Keefe v. Town of Union

• Decision Date: 18 December 1903
• Citation: 56 A. 571,76 Conn. 160
• Parties: KEEFE v. TOWN OF UNION.
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court

56 A. 571

76 Conn. 160

KEEFE

v. TOWN OF UNION.

Supreme Court of Errors of Connecticut.

Dec. 18, 1903.

Appeal from Superior Court, Tollard County; Edwin B. Gager, Judge.

Action by Amos Keefe against the town of Union. From a judgment for plaintiff, defendant appeals. Affirmed.

Joel H. Reed, for appellant.

Charles E. Searls, for appellee.

HALL, J. The plaintiff seeks by this action to recover compensation from the defendant town for services rendered and expenses incurred by him in January and February, 1902, at the direction of the town health officer, in guarding and taking charge of certain premises in said town, and of the occupants thereof, among whom were two persons sick with smallpox, and also a number of workmen employed in loading and drawing lumber in a lot about a mile from said premises, all of whom had been quarantined in said premises by said town health officer.

It appears from the finding that at first two men were employed by the selectmen, and paid by the town, to guard the house day and night to make the quarantine efrective.

After a few days the health officer discharged these two men, and employed the plaintiff under an arrangement that the workmen occupying the quarantined premises might during the day go to the wood lot where they had been working and return to the house at night, in charge of the plaintiff, who was to guard the house and men, and see that the quarantine was strictly observed. Whether this arrangement was approved by or known to the selectmen does not appear, nor does it appear that any greater expense was thereby incurred than would have been had the persons employed by the selectmen continued to guard the quarantined house. The said house was distant from any other house, upon an unfrequented road, and said workmen could safely pass from it to the wood lot and return without endangering the public. Under this arrangement the plaintiff, by direction of the health officer, took full charge of the house and its inmates for 48 days, and until the quarantine was raised, taking care that the workmen went directly to and from the house and wood lot, that no other person entered the house or left it, and furnishing, at the expense of the town, the provisions and other necessaries for the inmates of the house. Nothing was said by the health officer to the plaintiff regarding payment for such services, but the plaintiff expected to receive reasonable compensation therefor from the town. The items of the bill of particulars were for services in guarding the quarantined premises for 48 days, use of plaintiff's team and cash paid for telephoning $116, and mattress and bedding for use of patients $15. The court found that $111.40 was a reasonable compensation for such services and expenditures, and rendered judgment for the plaintiff for that sum.

The defendant claims that the health officer had no authority to bind the town by his contract for such services and expenditures. As early as 1711 it was by act of the General Court made the duty of the selectmen of each town to take all proper steps to prevent the spread of contagious diseases, and they were empowered by warrant of two assistants or justices of the peace to place in a separate house persons sick or suspected to be infected with the smallpox, and to take care of and provide nurses for such sick and infected persons at the charge of such persons if they were able, otherwise at the expense of the town to which they belonged; and to perform other described duties to prevent the spread of disease. Col. Rec. 1706-1716, p. 231. In 1760 the civil authority and selectmen of any town, in case they judged it expedient to grant permission for the inoculation of persons, were required to assign a place or house where it could be carried on, and to provide nurses to care for the persons infected, for which service a "meet recompense" was to be paid to said authority and selectmen by those concerned. Laws Conn. 1750-1770, p. 208. In 1805 it was enacted that the civil authority and selectmen of the several towns in the state should be "the board of health in their respective towns," with all the powers and authority for preventing malignant and infectious disease delegated to the civil authorities and selectmen or to the selectmen, and with power to appoint health officers or a health committee, and that, among other things, it should be the duty of such board, officers, or committee to cause to be removed all nuisances and sources of filth within the limits of their town which, in their judgment, would endanger the lives or health of the inhabitants, the expense thereof to be paid by the persons causing the same, and, if not known, by the town. It was also provided by this act that all penalties or fines incurred for any violation of said act or any regulation of the board of health should he paid to the town, and constitute a fund for the payment of the contingent expenses of the board and for the relief of poor persons of the town affected with infectious disease. Pub. St. 1808, p. 616. In 1828 the boards of health in the several towns were required to adopt suitable measures for the vaccination of all the inhabitants of their respective towns, the expense thereof to be paid from the public treasury of the town. Comp. Pub. St. 1835, p. 497. An act passed in 1866 provided that the board of health in any town might appoint such health officers and health committees as it deemed expedient, and delegate to them the powers possessed by the board. Pub. Acts 1866, p. 5, c. 5. In the Revision of 1875, pp. 258, 260, tit. 16, c. 11, the town board of health is described as consisting of the justices of the peace and selectmen of each town, and is given all the power necessary and proper for preserving the public health and preventing the spread of malignant diseases, and is, among other things, specially empowered to order any person "whom they may have reasonable ground to believe to be infected with any malignant, infectious, or contagious disease into confinement in any place to be designated by said board, there to remain so long as said board shall judge necessary." In 1878 an act was passed providing for the appointment by the Governor, with the advice of the Senate, of a state board of health, to consist of six persons, of whom three were to be physicians and one a lawyer, and among whose duties are those of taking "cognizance of the interests of health and life among the people of this state," and of investigating and inquiring respecting the causes of disease, and causing proper sanitary information in its possession to be promptly forwarded to the...