Klingman v. Madison Cnty.
| Decision Date | 23 October 1913 |
| Citation | 143 N.W. 426,161 Iowa 422 |
| Parties | KLINGMAN v. MADISON COUNTY. |
| Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Appeal from District Court, Madison County; L. N. Hayes, Judge.
Suit for damages. Defendant's demurrer to the petition was sustained. Plaintiff appeals. Reversed.Robbins & Nicholson, of Winterset, for appellant.
Sam C. Smith, County Attorney, of Winterset, for appellee.
Plaintiff alleges that on April 2, 1910, he was injured while passing over a county bridge in Madison county, by reason of a defect in the bridge, and that thereafter, and before May 7, 1910, he filed in the office of the county auditor of said county a claim for $1,000 damages by reason thereof; that the board of supervisors of said county considered said claim, and treated the same as filed, but that the same is now lost or destroyed, through no fault of plaintiff.
On May 7, 1910, the following notice was served:
Exhibit A.
“To T. M. Scott, Auditor of Madison County, Iowa: You are hereby notified that on the 2d day of April, 1910, the undersigned, Henry Klingman, was injured while crossing over the bridge located on the public highway running east of the Lincoln schoolhouse through the center of section 2, township 75, range 28 west, Lincoln township, Madison county, Iowa, and being a few rods west of the center of said section 2 in township 75 north, range 28 west 5th P. M., Iowa. That said injury was caused by the defective condition of the floor of the said bridge, said floor being in such a decayed and rotten condition that while the undersigned was crossing over said bridge on horseback, the right hind foot of the horse he was riding went through the floor of the said bridge, throwing the undersigned against the horn of the saddle and off the horse, striking his right side on the railing of the said bridge. That by the said fall the undersigned sustained serious and permanent injuries to his right side, etc.
[Signed] Henry Klingman.”
Said notice was served by the following acceptance:
Plaintiff commenced suit January 25, 1911. The petition alleges, among other things, in substance, that after the service of the notice, Exhibit A, the auditor advised the county attorney and the board of supervisors of said county that the notice had been served, and the board of supervisors and the county attorney thereafter examined said bridge, or caused the same to be examined, and the circumstances of said injury were investigated and inquired into by the said board, and said board took the notice and treated the same in all respects as though the same was a valid and binding notice on said county; that the board did, by said notice, in fact become advised of said accident, and the time and place and circumstances thereof as fully as though the said notice had been directed to “Madison County, Iowa,” instead of to “T. M. Scott, Auditor of Madison County, Iowa.” On December 14, 1911, plaintiff filed with the auditor a claim for $10,000 damages on the same facts. January 18, 1912, plaintiff filed a supplemental petition, which alleges, among other things, that since the filing of plaintiff's original petition herein, and on the 14th day of December, 1911, plaintiff filed in the office of the auditor of Madison county, Iowa, to be acted on by the board of supervisors of said county, his claim for damages, based upon the same facts and circumstances set out in his original petition, which said account or claim was verified by plaintiff, a copy of the same being attached; that plaintiff did not know until December 13, 1911, that said claim had not been filed in the auditor's office, and had no knowledge of such failure until said date, and then on said date it developed on the proceedings in court that the same had never been filed; that the said claim was considered by the board of supervisors of defendant county, and acted on by them on December 28, 1911, at which time said claim was disallowed, and said board indorsed on said claim their action thereon, in the following words and figures, to wit:
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