Adamson v. Minnehaha County, 8367

Citation67 S.D. 423,293 N.W. 542
Decision Date16 August 1940
Docket Number8367
CourtSupreme Court of South Dakota
PartiesSETH A. ADAMSON, Respondent, v. MINNEHAHA COUNTY, a Public Corporation, Appellant.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Minnehaha County, SD

Hon. L.L. Fleeger, Judge

#8367—Reversed

E.D. Barron, Sioux Falls, SD

N.A. Boe, Sioux Falls, SD

Attorneys for Appellant.

Louis H. Smith, Sioux Falls, SD

Attorney for Respondent.

Opinion Filed Aug 16, 1940; Rehearing Denied Aug 30, 1940

SMITH, Presiding Judge.

Under our statutes a county jailer is required to receive and safely keep prisoners of the United States committed to the county jail, and is required to furnish board to all prisoners therein confined. SDC 13.46. For the board of state prisoners, he receives an allowance fixed by the Board of County Commissioners, SDC 12.1003 (29), and the statute SDC 13.4610 provides that the United States shall be liable to pay for the support and keeping of its prisoners the same charges and allowances as are allowed for the support and keeping of prisoners of the state. By SDC 12.1006 it is provided: “Jail expenses: prisoners from other jurisdictions; collection and payment to county. Whenever any person shall be confined in any county jail by authority of the United States or of any state or territory other than this state or any county other than the county in which such jail is located, it shall be the duty of the sheriff, jailer, or other person in charge of such jail, to charge and collect, in addition to the charges allowed by law for persons confined by authority of his own county, such further sum or sums as shall be necessary to fully compensate and reimburse the county for money actually and necessarily expended for fuel, light, and other expenses in the keeping of such person. The amount of such expense shall be fixed by the board of county commissioners and collected by the sheriff or other person in charge of such jail in the manner and at the time other charges provided by law are by him collected, and when so collected the same shall be by him promptly turned over to the county treasurer of such county.” Purporting to act under these statutes, the Board of County Commissioners of Minnehaha County passed resolutions fixing the allowance of the sheriff for board at 60c per prisoner per day, and fixing the expense of the county for fuel, light, etc., in connection with the keeping of federal prisoners, at 25¢ per prisoner per day.

During the period of time involved in this action, the plaintiff county jailer received 85c per prisoner per day from the United States under a contract by the terms of which he assumed all liability to the county for use of the jail as a place to confine federal prisoners. It was the practice of the sheriff to pay over to the county the entire amount collected from the United States and to bill the county for 60c per prisoner per day. At the time of the commencement of this action the remaining 25c per prisoner per day had aggregated to a sum of $1,165.25. The sheriff seeks to recover that amount with interest from the county. The sheriff contends that no sum is due to the county for the use of the jail in keeping federal prisoners until the Board of Commissioners, acting under SDC 12.1006, has made an investigation of the actual expense of the county and has fixed that expense by resolution. He argues that the resolution pleaded by the county and received in evidence is void because arbitrarily made without investigation. The cause was tried to the court, and findings, conclusions and judgment were for the sheriff. The county has appealed, and assigns insufficiency of the evidence to support the findings, and asserts that the findings do not support the conclusions.

Much space in the briefs is devoted to the doctrine of collateral attack as applied to a quasi-judicial determination of the Board of County Commissioners. The county contends that its Board of Commissioners was acting in a quasi-judicial capacity in fixing the expense of the county under SDC 12.1006, supra; that its determination is conclusive as against collateral attack; and that the attack of the sheriff made in this action which has the recovery of money as its purpose, is collateral in character. We think these contentions of the county are sound. The principles applicable to judgments in general apply to the quasi-judicial determinations of a Board of County Commissioners. 20 CJS, Counties, § 94, page 874. An attack is collateral if made upon a judgment in an action that has...

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