Carr v. Dist. Court of Van Buren Cnty.

• Decision Date: 14 June 1910
• Citation: 147 Iowa 663,126 N.W. 791
• Parties: CARR ET AL. v. DISTRICT COURT OF VAN BUREN COUNTY ET AL.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

147 Iowa 663

126 N.W. 791

CARR ET AL.

v.DISTRICT COURT OF VAN BUREN COUNTY ET AL.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

June 14, 1910.

Certiorari proceedings to the defendants to review an order made in a contempt proceeding brought against certain individuals as members of a school board and others as individuals holding evidences of indebtedness against the school district for violation of certain writs of injunction issued by the District Court of Van Buren County, which proceedings resulted in the discharge of the defendants and their complete exoneration. Petitioners in this case filed the information for contempt and are now prosecuting these certiorari proceedings. Order affirmed, and writ dismissed.Walker & McBeth, for plaintiffs.

Hughes & McCoid, for defendants.

DEEMER, C. J.

This case has a peculiar history and is so much involved that we shall have some difficulty in stating it with any degree of brevity or clearness. In the year 1900 the independent school district of Farmington, in Van Buren county, which we shall hereafter call the “school district,” pursuant to a special election of the voters, issued and sold $10,000 in bonds at par for the purpose of erecting a new schoolhouse. Some time thereafter the school board passed a resolution authorizing the issuance of school warrants to the amount of $10,000 and directed their sale. The Farmers' Savings Bank purchased some of these warrants and thereafter brought suit thereon against the school district. In that action plaintiffs in this proceeding, and others, intervened, alleging that the warrants were in excess of the constitutional limit and were void. They asked that the school district, through its officers, be enjoined from paying any of said warrants and the owners enjoined from collecting the same. On December 3, 1904, final decree was entered in this action, holding these warrants invalid, and the decree provided: “It is further ordered, adjudged, and decreed by the court that the defendants, the Farmington independent school district, and its treasurer, and his successors in office, be and they are hereby restrained and enjoined perpetually from paying any part of the balance of the principal or interest of, or on either of said warrants sued on and involved in this action, being warrants numbered 174, 175, 193, 197, 203, 267, 292, 297, 299, 309, and 310, as described above in this decree, other than the said sum of $896.99 decreed above to be a part of the valid indebtedness of said school district. And it is further ordered, adjudged, and decreed by the court that the plaintiff the Farmers' Savings Bank and the defendants Fred Varnkall and John Mulvahill be and they are hereby restrained and enjoined from demanding, receiving, or collecting from said school district any part of the balance of said warrants described above, either principal or interest, other and except the said sum of $896.99, as their rights therein and thereto may appear, and which is herein decreed to be a part of the valid indebtedness of said school district.”

Thereafter the Thirty-Third General Assembly passed an act legalizing, or attempting to legalize, all the acts of the school district by what is known as chapter 281 of the acts of that session of the Legislature. This act, after reciting all the proceedings of the school district from the beginning down to the time of the passage of the bill, concluded as follows:

“Section 1. That all of the warrants on the school fund issued by the independent school district of Farmington, in Van Buren county, state of Iowa, through its board of directors, as above set forth, are hereby legalized and declared valid, and that the acts of said board in relation thereto are hereby declared to be valid and effectual as though all acts of said board had been in strict compliance with law.

Sec. 2. Nothing in this act shall affect in any way any pending litigation in relation to the subject matter hereof.”

Among the recitals in the act were the following: “Whereas, the said board of directors by resolutions, passed by the unanimous vote thereof, at regularly called meetings of the board, held August 31, 1900, September 22, 1900, and September 29, 1900, authorized, in behalf of said district, the issuing of warrants aggregating a little over ten thousand dollars on the school fund of such district, which warrants were afterwards issued and are numbered 174, 175, 193, 197, 203, 267, 292, 297, 299 and 309 respectively; and, whereas, the proceeds of said warrants were necessary, and such proceeds were in fact used, on the payment of the cost of construction and the equipment of said new school building; and, whereas, the aforesaid structure was completed and thoroughly equipped for the purpose intended, as before stated, by payment of the fair and reasonable cost only for the work and materials necessary therefor and said district has had the benefit of the full face value of said warrants; and, whereas, questions as to the legality of said warrants have arisen as to whether the said school district was within its authorized and legal powers when said warrants were issued, and other doubts have arisen as to the regularity of the proceedings in relation thereto: Now and therefore,” etc.

This act was passed April 7, 1909, and went into effect upon publication, which occurred April 13th of that year. Almost immediately after the passage of the act, and on April 9, 1909, plaintiffs herein filed a petition in the district court of Van Buren County in which they recited the history of the transaction relating to the issuance of the warrants, set forth the legalizing act, its invalidity, and asked that defendants in the suit be enjoined from paying the warrants referred to in said act and in the prior proceedings, that the legalizing act be declared void, and that a time be fixed for the hearing of an application for a temporary writ of injunction. Pending final trial, the district court being then in session, an order was issued fixing the time for the hearing of the application for the temporary writ on April 16, 1909, at 10:00 o'clock a. m., and at the same time the district court made the following order: “It is further ordered that the said defendant B. F. Ketchem be, and he is hereby, restrained from using or appropriating any of the funds, property, or money of the said school district of which he is treasurer, to wit, the independent district of Farmington, in the payment of school warrants Nos. 174, 175, 193, 197, 203, 267, 292, 297, 299, 309, and 310, the payment of which was heretofore enjoined by decree of this court on the 3d day of December, 1904, until after the said hearing by this court on the application for temporary injunction as above ordered. It is further ordered that this order be served upon the defendant B. F. Ketchem at once.” On the same day, to wit, April 9, 1909, the sheriff served a copy of this order upon the following named parties: B. F. Ketchem, treasurer; M. L. Barger, president; W. H. Coulter, secretary; George Junkins, director; H. F. Barton, director; A. H. Hartick and Joseph Steinmeyer, directors of the independent district of Farmington.”

On April 15, 1909, the board of directors of the school district met in special session, took up the matter of the school warrants, and passed a resolution containing, among other things, the following: “Whereas, said vote authorized said school district to so take down said old building and erect the new school building of not less than ten rooms; and, whereas, after said building had been completed and furnished, or equipped as required, said school district did attempt to contract and pay by the issue of said warrants to the parties thereto entitled; and, whereas, it was found that said district was unable to make said contracts and pay for the same at the time; and, whereas, the said school district has never paid for said labor and materials, but has kept and still retains the value of said labor and material and retains the said school building for its use so erected and equipped; and, whereas, it may be that said school district has retained and still holds the said schoolhouse as trustees charged with the obligations aforesaid; and, whereas, it is just and equitable that said district pay for said materials and labor and retain the title and ownership of said buildings for the purpose intended; and, whereas, it now appears that said district can and is authorized by law to pay or make appropriations in payment for said labor and materials, and for the use of the money or value of said labor and materials for the time the said district has so retained the same: Now, therefore, be it resolved, that the said school district does hereby agree with the parties now holding and owning the obligations of said independent school district to pay for said debts, and said school district will issue to such holders warrants in such denominations as shall pay for said liability, the principal of the dates where such labor and materials were furnished, with 6 per cent. interest thereon until the present date; and that said independent district does hereby order that warrants be drawn on its treasurer, duly signed and attested in said amounts and delivered to the parties thereto entitled. It is further ordered that the treasurer pay said warrants in whole, if there be on hands sufficient money therefor, and if not sufficient, that a tax be levied to collect such remainder, and the proceeds thereof be applied to the payment of said debt.”

Pursuant to this resolution warrants were drawn up as follows:

+-----------------------------------------------------------+
                ¦No. 88, April 15, 1909, to Farmers' Savings Bank¦$ 4,000 00¦
                +------------------------------------------------+----------¦
                ¦No. 89, April 15, 1909, to Fred Varnkall        ¦603 01    ¦
                +------------------------------------------------+----------¦
                ¦No. 90, April 15, 1909, to Farmers' Savings Bank¦1,000 00  ¦

...