Donlan v. City of Boston
| Decision Date | 03 March 1916 |
| Citation | 111 N.E. 718,223 Mass. 285 |
| Parties | DONLAN v. CITY OF BOSTON. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court |
Report from Superior Court, Suffolk County; Wm. Hamilton, Judge.
Action by Esther C. Donlan, executrix, against the City of Boston. The court found for plaintiff, and reported the case to the Supreme Judicial Court. Judgment ordered for defendant.
Performance by a teacher of her contract of employment as teacher in the public schools depends on her personal judgment, ability, and efforts, and there is an implied condition to which the contract is subject that she shall be living and physically able to do the work, and the contract is terminated by her death before the year of the employment has ended.
[Ed. Note.-For other cases, see Schools and School Districts, Cent. Dig. s 298; Dec. Dig. k136.]
A contract of employment of a teacher in the public schools for a year at a fixed yearly salary, payable monthly, is entire, and where full payment has been made of all that was due her at the time of her death, further payments are not recoverable, though her death occurs during the summer vacation, leaving only a month of the school year unpaid for; further payments being conditioned on the continuance of the contract, and not on her being excused from the rendition of services during the month.
[Ed.Note.-For other cases, see Schools and School Districts, Cent. Dig. ss 308-314; Dec. Dig. k144.]
Joseph Lundy, of Boston, for plaintiff.
Walter J. O'Malley, Jr., Asst. Corp.
Counsel, of Boston, for defendant.
[1][2] The plaintiff's testatrix died while in the employment of the defendant as a teacher of manual training in the public schools under a contract at a fixed yearly salary, and this action is brought to recover the balance which would have been due if she had survived the period. It is settled that as performance by her depended upon her personal judgment, ability and efforts, there was an implied condition to which the contract was subject that she should be living and physically able to do the work. Marvel v. Phillips, 162 Mass. 399, 401, 38 N. E. 1117,26 L. R. A. 416, 44 Am. St. Rep. 370. The contract therefore was terminated by her death before the year had ended. Browne v. Fairhall, 213 Mass. 290, 294, 100 N. E. 556,45 L. R. A. (N. S.) 394;Johnson v. Walker, 155 Mass. 253, 29 N. E. 522,31 Am. St. Rep. 550. But as the testatrix died during the summer vacation leaving only one month of the school year unpaid for, the plaintiff contends that...
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Cobb v. City of Malden
...The result is that although Massachusetts law recognizes that public school teachers have binding contracts, Donlan v. City of Boston, 1916, 223 Mass. 285, 111 N.E. 718; Decatur v. Auditor of City of Peabody, 1925, 251 Mass. 82, 146 N.E. 360, the sole method of enforcement of these contract......
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Owens v. Press Pub. Co.
...Wil-Low Cafeterias, Inc., 111 F.2d 429 (2 Cir., 1940). There, Judge Augustus N. Hand disapproved the case of Donlan v. City of Boston, 223 Mass. 285, 111 N.E. 718 (Sup.Jud.Ct.1916), treating the contract of a teacher who died during the summer vacation as subject to 'an implied condition * ......
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In re Public Ledger
...by the employer, or was wrongful. In either event an amount earned would be a valid expense of administration. "In Donlan v. Boston, 223 Mass. 285, 111 N.E. 718, 719, a school teacher died during the summer vacation having completed her teaching for the preceding academic year. Her salary w......
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