Aetna Life Ins. Co. v. Lyon County

• Decision Date: 15 December 1890
• Citation: 44 F. 329
• Parties: AETNA LIFE INS. CO. v. LYON COUNTY.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Iowa

44 F. 329

AETNA LIFE INS. CO. v. LYON COUNTY.

United States Circuit Court, N.D. Iowa, Western Division.

December 15, 1890

By consent of parties, this case was tried to the court, and from the evidence submitted, the court makes the following finding of facts:

(1) This action is brought upon 410 interest coupons, for $30 each, originally attached to certain negotiable bonds, duly executed by the defendant, the county of Lyon, on the 1st day of May, 1885, and thereafter negotiated and delivered to the purchasers thereof, under the circumstances hereinafter stated, the said bonds being numbered as follows: 028 to 047 inclusive; 056 to 090, inclusive; 096 to 0120, inclusive.

(2) The defendant, the county of Lyon, is a municipal corporation organized under the laws of the state of Iowa, within the meaning of section 3, art. 11, of the constitution of the state of Iowa, and was so organized early in the year 1872.

(3) The first state and county lists of the county were those for the year 1872, and the amount of taxable property within the defendant county, as shown by the state and county tax-lists for the various years since the organization of the county is as follows:

For the year	1872	$ 499,099 96
" " "	1873....	1,009,444 56
" " "	1874....	997,822 62
" " "	1875....	1,061,806 63
" " "	1876....	1,081,356 09
" " "	1877....	885,262 80
" " "	1878....	889,757 85
" " "	1879....	915,133 28
" " "	1880....	1,066,707 00
" " "	1881....	978,259 00
" " "	1882....	989,550 00
" " "	1883....	1,384,289 00
" " "	1884....	1,437,527 00
" " "	1885....	1,558,043 00

(4) The first bonds issued by the county were issued July 29, 1872. During the year commencing July 29, 1872, and ending July 28, 1873, the sum of $55,000 in bonds was issued by the defendant county, under chapter 174 of [44 F. 330] the Acts of the 14th General Assembly of Iowa, upon the following judgments, in the following amounts, at the date given below:

On Wilson & Joy judgment, dated July 18, 1872, $6,018.00, 8 bonds, dated July 29, 1872, amounting to ...............................	$ 6,000
" Jas. H. Wagner judgment, dated July 18, 1872, for $1,269.96, 3 bonds, dated July 29, 1872, amounting to ..........................	1,200
" John A. Schmidt judgment, dated Oct. 11, 1872, for $6,001.50, 10 bonds, dated Oct. 14, 1872, amounting to ..........................	6,000
" J. P. Gilman judgment, dated Oct. 11, 1872, for $402.28, 4 bonds, dated Oct. 14, 1872, amounting to ...................................	400
" E. W. Louis judgment, dated Oct. 11, 1872, for $1,528.40, 3 bonds, dated Oct. 14. 1872, amounting to .................................	1,500
" A. G. Case........................................................
" Wm. Larrabee judgment, dated Oct. 11, 1872, for $1,840.34, 5 bonds, dated Nov. 12, amounting to ................................	1,800
" Joy & Wright judgment, dated Oct. 11, 1872, for $743.10, 3 bonds, dated Jan. 6, 1873, amounting to ....................................	700
" Wm. Larrabee judgment, dated Apr. 18, 1873, for $2,266.74, 4 bonds, dated Apr. 19, 1873, amounting to ..........................	2,200
" C. E. Gortz.......................................................
" Thos. Thorson judgment, dated Apr. 18, 1873, for $809.94..........
" J. P. Gilman judgment, dated Apr. 18, 1873, for $499.20, 1 bond, dated Apr. 21, 1873, amounting to ...................................	500
" C. A. Greeley judgment, dated Apr. 18, 1873, for $5,411.30, 7 bonds, dated Apr. 22, 1873, amounting to ..........................	5,400
" Clark & Grant judgment, dated Apr. 18, 1873, for $8,197.70, 14 bonds, dated Apr. 22, 1873, amounting to ..........................	8,200
" Van Sickle & Bro. judgment, dated Apr. 18, 1873, for $1,268.70, 2 bonds, dated Apr. 22, 1873, amounting to ..........................	1,200
" Jas. H. Wagner judgment, dated Apr. 18, 1872, for $892.55, 4 bonds, dated May 5, 1873, amounting to ..............................	900
" J. C. Buchanan judgment, dated Apr. 18, 1873, for $1,210.24, 4 bonds, dated May 5, 1873, amounting to ............................	1,200
" E. W. Louis judgment, dated July 23, 1873, for $2,414.30, 7 bonds, dated July 28, 1873, amounting to .................................	2,400
" P. H. Parsons judgment, dated July 23, 1873, for $2,897.89, 4 bonds, dated July 28, 1873, amounting to ..........................	3,000
" Geo. W. McQueen judgment, dated July 23, 1873, for $4,325.95, 7 bonds, dated July 28, 1873, amounting to ..........................	4,300
" C. L. Wright judgment, dated July 23, 1873, for $505.37, 1 bond, dated July 28, 1873, amounting to ...................................	500
" C. A. Greeley judgment, dated July 24, 1873, for $6,754.66, 18 bonds, dated July 28, 1873, amounting to ..........................	6,800
	-------
Total ......................................................	$55,000

The last above judgment, being against the defendant and in favor of C. A. Greeley for the sum of $6,754.66, rendered on July 24, 1873, was rendered, bonded, and reversed under the following circumstances: C. A. Greeley brought a suit against the defendant county, in the district court of Plymouth county, Iowa, for the sum of $6,754.66. In this suit one F. W. Allen, a citizen and tax-payer of Lyon county, appeared and filed his petition of intervention prior to the rendition of judgment against the county, claiming and alleging that he was a citizen and tax-payer in the defendant county; that a great portion of the warrants sued on in the suit in which the petition of intervention was filed were fraudulent, and without consideration; that at the time they were issued the indebtedness of Lyon county exceeded the amount of 5 per centum of the taxable property of said county; and that the warrants upon which the suit was based were in excess of such limitation of indebtedness, and void. The petition of intervention further alleges that the board of supervisors of the county well knew that there was a good and valid defense to said warrants, and that the defendant county was not liable thereon, and that the warrants were fraudulent; and that, knowing these facts, they corruptly and fraudulently entered into an arrangement assisting the plaintiff in procuring a judgment against the said county upon the said warrants, and entered into conspiracy with the plaintiff to have a judgment taken upon the same, and to prevent a full and impartial defense being made by the defendant county. The plaintiff and defendant county each moved to strike this petition of intervention from the files, on the ground that the tax-payer had no right of intervention, or to defend for the county. The court in Plymouth county sustained these motions to strike, and at the same time entered judgment against the defendant county, in favor of the plaintiff, for the full amount claimed. From this judgment and these orders the intervenor appealed, and the supreme court of the state of Iowa, on December 9, 1874, reversed the judgment of the court below, rendered against the county, and remanded the same for further proceedings. Thereafter, and on the 5th day of February, 1875, the case was transferred to Lyon county, on motion of the intervenor, where it was continued from term to term, and not disposed of, and no other judgment was entered therein. The judgment above referred to, and which was reversed by the supreme court, was entered against the county on the 24th of July, 1873. On the 28th day of that month, a transcript of the judgment was filed in Lyon county, and on the same day bonds were issued thereon in the sum of $6,800. The total amount of bonds issued upon judgments, not including the last judgment above referred to, was $48,200, and, including the judgment above referred to, there were issued an aggregate of $55,000.

(4 1/2) I further find that the board of supervisors of Lyon county, on the 16th day of April, 1873, passed a resolution in the following form, to-wit:

'Whereas, there is now considerable outstanding indebtedness of the county of Lyon, in the shape of county warrants; and

'Whereas, the time for putting into judgment, and bonding the same, as provided by law, will expire on the 1st day of Sept, 1873; and

'Whereas, it is the opinion of the board of supervisors of Lyon county, Iowa, that the best interest of said county will be subserved by said indebtedness being bonded, in accordance with law:

'Now, therefore, be it resolved, and it is hereby moved and carried, by a majority of said board, convened as by law provided, that the holders thereof be, and hereby are, authorized and empowered to bring suit upon the same in any court in this judicial district, and obtain judgment on the same for the purpose of bonding: provided, however, that J. F. Eccleson and H. B. Wilson are hereby employed as sole attorneys, to appear in any court of this judicial district, and defend said county against all such warrants wherein the consideration thereof had failed, or wherein there is no consideration.'

(5) From July 28, 1873, date of the issuance of the last of the $55,000 of bonds heretofore referred to, up to July 1, 1879 funding bonds were issued by the defendant county, under the provisions of chapter 1, tit. 4, of the Code of Iowa for 1873, as amended by chapter 9 of the Acts of the 15th General Assembly, and chapter 154 of the Acts of the 17th General...