Adamson v. Minnehaha County
Citation | 293 N.W. 542,67 S.D. 423 |
Decision Date | 16 August 1940 |
Docket Number | 8367. |
Parties | ADAMSON v. MINNEHAHA COUNTY. |
Court | South Dakota Supreme Court |
Rehearing Denied August 30, 1940.
Appeal from Circuit Court, Minnehaha County; L. L. Fleeger, Judge.
Action by Seth A. Adamson against Minnehaha County, a public corporation and a political subdivision of the State of South Dakota, to recover money received from the United States for the support of United States prisoners in county jails and paid by sheriff to the county. From a judgment for the plaintiff, the defendant appeals.
Reversed.
E. D Barron and N. A. Boe, both of Sioux Falls, for appellant.
Louis H. Smith, of Sioux Falls, for respondent.
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: 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 60¢ 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 85¢ 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 60¢ per prisoner per day. At the time of the commencement of this action the remaining 25¢ 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...
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