Bremer Cnty. v. Curtis

• Decision Date: 16 June 1880
• Citation: 54 Iowa 72,6 N.W. 135
• Parties: BREMER COUNTY v. CURTIS, ADMINISTRATOR.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

54 Iowa 72

6 N.W. 135

BREMER COUNTY

v.CURTIS, ADMINISTRATOR.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Filed June 16, 1880.

Appeal from Bremer circuit court.

The plaintiff filed in said court the following claim:

“Claim of Bremer county, Iowa, against S. H. Curtis, the administrator of the estate of Julia Cretsmeyer, deceased:

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
                ¦Date.                                                                  ¦Dr.  ¦
                +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+-----¦
                ¦To amounts paid at sundry times for board and care of said deceased as ¦$ 372¦
                ¦a pauper, from December 7, 1875, to September 9, 1878,                 ¦55   ¦
                +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+-----¦
                ¦Amount paid for washing during sickness,                               ¦2 75 ¦
                +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+-----¦
                ¦Amount paid for meat in sickness,                                      ¦3 40 ¦
                +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+-----¦
                ¦Total,                                                                 ¦$ 378¦
                ¦                                                                       ¦70   ¦
                +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
                

Duly verified under oath by county auditor, and filed as a claim against the administrator of the estate, February 2, 1880.”

To this claim or cause of action the defendant demurred, which was overruled, and electing to stand thereon the court allowed the claim as of the third class, against the estate, and the defendant appeals.M. E. Billings & Co., for appellant.

Gray, Dougherty & Gibson, for appellee.

SEEVERS, J.

1. It is deemed unnecessary to set out at length the grounds of demurrer. The claim filed stands for and in the place of a petition, and must be regarded as a statement of the case of action, as under the statute no petition is required to be filed. It shows on its face the deceased was a pauper at the time the supplies were furnished, and it must be presumed said deceased was legally entitled thereto. If the support was obtained by the deceased by fraud it should have been stated in the petition or claim filed.

2. The statute, in terms, imposes on counties the duty of supporting poor persons, and there is no statute providing that such persons so supported shall, in any event, be liable to the county. It is not claimed there was an express promise to pay the county. Can one be implied? It was held, at an early day in...