that such ordinances, rules and regulations necessary and expedient for the appointment of trustees and their successors and all other officers and agents necessary for the future management of such Hospital shall be made by the present Board of Selectmen and shall be approved in writing by the executors of the will of the said" donor, the town voted in March, 1918, to accept the gift subject to such conditions.
After conference the selectmen, with the approval in writing of the executors, made "ordinances, rules and regulations" which named seven trustees and provided in substance that they should be self-perpetuating. Thereafter, in June, 1918, the property was conveyed to the town subject to the conditions in the town's vote of acceptance, and from 1918 through 1930 annual appropriations were made for the maintenance of the hospital by the town. In April, 1930, St.
1930, c. 32, was accepted by the town and other trustees were elected who by a suit in equity sought to have their right to care for and manage the hospital established. Held, that
(1) The substance and effect of the vote of the town, the action by the selectmen and the deed to the town were to render the gift to the town subject to the condition that the members of the managing board of the hospital were to be selected in the future as well as at the outset in the way therein described and agreed upon;
(2) It was within the power of the donor to affix that condition as one upon which alone the gift would be made, and its acceptance did not transcend the power of the town;
(3) There was nothing unreasonable about the plan adopted by the parties for selecting the trustees;
(4) The trustees selected according to the plan of the gift did not constitute a corporation or a private instrumentality: they were to manage a public trust solely for the benefit of the public;
(5) The authority of towns to choose special committees to perform municipal duties not vested by law in designated officers is beyond doubt;
(6) St. 1930, c. 32, was not a valid exercise of legislative power since, in violation of art. 1, Section 10, of the Constitution of the
United States, it impaired the obligation of the contract made when the gift was accepted by the town subject to conditions validly imposed;
(7) Art. 46, Section 2, of the Amendments to the Constitution of the Commonwealth did not affect the situation, both because its effective date was after the making of the contract upon the acceptance of the gift by the town, the obligation of which could not be impaired even by an amendment to the Constitution, and because the enterprise of the hospital was not within the provisions of said
Section 2, and was within the exceptions therein stated.
BILL IN EQUITY, filed in the Supreme Judicial Court for the county of Berkshire on July 14, 1930, by John S. Adams, Hubert W. Flaherty, Charles H. Tower, Thomas J. Harvey, Wojciech Prejsnar, Orno R. Herold and Andrew G. Scott, alleging themselves to have been elected as trustees of the W.B. Plunkett Memorial Hospital in the town of Adams under the provisions of St. 1930, c. 32, against Charles T. Plunkett, Henry L. Harrington, Arthur B. Daniels, Cyril Menard, Edwin K. McPeck, Dennis A. Murphy and Peter P. Smith, who claimed the right to retain their offices as trustees under the ordinance adopted upon acceptance by the town of the gift of the hospital, and against the town of Adams, seeking a decree that the plaintiffs were trustees entitled to the care and custody and management of the hospital.
The facts were agreed upon. Material facts are stated in the opinion. By order of Crosby, J., the suit was reserved for determination by the full court.
P.J. Ashe, (W.F. Barrington with him,) for the plaintiffs.
J. Noble, (C.
N.Stoddard & S. Vaughan with him,) for the individual defendants.
W.J. Donovan, Town Counsel, for the defendant town, submitted a brief.
This suit in equity concerns the management of the William B Plunkett Memorial Hospital in the town of Adams. The case was reserved upon the pleadings and an agreed statement of facts for determination by the full court.
The pertinent facts are these: In February, 1917, William B. Plunkett, a lifelong resident of Adams, publicly announced his intention of building a hospital and giving it to the town of Adams. The location and extent of the lands which were to constitute the hospital grounds were made known to the officers of the town in the following month. The erection of the building was commenced and its entire cost was paid by Plunkett so long as he lived, and after his death in October, 1917, his executors completed and equipped the hospital at the expense of his estate. He talked with his executors about the hospital and communicated to them his desires in respect to the board to manage and control the hospital. He said that he considered it of the utmost importance to keep the hospital "out of politics" and that the managing board should be chosen in some other manner than by popular vote. The warrant for the annual meeting of the town in March, 1918, contained this article: "to see if the town will take land, together with a Hospital erected and fully equipped thereon, known as the W.B. Plunkett Memorial Hospital, the same to be accepted as a gift to the town by the late W.B. Plunkett; subject to the condition that the same shall be used forever as a Hospital for the reception of persons who require relief during temporary sickness, and also subject to the condition that such ordinances, rules and regulations necessary and expedient for the appointment of trustees and their successors and all other officers and agents necessary for the future management of such Hospital shall be made by the present Board of Selectmen and shall be approved in writing by the executors of the will of the said W.B. Plunkett. And to raise and appropriate such sum or sums of money as may be necessary for the maintenance and support of such
Hospital for the ensuing year." At an adjournment of this meeting the finance committee of the town reported in favor of the acceptance of the gift subject to the conditions mentioned in the article, and at that meeting it was voted "That the Town hereby takes the land, together with the Hospital erected and fully equipped thereon, known as the W.B. Plunkett Memorial Hospital, accepting the same as a gift to the Town by the late W.B. Plunkett, upon the agreement on the part of the legal representatives of the estate of said W.B. Plunkett to complete the grading upon said land in accordance with the plans and specifications already prepared for that purpose; subject to the condition that the same shall be used forever as a Hospital for the reception of persons during temporary sickness, and, also subject to the condition that such ordinances, rules and regulations necessary and expedient for the appointment of trustees and their successors and all other officers and agents necessary for the future management of said Hospital shall be made by the present Board of Selectmen and shall be approved in writing by the executors of the will of the said W.B. Plunkett."
Shortly thereafter one of the executors of Plunkett's will conferred with the selectmen of the town touching the organization of the managing board of the hospital, telling them that Plunkett considered it of the utmost importance that the management of the hospital be kept out of politics and that the gift was made upon condition that this board be chosen and vacancies therein filled in some other manner than by popular vote. In pursuance of the wishes thus expressed and in compliance with the conditions of the vote of the town already quoted, the board of selectmen in April, 1918, made and adopted ordinances, rules and regulations respecting the hospital and its management. After a recital that by the great beneficence "of a loyal and devoted life-long citizen of Adams, the late William B. Plunkett, the Town is the recipient of a beautiful Memorial Hospital surrounded by spacious grounds and all fully equipped with modern appliances and already [all ready] for the reception and treatment of persons during temporary sickness, And in pursuance of the wishes of the donor and in compliance with the conditions of the vote of the Town referred to above," five "Ordinances Rules and Regulations" were adopted. The first set out the name of the hospital; the second provided that the management of the hospital should be in the hands of a board of seven trustees, seven...
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