Commonwealth ex rel. Ross Township v. Gruver
Commonwealth ex rel. Ross Township v. Gruver
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
This suit was brought on the official bond of Peter Gruver, a tax collector of Ross township, Monroe county, for the year 1891. The condition of the bond is as follows : “ Now the condition of this obligation is such that if the said Peter Gruver shall well and truly collect and pay over or account for, according to law, the whole amount of taxes charged and assessed in the duplicates which shall be delivered to him, then this obligation to be void, otherwise to be and remain in full force and virtue.” The other defendants are the sureties of the collect- or. The plaintiff recovered a verdict in the court below from which the defendants appeal. The statement does not, as urged by the appellant, lack the essentials of a good cause of action. Its averments are sufficient, and it assigns with certainty and precision the failure to pay or account for the $ 125.15, which was claimed as the balance of the taxes in the duplicate for 1891. The omission to declare the manner in which the judgment should be entered in order to secure the proper amount to the school district was a subject for amendment, and after a trial on the merits, verdict and judgment, there being no demurrer, no such defect is fatal unless it is shown to have injuriously affected the trial; the proper amendment will be considered to have been made: Chapin v. Cambria Iron Co., 145 Pa. 478; Eckert v. Schoch, 155 Pa. 530; Shryock v. Baschore, 82 Pa. 159; Com. v. Press Co., 156 Pa. 516. We would
The offers to show payments made by the collector that were prior in date to the auditors’ settlement, and the ineffectual attempt before the auditors to change the settlement were properly refused. This was resorting to only another method of destroying the effect of the auditors’ settlement which can be successfully attacked, but solely in the way pointed out by the statute — an appeal to the court of common pleas.
The judgment is affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to the use of the School District of Ross Township v. Peter Gruver and James Altemose, who survive Charles Correll
- Cited By
- 6 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Actions — Suit on tax collector's bond — Cause of action. A suit on the bond of a tax eollectoris properly brought in assumpsit and the averments of the statement are sufficient when'it assigns with certainty the failure to pay or account for a definite sum claimed as the balance of the taxes in the duplicate for a given year. Practice — Defects in statement — Cure by verdict — Amendment presumed. The omission to declare the manner in which the judgment should be entered in order to secure the proper amount to the school district was a subject for amendment, and after trial on the merits, verdict and judgment, there being no demurrer, no such defect is fatal unless it is shown to have injuriously affected the trial; the proper amendment will be considered to have been made. Toionship auditor — Settlement with collectoi — Appeal—Review—Suit on surety bond. The township auditor’s settlement of the tax collector’s accounts is but one step in fixing the liability of the collector, but when it is not appealed from to the court of common pleas as provided by law, he elected to make that step a final one and to be bound by it and the appellate court cannot review it on appeal from a judgment entered on the surety’s bond.