Patterson v. People ex rel. Bd. of Com'rs of Weld County
| Decision Date | 02 December 1935 |
| Docket Number | 13493. |
| Parties | PATTERSON et al. v. PEOPLE ex rel. BOARD OF COM'RS OF WELD COUNTY. |
| Court | Colorado Supreme Court |
Rehearing Denied Jan. 27, 1936.
Error to District Court, Weld County; Claude C. Coffin, Judge.
Action by the People, on the relation of the Board of Commissioners of Weld County, against Jesse R. Patterson and another. Judgment for relators, and defendants bring error.
Affirmed.
Henry H. Clark, of Denver, for plaintiffs in error.
Thomas A. Nixon, of Greeley, for defendants in error.
An action by the people of the state of Colorado, on relation of the board of county commissioners of the county of Weld against Jesse R. Patterson, former county treasurer, and United States Fidelity & Guaranty Company, surety, on his official bond.
It appears that in 1926, 1928, and 1930 Patterson was elected treasurer of Weld county, and that January 1, 1927, 1929, and 1931, he qualified and entered upon the discharge of the duties of his office, continuing to serve during the several terms of two years each; that during his incumbency he received the moneys, books, papers, and other things of said office; that the bond given by him and his surety for the term commencing January 1, 1931, provided that he should 'pay according to law, all moneys which shall come to his hands as treasurer, and shall render a just and true account thereof, whenever required * * * by any provision of law, and shall deliver over to his successor in office * * * all moneys, books, papers and other things appertaining thereto or belonging to his office.' It further appears that January 1, 1933, when his successor had qualified and entered upon the discharge of his duties, Patterson delivered to him everything belonging to the office, including the undisbursed moneys he had received by virtue thereof, with the exception of $16,708.52, represented by the balance of deposits to the credit of Weld county, made by the treasurer with Kountze Bros., a failed New York copartnership.
In connection with the Kountze Bros. item, it further appears that from time to time through the years various school districts of the county had issued bonds, making the interest coupons, as they lawfully might, payable at Kountze Bros., or at the office of the county treasurer, at the option of the holders, and that, to accommodate such of the holders as should elect to present their coupons at Kountze Bros., it had been the custom of county treasurers, for 30 years or more, to carry an account with that institution in the name of the county, to be disbursed as and when coupons were presented for payment. It is to be noted that remittances to the account were not charged to the school districts when made, nor were they so allocated by Kountze Bros. when received, but from the deposited fund to the credit of the county they paid such coupons as were presented and forwarded them to the treasurer, who would then debit the accounts of the issuing school districts. Other than the presentation of due coupons at Kountze Bros., notice of election of holders to have them paid there seems never to have been given.
Judgment was given against Patterson and his surety in the sum of the Kountze Bros. balance, with interest. They assign error, and say: (1) That the action is not by the real party in interest, for that the funds deposited with Kountze Bros belonged to the several interested school districts, not to Weld county; (2) that, since for 30 years it had been the practice of Weld county treasurers to transmit funds to Kountze Bros. to pay school district bond coupons, precisely as Patterson had done, the county was estopped from asserting the claim here; (3) that they are entitled to set off the amount on deposit with Kountze Bros. when Patterson first took office, admitted to have been $10,802.52; (4) that inasmuch as it is conceded that the county filed a claim in the Kountze Bros. bankruptcy proceeding alleging right of preference, the extent of the loss, if any, is not now ascertainable; (5) that the act of 1927, Sess.Laws 1927, p. 280, requiring county treasurers to deposit public funds 'in one or more...
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