The Aetna Casualty and Surety Co. v. The Mayor and Council of Wilmington
| Decision Date | 30 January 1931 |
| Citation | 17 Del.Ch. 285,157 A. 208 |
| Court | Court of Chancery of Delaware |
| Parties | THE AETNA CASUALTY AND SURETY COMPANY, a corporation of the State of Connecticut, v. THE MAYOR AND COUNCIL OF WILMINGTON, a Municipal corporation of the State of Delaware, and AUGUST EDWARD WALSEN |
INJUNCTION BILL. The bill in this cause seeks an injunction against the City of Wilmington restraining it from proceeding to collect by execution certain sums claimed to be due to the city from the defendant Walsen as tax collector for the Southern District of the City on account of alleged shortages in his accounts. This court is asked to ascertain and decree the amounts shown by the evidence to be due and to afford its injunctive relief accordingly. In disposing of a question of evidence the Chancellor filed the following memorandum.
Objection overruled.
Aaron Finger, of the firm of Richards, Layton & Finger, for complainant.
Caleb S. Layton, City Solicitor, for defendant the Mayor and Council of Wilmington.
Robert G. Harman, for defendant Walsen.
THE CHANCELLOR.
The city has undertaken to show the existence of a deficit in the collector's accounts. It has produced and placed in evidence all the books and records made and kept by the collector during the years over which the alleged deficit occurred. These books and records are exceedingly voluminous. An audit of them authorized by the city required some months of time to complete. The city employed the witness White, who is a certified public accountant, to make the audit. He laid out the plan of the audit and put several men to work on the books and records, himself doing part of the detailed work of the audit. The auditors worked, sometimes alone, and at other times in pairs, checking and rechecking the data. Worksheets were prepared by the auditors and turned in to White, who assembled them and checked their results against his so-called control account. A summary of the results shown on the worksheets was prepared under the supervision of White who testifies that the summary is a true and accurate reflection of the facts contained in the books and records in evidence. The men who worked on the audit have all appeared as witnesses and testified that the portion of the work each did accurately states the facts as found in the records--all but one, and he is not available as is shown by the sheriff's return of the summons to him of non est inventus. The absent witness' handwriting has however been proved. He made his entries in the usual course of his employment. All the supporting documents upon which the audit rests are in evidence and the auditor's report is so prepared that the source of the information therein contained can be traced back into the supporting documents which are in evidence and the authenticity of the summary...
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