Chairman of Board of Health of Village of Buffalo Lake v. Board of County Commissioners of Renville County

• Decision Date: 29 May 1903
• Docket Number: 13,481 - (95)
• Citation: 95 N.W. 221,89 Minn. 402
• Parties: CHAIRMAN OF BOARD OF HEALTH OF VILLAGE OF BUFFALO LAKE v. BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF RENVILLE COUNTY
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

95 N.W. 221

89 Minn. 402

CHAIRMAN OF BOARD OF HEALTH OF VILLAGE OF BUFFALO LAKE v. BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF RENVILLE COUNTY

Nos. 13,481 - (95)

Supreme Court of Minnesota

May 29, 1903

Plaintiff presented for payment to the board of county commissioners of Renville county an itemized statement of expenses incurred by the village of Buffalo Lake in the control of smallpox, which was disallowed and plaintiff thereupon appealed to the district court for said county. The case was tried before Qvale, J., who found in favor of plaintiff for the sum demanded. From a judgment entered pursuant to the findings, defendant appealed. Affirmed.

SYLLABUS

Board of Health -- Employment of Member.

A town or village board of health, formed under the provisions of the general statutes, one of whose members is a practicing physician and surgeon, may employ such physician to act for the board in all matters requiring such services. Stone v. Bevans, 88 Minn. 127, distinguished.

Chairman of Board.

The chairman of such board of health is authorized by Laws 1901 p. 378 (c. 238), in his official name and capacity, to present an itemized statement of all expenses incurred by the board in the matter of quarantining persons affected with contagious diseases to the board of county commissioners for allowance, and to conduct all proceedings to enforce payment of the same; and, when an appeal is taken from the action of the county commissioners to the district court, judgment may be awarded in his name as such official.

Expense of Quarantine -- Laws 1901, c. 238.

The expenses involved in this action, which were incurred by the village board of health in the matter of quarantining certain persons affected with smallpox, were incurred partly prior and partly subsequent to the passage of Laws 1901, p. 378 (c. 238). Held, under the provisions of that statute, that the whole expense was a proper charge against the county.

Payment by Village.

The village in which such patients were quarantined, though under no legal obligation to do so, voluntarily paid to the various persons entitled thereto the amounts due them according to the statement of the chairman of the board of health, but it does not appear that such payment was made or received in discharge of the indebtedness. Held, that its action in that respect did not release the county.

Frank Murray, County Attorney, for appellant.

R. H. McClelland and C. M. Tifft, for respondent.

OPINION

BROWN, J.

The facts in this case are as follows: For more than a year prior to March, 1901, W. J. Gille, his wife and children, resided in the village of Buffalo Lake, Renville county, and with them resided one Henry Jackman, all of whom had a legal settlement and residence in that county. In March of that year they were taken ill with smallpox at their residence, and the board of health of Buffalo Lake at once assumed control over and quarantined them, and in their subsequent care and treatment incurred certain expenses for merchandise, necessaries of life, medical care and attendance necessarily furnished them. They were during all said time in destitute circumstances, and were each and all indigent and utterly unable to pay for such necessaries, care, or treatment. The expenses so incurred were itemized, and a statement thereof, duly verified, presented to the board of county commissioners for allowance, and was by that body disallowed, from which action an appeal was taken to the district court, where, after trial before the court without a jury, the foregoing facts, though in greater detail, were found, and judgment against the county ordered for the sum of $174.98. Judgment was entered pursuant to the order, from which the board of county commissioners appealed to this court.

The several assignments of error made by appellant were grouped in the brief under six heads, only three of which require special mention.

1. The itemized statement of account was presented to the board of county commissioners by E. C. Gaines, as chairman of the village board of health; and the proceedings were thereafter conducted in his name as plaintiff, but in his official capacity and name. The point is made that he is not the real party in interest, and that the proceedings and judgment should have been in the name of the village of Buffalo Lake.

The statute (Laws 1901, p. 378, c. 238), under which the account was presented to the board of county commissioners is peculiar in some respects, but we think a fair construction thereof authorizes the chairman of the board of health to act for the village, if the latter may be said, under the present statutes, to be at all interested in the matter. The statute provides generally that the chairman of any county, town, or village board of health which has incurred any expense in the control of contagious diseases shall present a statement of the same, giving the names and addresses, so far as possible of each person cared for, and the items of expense...