Ireland v. The Bd. Of Educ. Of Kanawha County, (CC 514)

• Decision Date: 04 December 1934
• Docket Number: (CC 514)
• Citation: 115 W.Va. 614
• Court: West Virginia Supreme Court
• Parties: R. A. Ireland v. The Board of Education ofKanawha County

115 W.Va. 614

R. A. Ireland

v. The Board of Education ofKanawha County

(CC 514)

Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia.

Submitted November 20, 1934.

Decided December4, 1934.

Schools and School Districts

An undertaking by a fiscal body in advance of a fiscal year for the expenditure of money within that period, even though an equivalent amount of money be then in hand as a surplus or balance from the current year, is in reality an invasion of the funds of such subsequent year, and is in violation of Code 1931, 11-8-13.

Certified for review from Circuit Court, Kanawha County.

Action by R. A. Ireland against the Board of Education of Kanawha County. Defendant's demurrer to the special count of plaintiff's declaration was sustained, and the ruling certified for review.

Affirmed.

Russell, Hiteshew, Adams & Hill, for plaintiff. D. J. Savage, for defendant.

Maxwell, Judge:

There is presented on this certification the question of the correctness of the trial court's ruling in sustaining defendant's demurrer to the special count of plaintiff's declaration. The declaration also embraces common counts, not here involved.

The plaintiff is a practicing physician. He alleges in his special count that on the 12th of May, 1933, the board of education of Charleston Independent School District, by written contract, employed him at a salary of $162.00 per month as medical officer for said board for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1933, and ending June 30, 1934; that by legislative enactment, chapter 8, Acts of the Legislature of West Virginia, First Extraordinary Session of 1933, the Independent School District Board was abolished and. the Kanawha County Board of Education became successor thereto and liable for all claims legally existing against the Independent Board; that at the time he entered into the contract with the Independent Board it had ample and sufficient funds to carry out and perform in detail its part of the contract, which funds were later turned over by the Independent Board to its successor, the defendant; that in pursuance of the contract, he rendered services and performed the duties of medical officer during the months of July, August and September and eleven days of October, 1933, and made regular reports of such services to the defendant; that on the 11th of October he was informed by the defendant that it did not recognize his contract of May 12, 1933, refused to permit him to perform any further services and declined to pay him his salary, by reason whereof he was damaged in the sum of $1,944.00, being the whole of his salary for said fiscal year.

It is provided in section 5 of article 5 of said Act of 1933, popularly known as the County Unit Law, that a county school board "shall also be liable in its corporate capacity for all claims legally existing against the board of which it is a successor." Therefore, there arises the query whether the contract of May 12, 1933, between the plaintiff and the Independent Board was a lawful contract so as to afford legal basis for plaintiff's claim against the defendant as successor of the Independent Board.

The County Unit Law became effective May 22, 1933, ten days subsequent to the execution of the contract on which the plaintiff bases this action. The current fiscal year ended June 30, 1933.

It...