Peterson v. Town of Panora
| Decision Date | 09 February 1937 |
| Docket Number | 43768. |
| Citation | 271 N.W. 317,222 Iowa 1236 |
| Parties | PETERSON v. TOWN OF PANORA et al. |
| Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
Appeal from District Court, Guthrie County; Norman R. Hays, Judge.
Suit by plaintiff against the Town of Panora, based on claim that he was appointed night watchman and was wrongfully discharged by the mayor, G. J. Foxhoven. Instructed verdict for defendants. Motion for new trial overruled. Judgment on verdict. Plaintiff appeals to this court.
Affirmed.
John L. Sloane, of Des Moines, and H. E. Newton, of Stuart, for appellant.
Batschelet & Vincent, of Guthrie Center, for appellees.
The plaintiff filed an amended and substituted petition alleging he was employed by the defendant Town of Panora, as a night watchman for a period of two years; that on or about May 2 1932, the town council orally agreed to employ plaintiff as its regular night watch for a period ending April 2, 1934, at a monthly salary of $65. That the agreement was made by G. J Foxhoven, mayor, and agent of said defendant Town of Panora, Iowa, and ratified by said defendant Town of Panora. The plaintiff alleged that he accepted the terms of said contract and duly performed the services and duties of his employment, and that for a period from May 2, 1932, to and including the 31st day of July, 1932, he received from the defendant Town of Panora a monthly wage of $65. That on the 1st of August, 1932, plaintiff suffered an injury to his person, and filed claim with the workmen's compensation commission, and was allowed for thirteen and a half weeks' disability. That on the first day of November, 1932, plaintiff returned to his work and was told by the said G. J. Foxhoven, mayor, that he could not go to work, that they could not use him any more, and that he was discharged. Plaintiff alleged that the defendant Town of Panora, through the acts of its mayor and agent, committed a breach of said contract, and prevented him from fulfilling the conditions of the contract, and had ever since refused to permit plaintiff to comply with said contract; that said discharge was wrongful and without just cause. The plaintiff sets out his claim, and demands damages against the defendants for the sum of $981.25 for breach of said contract, with interest at 6 per cent. from date of each payment as due thereunder, and costs.
The defendants denied each and every allegation of the plaintiff's petition, and especially denied that the plaintiff was employed by the Town of Panora as alleged. To defendants' denial, plaintiff replied that defendants were estopped by their own admission in division II of their answer, to assert and allege that plaintiff's employment was a temporary employment, and that plaintiff has been fully paid for the full term of his employment.
The evidence in the case was brief, plaintiff testifying that he started employment with the Town of Panora, Iowa, in April, 1930, in the capacity of night marshal, or night watch; that G. J. Foxhoven was the mayor at that time; that plaintiff worked for the town from April, 1930, until August, or the latter part of July, 1932, when he went on his vacation. He testified to several conferences with Foxhoven, in which he claims Foxhoven told him that so long as he was mayor he wanted the plaintiff to work for them in that capacity; that Foxhoven was mayor from April, 1932, to the following city election in 1934. Amongst the exhibits introduced was one from the records of the town council, reading as follows:
This was under the proceedings of May 2, 1932.
Plaintiff said he did not work for the Town of Panora after August 1, 1932, because he was ordered not to work; that after he had been injured and received the award from the Industrial Commission, he told the mayor he was ready to go back to work if he did not have to make any arrests, that he was not physically able to make arrests at that time. That the mayor told him he could not return to work, that the town could not use him. Plaintiff said he worked at the Veteran's Hospital at Des Moines after November 15, 1932; and the next September he worked there from the 18th of the month up to and including the 15th of November, 1933; and that after that he did not work any other place prior to April, 1934. The record shows he was paid for all the time he put in with the Town of Panora.
In the proceedings before the Industrial Commission an accident report was made, which was signed by G. J. Foxhoven, mayor of the Town of Panora, reciting this man was night marshal and had been injured.
Plaintiff further testified on cross-examination that his duties were general police duties, and there were no fixed hours; that he had a vacation beginning after the 15th of July, 1932, when he went out and ran a threshing machine; that it was not a vacation on pay; that he had asked the mayor for that time. That prior to 1932 he had worked for the town in the same capacity, and his salary varied, the lowest ever paid being $65 a month. At the end of all the testimony defendant made motion for a directed verdict on the grounds (1) that plaintiff had wholly failed to show that Foxhoven, the mayor of Panora, had any authority to contract with or employ the plaintiff; (2) that it appeared from the testimony that the person with whom plaintiff claimed to have made a contract of employment was not a person authorized to act for or bind the defendant Town of Panora; (3) that there was an entire lack of testimony tending to bind either the Town of Panora or the mayor of said town, or Mr. Foxhoven in his individual capacity, by any contract; (4) and that if the matter were submitted to a jury and a verdict returned in favor of the plaintiff,...
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