Brash v. State Tuberculosis Bd.

• Decision Date: 24 April 1936
• Citation: 124 Fla. 167,167 So. 827
• Parties: BRASH v. STATE TUBERCULOSIS BOARD et al.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

167 So. 827

124 Fla. 167

BRASH v. STATE TUBERCULOSIS BOARD et al.

Florida Supreme Court

April 24, 1936

Rehearing Denied May 14, 1936.

En Banc.

Suit by Sol Brash against the State Tuberculosis Board and others. Judgment for defendants, and plaintiff appeals.

Reversed.

On Application for Rehearing. Appeal from Circuit Court, Duval County; Miles W. Lewis, judge.

COUNSEL

Morgan F. Jones, of Jacksonville, for appellant.

Emmet Safay and P. H. Odom, both of Jacksonville, for appellees.

OPINION

WHITFIELD Chief Justice.

The bill of complaint herein filed by Sol Brash contains allegations:

'That plaintiff is a citizen and resident of the County of Duval and State of Florida, and is a taxpayer of said County and State and as such has an interest in the taxes to be levied by the State of Florida, and the disbursements to be made by it of the revenues raised by due process of law for public purposes.

'That defendant, State Tuberculosis Board is a body corporate created as such by chapter 12284, Laws of Florida, Acts of 1927, and defendants W. T. Edwards, Chairman, Mrs. Murray L. Stanley and J. Maxey Dell are the duly appointed qualified and acting members of said State Tuberculosis Board.

'That by chapter 12284, Laws of Florida, Acts of 1927, the State Tuberculosis Board is authorized to establish, maintain and operate a State Tuberculosis Sanitorium and to acquire the necessary lands therefor by purchase or otherwise; to contract and be contracted with, sue and be sued, and generally, to have and possess all of the powers of a body corporate for all the purposes created by or that may exist under the provisions of said Chapter, or any law or laws amendatory thereof; that in addition to the powers conferred by chapter 12284, the State Tuberculosis Board, by chapter 17469, Laws of Florida, Acts of 1935, is also authorized and empowered to establish, conduct, maintain and operate District Tuberculosis Sanatoriums in the State of Florida and to obtain loans for such purposes from the Federal Government, or any agency thereof, and to provide for the securing and repayment of said loans in any manner whatsoever not inconsistent with the Constitution of the State of Florida.

'That in pursuance of the powers conferred by law upon said State Tuberculosis Board and in strict conformity therewith, the defendants, as and constituting the State Tuberculosis Board, are about to enter into an agreement to borrow from the United States Government, through the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works, the sum of Three Hundred Thirty-five Thousand ($335,000) Dollars, which sum, supplemented by a grant or donation of the United States Government, through the said Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works, will be used by said defendants for the purchase of land and erection of a District Tuberculosis Sanatorium thereon and the purchase and installation of equipment therein; that the sum so borrowed will be repaid by the issuance of obligations of defendants, constituting the State Tuberculosis Board, to be known as Revenue Certificates, in the amount of One Thousand ($1,000) Dollars each, and containing the promise to pay to the United States Government, through the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works, within a period of twenty-five years, solely and exclusively from the revenue to be derived from the operation of said District Sanatorium the entire sum so borrowed with interest at the rate of four (4) per cent per annum, payable semi-annually; that as additional security for the repayment of said loan the said defendants, constituting the State Tuberculosis Board, will also execute and deliver to said United States Government, through its aforesaid mentioned agency, a mortgage upon all property that will be acquired with the proceeds of said loan and grant, but upon the express provision or condition that no deficiency decree or judgment shall be made or rendered against said Board by reason of such mortgage.

'Plaintiff further represents that by section 7 of Chapter 12284, Laws of Florida, Acts of 1927, the Legislature appropriated the sum of Two Hundred Thousand ($200,000) Dollars for the establishment, maintenance and support of a Tuberculosis Sanatorium; that no part of said appropriation has been expended nor has it been withdrawn or otherwise repealed and the same is now available to the Board for the uses and purposes hereinabove set forth and alleged; that said defendants, constituting said Board, have agreed that in the event the mortgage which defendants, constituting said Board, propose to execute and deliver to the Federal Government is held invalid, then the said defendants, constituting said Board will pledge and assign to the Federal Government so much of said appropriation of Two Hundred Thousand ($200,000) Dollars as may be necessary to make up any deficiency which might exist by reason of the failure of said Sanatorium to produce sufficient revenues to pay the annual installments, including interest, required to be paid to the Federal Government, as provided in said Revenue Certificates.

'That said defendants, constituting the State Tuberculosis Board, have adopted a resolution authorizing the borrowing of said money for the purposes and uses and upon the terms and conditions set forth and alleged in this Bill of Complaint and authorizing the exeucution and delivery to the United States Government of said Revenue Certificates and mortgage and that if said mortgage is held invalid, authorizing the pledging of all or any part of said appropriation of $200,000, for the purposes and uses alleged in paragraph five (5) of said Bill of Complaint and said Board will, upon the execution and delivery of the several and respective instruments receive the said loan and grant from the Federal Government and expend the same for the purchase of land and the construction of a District Tuberculosis Sanatorium thereon and for the purchase of the necessary equipment and the installation of the same therein; that the defendants propose to enter into contracts from year to year with the Boards of County Commissioners of the several Counties for the care of patients for hire at said Sanatorium.

'That defendants, constituting the State Tuberculosis Board, in assuming the authority to make such loan, issue the 'Revenue Certificates' and execute and deliver said mortgage or in lieu thereof pledging all or any part of said appropriation of $200,000 for the purposes and uses hereinabove set forth and alleged, presume to act by and under the authority conferred by chapters 12284, Laws of Florida, Acts of 1927 and 17469, Laws of Florida, Acts of 1935. Plaintiff alleges, however, that said chapters, severally, are null and void for the reason that they contravene and violate the Constitution of Florida in the following respects: (a) The State Tuberculosis Board is an agency or branch of the State of Florida, and the issuance by said Board of said Revenue Certificates constitutes an issuance of bonds by the State of Florida, for a purpose or object which is expressly prohibited by section 6 of article 9 of the Constitution. (b) That the mortgage sought to be given by defendants, constituting the State Tuberculosis Board, upon the property and equipment to be acquired with the proceeds of said loan and grant is in substance and in fact an attempt to pledge the credit of the State of Florida in violation of section 6, article 9 of the Constitution. (c) That the attempted pledge by said defendants, constituting the State Tuberculosis Board, of all or any part of the appropriation authorized by chapter 12284, Laws of Florida, Acts of 1927, is in fact an attempt to pledge the credit of the State of Florida in violation of law. (d) That Chapter 12284, Laws of Florida, Acts of

...