Lodgord v. City of East Grand Forks

• Decision Date: 24 July 1908
• Docket Number: 15,796 - (247)
• Citation: 117 N.W. 341,105 Minn. 180
• Parties: ED. LODGORD v. CITY OF EAST GRAND FORKS and Others
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

117 N.W. 341

105 Minn. 180

ED. LODGORD v. CITY OF EAST GRAND FORKS and Others

Nos. 15,796 - (247)

Supreme Court of Minnesota

July 24, 1908

Action in the district court for Polk county to enjoin the city of East Grand Forks and its officers from issuing and selling certain municipal bonds. From an order, Watts, J., sustaining defendants' demurrer to the complaint, plaintiff appealed. Affirmed.

SYLLABUS

Notice of Election.

In giving a notice of election, the city clerk signed the same as "city recorder," and thus by mistake or inadvertence erroneously designated his official title. Held on the facts stated in the opinion, not fatal to the validity of the election.

G. A E. Finlayson, for appellant.

H. A. Bronson and D. T. Collins, for respondents.

OPINION

BROWN, J.

Action to enjoin the city of East Grand Forks and its officers from disposing of municipal bonds claimed to have been issued under authority of law. A general demurrer to the complaint was sustained, and plaintiff appealed.

The complaint states a cause of action for the relief demanded, if the particular point relied upon by plaintiff in support of his action is fatal to the validity of the bonds. The bonds have been issued by the officers of the city, and proceedings looking to their negotiation and sale are sought to be enjoined. The question of their issuance was submitted to a vote of the people of the city, as required by the charter, and was carried by a substantial majority of the popular vote.

Under the original city charter provision was made for the election of a "city recorder" (chapter 45, p. 602, Sp. Laws 1887). In 1898 the city reorganized under chapter 8, p. 16, Laws 1895, and ever since has operated thereunder. That statute provides for a "city clerk," instead of a recorder, and the officer is appointed under the new charter by the common council. In giving the notice of election at which the proposition whether the bonds in question should be issued, the city clerk, who had been duly appointed and qualified, signed the same as "city recorder," and herein lies the defect complained of by plaintiff. The election appears to have been in all things properly conducted, and its validity is not called in question, save in the contention that the notice of election, signed as stated, was a nullity, and hence that the election was invalid.

We do not concur in this view. There is no question that the person who...