City of Taylor v. Hodges
| Decision Date | 07 March 1945 |
| Docket Number | No. A-401.,A-401. |
| Citation | 186 S.W.2d 61 |
| Parties | CITY OF TAYLOR et al. v. HODGES et al. |
| Court | Texas Supreme Court |
E. M. Grimes, of Taylor, for plaintiffs in error.
W. K. McClain and W. H. Nunn, both of Georgetown, for defendants in error.
This is a suit by the City of Taylor, a home rule city, and E. K. Doak, local registrar of births and deaths, against Williamson County and certain officials thereof in their official capacities to recover $566.50 statutory registration fees paid by the City to Doak. In the trial court judgment was rendered that the plaintiffs take nothing and that judgment was affirmed by the Court of Civil Appeals. 183 S.W.2d 664, 665.
The State Sanitary Code is brought forward in Vernon's Civil Statutes as Article 4477. It is divided into many sections designated in the Act as rules. Under Rule 36a, as amended, the City is made a primary registration district and the city clerk is made the local registrar of birth and death certificates. The clerk failed, neglected or refused to act as local registrar, whereupon the State Board of Health, with the approval of the Chairman of the Board of Commissioners and City Manager appointed Doak as local registrar in accordance with the provisions of Rule 37a. By Rule 53a it is made the duty of the local registrar to send the birth and death certificates monthly to the State Registrar, who in turn certifies the number of such certificates to the Commissioners' Court or County Auditor and the County Treasurer is directed to pay such fees as are approved by the Commissioners' Court or the County Auditor at the time such statement is issued. It is further provided in Rule 53a that the registration fee to be paid the local registrar shall be 50¢ for each certificate "correctly recorded and promptly returned by him" unless such local registrar be acting as registrar in an incorporated city where the compensation of the registrar is otherwise fixed by city ordinance. The City paid Doak as registration fees $566.50 covering services for a period from July 1, 1941 to June 30, 1943, at which time its Commissioners were advised that payment of such fees was a liability of the County and not of the City, whereupon it procured an oral assignment of any claim which Doak might have against the County and upon the County's refusal to pay the City's claim for reimbursement, filed this suit joining Doak as a party plaintiff.
The case was tried on an agreed statement of facts. Among other stipulations were the following: The City of Taylor does not have, and has never had during the relevant period, an ordinance providing a salary or fees for a local registrar. During the period involved in the litigation Doak, as local registrar, deposited in the office of the County Clerk of Williamson County a true and accurate copy of each birth and death certificate filed with him, each bearing his file date and signature. That the City Clerk paid the local registrar each month upon the receipt of a certificate from the state registrar, the checks being signed by the city clerk and the Chairman of the Board of Commissioners of the City; "said checks were so issued and mailed to plaintiff local registrar by said City Clerk under the belief of said City Clerk that City of Taylor owed plaintiff local registrar the debt evidenced by the certificates of State Registrar and without any knowledge that such debt was owed by defendant Williamson County and without any intention to pay a debt owed by defendant Williamson County." The local registrar would not have accepted such payments from the City if he had not likewise believed that the City owed same to him. In paying the local registrar from time to time the city clerk thought that the City owed the registrar such amounts and that he was acting within the provisions of the city charter. The minutes of the Board of Commissioners of the City revealed that such board has never taken any action whatsoever with respect to the payment of the local registrar except the passage of a motion authorizing and directing the City Attorney to prosecute this suit.
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