Warren Cnty. v. Slack, 33713.
| Decision Date | 06 May 1921 |
| Docket Number | No. 33713.,33713. |
| Citation | 192 Iowa 275,182 N.W. 664 |
| Parties | WARREN COUNTY v. SLACK ET AL. |
| Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Appeal from District Court, Warren County; H. S. Dugan, Judge.
Action at law upon a drainage bond to recover the amount of preliminary expenses incurred by the plaintiff county in a proceeding to establish a drainage district in the counties of Polk, Warren, and Marion. There was a judgment for plaintiff, and defendants appeal. Affirmed.O. C. Brown, of Indianola, for appellants.
Berry & Watson, of Indianola, for appellee.
It is conceded that in the year 1917, certain owners of land lying upon or along the Des Moines river in the counties of Polk, Warren, and Marion, Iowa, desiring that the course of the stream should be straightened for a considerable distance in the counties named, filed a petition therefor in the office of the auditor of each of said counties, and on or about the 2d day of April, 1917, in pursuance of the same project, the defendants in this action filed with the auditor of Warren county the bond on which this action is brought. Said bond was conditioned to secure payment or reimbursement to the county for the preliminary expenses incurred or to be incurred in the prosecution of said proceeding. In accordance with said petitions, the respective boards of supervisors of said counties met in joint session, provided for a preliminary survey of the proposed district, and appointed Seth Dean engineer in charge to make a preliminary survey and report thereon to the boards. The engineer thereupon called to his assistance the necessary field men and employés and made survey of the site of the proposed improvement. Having completed the survey, the engineer reported the costs and expenses so arising to the amount of $2,574.98. In this connection he made affidavit that the account of such expenditure was just, reasonable, and correct and properly chargeable to the several counties in equal shares or parts, and that the share so chargeable to Warren county was $858.33. Additional expenses of a local character to the amount of $114.66 were also incurred, the correctness of which claims is not contested.
In April, 1918, the boards of supervisors in joint session refused to establish the proposed district, and in March of the following year, the appellants not having made payment of any of the charges above mentioned, the county of Warren brought this action at law for their collection. On the trial Dean, the engineer, testified to the payment to him by Warren county of the bill which he had certified. The defendants resist payment on the theory that the auditing or certification by the engineer is not sufficient to determine or fix the liability of the county and that payment of the expenses does not become obligatory until there is a determination “just how much of the work was done in Warren county and how much expense was created on such project in Warren county,” and this, the appellants say, has never been done. In support of...
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