Satterlee v. Strider

• Decision Date: 01 December 1888
• Parties: Satterlee et al. v. Strider, President County Court.
• Court: West Virginia Supreme Court

8 S.E. 552

(31 W.Va. 781)

Satterlee et al.

v.Strider, President County Court.

Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia

December 1, 1888

1. Mandamus—To President of County Court—Exercise of Discretion.

By an order of the county court, duly authorized by a popular vote, a county subscribes $250,000 in its bonds to the capital stock of a railroad company, to be expended on that portion of the road located within the county, and appoints three citizens of the county a committee to take charge of the bonds, and deliver the same to the company in such amounts as in their judgment will be at the time a fair compensation to the company for the work then done in the construction of that part of the road located within the county. The company completes the road through the county, and during its construction all the bonds except $8,100 are delivered to it; but before the completion of the road the county court makes another order, requiring the bonds still undelivered to be countersigned by the president of the county court, and his concurrence and approval before the bonds are delivered. In response to a demand made by the company upon the committee for the residue of the bonds, they report that they are satisfied the company is entitled to the said bonds, and that they will be delivered upon the signing of their report by the president of the county court; and the latter refuses to sign the report, because, in his judgment, the company has not done the amount of work in the county to entitle it to the bonds. Held, mandamus will not lie in such case to compel the president of the county court to countersign and deliver said bonds either to the committee or the company.

2. Same.

While mandamus will lie to compel the exercise of a discretionary authority, it will not lie to control the exercise of it, or compel a particular decision.

(Syllabus by the Court.)

Error to circuit court, Jefferson county.

Mandamus to compel the president of the county court of Jefferson county to countersign and deliver certain bonds on the county's subscription to the capital stock of the Shenandoah Valley Railroad Company. The writ was refused, and plaintiffs bring error.

W. H. Travers and Marshall McCormick, for plaintiffs in error. Geo. Baylor and D. B. Lucas, for defendant in error.

Snyder, J. Pursuant to the authority conferred upon it by the voters of Jefferson county at an election held on March 31, 1870, the board of supervisors of said county, at a meeting held August 23, 1870, passed and adopted the following ordinance: "Resolved, by the board of supervisors of Jefferson county, that the sum of 250 thousand dollars in bonds of the said county be subscribed by this board to the capital stock of the Shenandoah Valley Railroad Company, and that the said bonds, to be delivered as hereinafter directed, be issued to the said Shenandoah Valley Railroad Company, payable as follows: Fifty thousand dollars of the said bonds on the 1st day of July, 1875; fifty thousand dollars of the same on the 1st day of July, 1880; fifty thousand dollars of the same on the 1st day of July, 1885; fifty thousand dollars of the same on the 1st day of July, 1890; fifty thousand dollars of the same on the 1st day of July, 1895; the said bonds to bear six per cent. interest, payable annually, in gold. Resolved, that David Billmyer, Logan Osburne, and George W. Eichelberger are hereby appointed a committee to take charge of the said bonds, and deliver the same to the said Shenandoah Valley Railroad Company in such amounts as in their judgment will be at the time of the said delivery a fair compensation to the said company for the work and labor then performed, and material then furnished and used, in and about the construction of the said Shenandoah Valley Railroad on that part of the line of said road which is located in the county of Jefferson, aforesaid; the said David Billmyer, Logan Osburne, and George W. Eichelberger always receiving for the said bonds, at the time of the delivery thereof, an equal amount of the stock of the said Shenandoah Valley Railroad Company, in the name and for the use of the said county of Jefferson. " In the year 1870 the Shenandoah Valley Railroad Company commenced the construction of its railroad through the county of Jefferson, and completed the same about the year 1880. This was accomplished by construction contracts made by said company with successive contractors, among whom were John Satterlee & Co. After a portion of said bonds had been delivered by the said Billmyer and others, committee, and the greater part of said railroad had been constructed, the county court of said county, which by a change in the constitution and laws of the state had, in January, 1873, become the legal successor of the board of supervisors, passed and made the following order, on May 24, 1878: "Ordered that the president of the court be directed from time to time to countersign the bonds and coupons thereto attached of Jefferson county, subscribed to the capital stock of the Shenandoah Valley Railroad Company, in such amounts as in the judgment of David Billmyer, Logan Osburne, and George W. Eichelberger will be a fair compensation to the said company for the work and labor done and material furnished and used in the construction of the Shenandoah Valley Railroad on that part of the line of said railroad which is situated in the county of Jefferson. The countersigning of said bonds and coupons shall, however, be with the concurrence and approval of the president of this court; and the president shall not sign such an amount of the said bonds as will be required for the indemnity of land damages under a provision of the order of the board of super-visors of April 2, 1872, until so ordered by the court. " Under and by virtue of the foregoing orders, county bonds to the amount of $241,900 were delivered to the railroad company, or upon its orders. On July 30, 1883, the railroad company gave to John Satterlee & Co. a written order on the president of the county court, and Logan Osburne and David Billmyer, surviving commissioners, —the said George W. Eichelberger having died prior to that date, —for the remainder of said county bonds—$8,100. This order was presented to the said Osburne and Billmyer, and the bonds demanded of them. In response to this demand they, on November 25, 1883, certify that they have examined and considered the evidence offered by the said railroad company to show that since the delivery of the last installment of the bonds the company has expended within the county, in work and labor done and material furnished in and upon the construction of said road in said county, more money than the amount of the undelivered portion of said bonds; and that from the evidence they "are satisfied that said company is entitled to the residue of said bonds, to-wit, $8,100, with the coupons thereto attached, and will be delivered to John Satterlee & Co., assignees of said railroad company, upon the president of the county court signing this paper. " In reply to an application made to him by the company, I. H. Strider, the president of the county court, on January 2, 1884, said: "I decline signing the county bonds claimed by the S. V. B. B. Co., believing that the company is not entitled to them, and that there is a balance due the county fully covering the amount of the bonds. " The said John Satterlee & Co. having thus failed to obtain the remaining $8,100 of county bonds, in April, 1884, presented to the judge of the circuit court of Jefferson county their petition setting out the foregoing facts, and averring that the said railroad company had already delivered and tendered to the county of Jefferson an amount of the certificates of its capital stock equal to the amount subscribed by said county; and that the work and labor done by said company, and material furnished by it in and about the construction of its railroad within the said county, amounted in all to...