Donaldson v. Butler County

• Decision Date: 20 May 1889
• Citation: 11 S.W. 572,98 Mo. 163
• Parties: DONALDSON v. BUTLER COUNTY.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

11 S.W. 572

98 Mo. 163

DONALDSON v. BUTLER COUNTY.

Supreme Court of Missouri.

May 20, 1889.

ACTIONS AGAINST COUNTIES — PLEADING — AIDER BY ANSWER.

1. A petition in an action against a county on interest coupons on county bonds, which does not allege that such bonds were issued by authority of some special act, or for some purpose for which counties have general power to issue bonds, is demurrable.

2. But an answer which denies that plaintiff is a holder of the coupons for value, and that defendant is or ever was liable on them, and alleges that the bonds were paid before they became due, and before plaintiff became possessed of them, charging plaintiff with notice of such facts, and speaking of the bonds as public securities of the county prior to the alleged discharge, cures the defect in the petition, especially where defendant objects to the admission of evidence only on the ground that the petition does not allege that the bonds were valid, subsisting obligations, and negotiable, at the time plaintiff purchased the coupons.

Appeal from circuit court, Butler county; JOHN G. WEAR, Judge.

Action by John W. Donaldson against Butler county. Petition dismissed, and plaintiff appeals.

Geo. H. Benton, for appellant. G. A. Standard, for respondent.

BLACK, J.

This is a suit against the county of Butler based upon 50 interest coupons, each for the sum of $10. The counts are all similar to the first, which is as follows: Plaintiff states that he is the holder, for a valuable consideration paid before maturity and without notice, of the following coupon. "On the first day of October, 1882, the county of Butler, in the state of Missouri, promises to pay to the bearer hereof ten dollars, at the Lucas Bank, St. Louis, being one year's interest on Bond No. 264. WM. A. SPENCE, Clerk Butler County Court, Mo." Plaintiff states that he presented the same to the bank and to defendant for payment, and that the same was refused; wherefore plaintiff prays judgment for $10, and interest from date at 6 per cent. per annum. To this petition the defendant made this answer: "Defendant * * * avers that it is not true that the plaintiff is or was ever the holder, for a valuable consideration paid before maturity and without notice, of the said several coupons by plaintiff described in the said several counts, and denies that the defendant is or was indebted, or ever became liable, for any or either of the said coupons. Defendant, further answering, avers that said several coupons, and the bond from which each of them was taken and detached, were fully satisfied, and the defendant discharged and released from all liability therefor, long prior to the time the same became due and payable, and long prior to the time when plaintiff obtained possession of the said coupons, or either of them, which discharge and release was duly entered of record in the public records of the county court in and for the said Butler county, as plaintiff may well have known, and had due notice, in that the said bonds and coupons were public securities of the defendant prior to the date of said discharge and release. And the defendant, further answering, avers that said several coupons by plaintiff described, and the bond from which they were taken, were, and each of them were, at the said Butler county, on and after the defendant's discharge and release from all liability therefor, and before the plaintiff obtained possession thereof, taken, stolen, and carried away, and so feloniously...