Hendrickson v. Town of Queen, 22192.

• Decision Date: 13 May 1921
• Docket Number: No. 22192.,22192.
• Citation: 182 N.W. 952,149 Minn. 79
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court
• Parties: HENDRICKSON v. TOWN OF QUEEN.

149 Minn. 79

182 N.W. 952

HENDRICKSON

v.TOWN OF QUEEN.

No. 22192.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

May 13, 1921.

Appeal from District Court, Polk County; Wm. Watts, Judge.

Action by Della Hendrickson against the Town of Queen. Judgment for plaintiff, and from a denial of an alternative motion for amended findings or a new trial, defendant appeals. Affirmed.

Syllabus by the Court

The serious illness of a minor, born out of wedlock and residing with an uncle in the defendant town, necessitated his removal to a hospital, where he was nursed by the plaintiff. She requested his alleged father to pay for her services after a stated time, but he declined. She then requested the defendant town to pay her, but it also declined. Held, that she was entitled to recover from the town, whether the minor had a legal settlement therein or not, and without reference to the question of his paternity.

If the minor had a father able to support him, the father was ultimately liable for the payment of the necessary expenses. If he had no relative who was liable, and his legal settlement was in another town, such town could be compelled to pay the expenses.

An illegitimate child is legitimatized by the marriage of his parents.

The father of a minor, whom he has emancipated, is not thereby relieved from the obligation to support an indigent child imposed by section 3067, Gen. St. 1913. F. A. Grady, of Crookston, for appellant.

Charles Loring, of Washington, D. C., and G. A. Youngquist, of Crookston, for respondent.

LEES, C.

Plaintiff sued for the value of her services rendered as a special nurse in caring for Gilbert Svaleson, an 18 year boy, whom she alleged was a public charge upon the defendant town. There was a trial by the court without a jury and findings in plaintiff's favor, and defendant has appealed from an order denying its alternative motion for amended findings or a new trial.

The findings were that on December 15, 1919, Gilbert was brought to a hospital at Fosston for medical treatment. His condition was such that it was necessary to place him immediately in the care of a special nurse and to keep him under her care until May 13, 1920. On February 8, 1920, plaintiff notified defendant of Gilbert's condition and that she was caring for him. She rendered services as Gilbert's nurse between that date and March 24, 1920, of the reasonable value of $220, which has not been paid. On March 29, 1920, she filed with the town clerk a verified statement of her claim. There was a specific finding that between the 8th of February and the 24th of March Gilbert was a public charge on the defendant town, and had his settlement and place of residence therein.

The evidence showed that Gilbert was born in the town of Queen on March 8, 1901; that his mother was an unmarried woman, who in June, 1901, married John Svaleson and went with him to the town of Pine Lake, where they thereafter resided. Gilbert was treated as a member of Svaleson's family until his mother died in January, 1915, when he was taken to the home of his mother's brother in the town of Queen, where he lived up to the time of his removal to the hospital. Gilbert had about $250, which Svaleson took and deposited in a bank. Inferentially it appears that this money was expended for medical treatment for him. After it was exhausted, plaintiff asked Svaleson to pay her for her services, but he declined to do so. She then asked the town clerk of the town of Queen what she should do, and he told her to continue to nurse Gilbert-that the law was such that she would not lose her pay. His version of the conversation was that he told her the town would not pay her bill unless it had to. Svaleson is a prosperous farmer and still a resident of the town of Pine Lake.

The statutory law of this state is that every poor person shall be supported by his relatives named in the statute, in the order in which they are named; that if they refuse or fail to support him, he shall receive such relief as he may require from the county, town, city or village in which he has a settlement; that a minor, not emancipated and settled in his own right, shall have the same settlement as the parent with whom he last resided; and that whenever a person not having a legal settlement in the municipality where he is taken sick is in need of immediate relief, and is unable to depart therefrom, and is so sick as to render it unsafe or inhuman to remove him, he shall receive relief from such municipality. The expense incurred becomes a charge on the county, and it may recover the same from the municipality in which such person has his settlement. Sections 3067, 3069, 3071, 3096, G. S. 1913. These statutory provisions have been considered in a number of cases. In Town of Cordova v. Village of Le Sueur, 74 Minn. 515, 77 N. W. 290, 430, it was held that a town furnishing support to a poor person whose settlement is in another town may recover...