Thiede v. Town of Scandia Valley

• Decision Date: 21 April 1944
• Docket Number: No. 33581.,33581.
• Citation: 14 N.W.2d 400,217 Minn. 218
• Parties: THIEDE v. TOWN OF SCANDIA VALLEY et al.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

14 N.W.2d 400

217 Minn. 218

THIEDE v. TOWN OF SCANDIA VALLEY et al.

No. 33581.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

April 21, 1944.

Appeal from District Court, Morrison County; D. M. Cameron, Judge.

Action by Louise Thiede against the Town of Scandia Valley and Frank Cameron, and others, as officials of such town, for damages resulting from the eviction of plaintiff, her husband, and minor children from their homestead in such town to the town of plaintiff's poor relief settlement. From an order overruling defendants' demurrers, defendants appeal.

Affirmed as to individual defendants; reversed as to defendant town.

Austin L. Grimes, of Little Falls, for appellants.

John E. Katzmarek, of Little Falls, and Edgar S. Young, of St. Paul, for respondent.

STREISSGUTH, Justice.

This is an appeal from an order overruling a demurrer to plaintiff's complaint. The complaint incorporates, by reference,¹ certain proceedings for the determination of the plaintiff's legal settlement for poor relief purposes. Upon this appeal, the facts as alleged in the complaint and as disclosed by such records must be accepted as true. The story so told reads like a sequel to Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath."

Louis Thiede and Louise Thiede, the plaintiff, are husband and wife. With their six minor children, they have resided in the defendant town continuously since October 22, 1938. During 1939, Louis Thiede, the husband, purchased a 40-acre tract in said township and built thereon a small dwelling house, which ever since has been the family home. The purchase of the homestead was completed in July 1941, the deed thereto being taken in the name of plaintiff.

Prior to March 1, 1935, the Thiedes were residents of North Dakota. On that date they left that state and moved to the town of Germania, Todd county, Minnesota, where they resided continuously until October 1, 1935. On the latter date, they moved to the town of Fawn Lake in Todd county, continuing to reside therein until October 23, 1936. They then moved into the defendant town of Scandia Valley in Morrison county, living there continuously until April 27, 1938, when they returned to make their home in the town of Fawn Lake for a period of about six months. Their final move was made on October 22, 1938, when they again moved to the defendant town of Scandia Valley, which ever since that date has been their home.

Beginning in the month of December 1936 and continuing intermittently through the years 1937, 1938, and up to and including February 1939, the family received surplus commodities from the county of Todd. Beginning in the month of June 1937 and continuing intermittently through that year and 1938 and 1939, they received surplus commodities from Morrison county and direct relief from the Farm Security Administration of that county. During a period beginning in June 1938 and ending in March 1942, Louis Thiede, the head of the family, worked on WPA and received compensation therefor. Since March 1942, however, no member of the family has applied for or received public relief of any kind from any source.

By reason of the public relief so received, all the members of the family were, in legal contemplation, poor persons. The receipt of public relief in various forms during the periods referred to prevented their acquiring a legal settlement for poor relief purposes in the defendant township, notwithstanding the fact that they had acquired a homestead in that township in 1939 and lived thereon continuously thereafter.

In 1942 a dispute arose between the towns of Scandia Valley and Fawn Lake as to the legal settlement of the Thiede family. (Both townships operate on the town system of poor relief.) Proceedings were accordingly commenced pursuant to Minn.St.1941,§ 261.08, Mason St.1940 Supp. § 3161-1, for a judicial determination of the Thiede's place of settlement. The dispute was submitted to the district court of Morrison county, which, by an order dated April 10, 1942, found the facts as we have stated them and further found and determined that, because the family had not lived continuously for more than one year in Scandia Valley township without receiving poor relief, the members thereof had not acquired a legal settlement therein, and that the family's legal settlement for poor relief purposes was in Fawn Lake township, where it had last resided for a continuous period of at least a year without receiving public relief. The court also found that Louis Thiede and his wife claimed the property upon which they lived as their homestead, that they claimed the right to continue to live thereon, and that they objected to being removed therefrom to the town of Fawn Lake.

In a memorandum attached to its order the court said:

"Except for the fact that the poor family has its homestead in the Town of Scandia Valley, it ought to be removed from the Town of Scandia Valley to the defendant Town of Fawn Lake pursuant to the provisions of Section 3161-2, Mason's Supplement 1940, unless the said Town of Fawn Lake shall in the meantime provide for the care of said poor family in the said Town of Scandia Valley, or unless the said Louis Thiede shall in the meantime voluntarily remove himself and wife and children from the said Town of Scandia Valley. The Court's failure to provide for the removal of said family from the Town of Scandia Valley to the Town of Fawn Lake, pursuant to the provisions of Mason's Supplement 1940, is due wholly to the fact that the Court deems that it has no power herein to order the removal of said family from its homestead. If under the law of this state the Court has such power, the judgment to be entered herein ought to provide for such removal.

"The defendant town [Fawn Lake] nevertheless must be ultimately liable for the support of said family so long as it maintains its status as poor persons under the provisions of our poor laws, or until it acquires a legal settlement elsewhere." (Italics supplied.)

On July 14, 1942, two months after the court's order, the two townships entered into a written stipulation which recited that the town of Fawn Lake did not have a suitable place within its corporate limits where it might care for the Thiede family and provide shelter for them, and that the town of Scandia Valley "is willing to permit the above-named paupers to continue to reside there, upon condition that said defendant [town of Fawn Lake] now and hereafter continues to make proper provision for the care and maintenance of said paupers within and during such time as they continue to reside within the corporate limits of said plaintiff [town of Scandia Valley]." By this agreement, the town of Scandia Valley consented to permit the family to continue to reside within its corporate limits, "conditioned that during the entire period of such described residence, said paupers shall continue to remain as residents for poor purposes of the Town of Fawn Lake and said Town of Fawn Lake shall be legally responsible for any poor relief necessary for the support of said paupers during the entire period of such described residence."

Formal judgment in the settlement proceeding was entered on January 26, 1943. The judgment declared that Louis Thiede, his wife, and children were poor persons and that the town of Fawn Lake was their place of legal settlement for poor relief purposes. It also contained a provision that, pursuant to the stipulation above referred to, the town of Fawn Lake be allowed to care for the family in the town of Scandia Valley. It contained no provision for the removal of the family to Fawn Lake.

About the time the judgment was entered, the town of Fawn Lake tired of its bargain, or at least conceived the idea that it might, through legal strategy, be able to relieve itself of the burden of supporting the family. At any rate, on February 2, 1943, it served on the town of Scandia Valley a written notice dated January 28, 1943, reading as follows:

"You will now take notice, That the Town of Fawn Lake, Todd County, Minnesota, has now ceased to support the above named persons and ceases to be responsible for their care and support; that said Town of Fawn Lake does not recognize said persons as poor persons; that this Notice is sent you under and by virtue of Section 3 of Chapter 398 of the Laws of Minnesota for 1939 [Minn.St.1941, § 261.09, Mason St. 1940 Supp. § 3161-2]."

The statute referred to in the notice reads as follows:

"The court, in its order determining said settlement, shall provide for the removal of said poor persons to their place of settlement as determined by said order; provided the court may, upon a proper showing by the political subdivision having the legal responsibility to support said poor persons, allow said political subdivision to care for said poor persons in another political subdivision, in which event said poor persons shall retain their legal settlement in the political subdivision found as determined by the order of the court until 30 days after it serves written notice upon the political subdivision where said poor persons are residing that it has ceased to support said persons and the political subdivision where said poor persons are residing shall have the right upon 10 days written notice to said poor persons within said 30 day period to remove them to the political subdivision as determined by said order of the court." (Italics supplied.)

Following service of this notice and on February 5, 1943, Frank Cameron, one of the defendants, as chairman of that town, caused to be served upon the Thiedes a written notice, signed by Cameron as town chairman, directed to Louis Thiede and Louise Thiede, his wife, and to each of their six minor children, advising them of the action taken by the town of Fawn Lake and notifying them that by reason thereof, "you are hereby notified that within ten days after service of this notice upon you the officers of the undersigned township will remove you and each and every one of you...