Lancaster County v. Hershey
Lancaster County v. Hershey
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting:
I would reverse the judgment entered in the court below for two reasons: 1. The sureties on an official bond, given by a county treasurer to the county, are not liable thereon for his failure to account for moneys collected by him for the state and payable to the state treasurer. 2. If there is a liability on the bond, no action will lie against the treasurer or his surety until the auditors of the county have setted the accounts of the treasurer and ascertained the amount due from him to the county. If, however, neither of these positions be tenable, the judgment should be reduced by at least $30,000, as it is clearly excessive to that amount as shown by the appellee’s own figures.
1. This action was brought February 9, 1900, by the county of Lancaster against the treasurer of the county and his sureties on the bond given by the officer to the county. The record discloses the fact that service of the writ was made on the treasurer and the administrator of one of the other sureties and was accepted by counsel of the other surety. All parties, therefore, were in court subject to its orders and judgment. The plaintiff filed a statement in which it is averred that the treasurer failed to pay to his successor in office the sum of $65,037.94. But of that sum $10,666.43 had since been collected in a suit on the state bond leaving $54,371.51 as a claim in this suit. The sureties filed an affidavit of defense denying the right of the plaintiff to recover any sum in the action because, among other reasons, the amount, if anjq due from the treasurer had not been determined by the county auditors at the time of bringing the action; and the said amount is the tax on personal property collected for, and due, the commonwealth. This is a rule for judgment for want of a sufficient affidavit of defense and these averments must, therefore, be taken to be true.
The Act of April 15,1834, Purd. Dig. 462, pi. 8, requires the county treasurer to give two bonds : one, “conditioned for the faithful performance of the duties of his office, for a just account of all moneys that may come into his hands on behalf of the county, .... and for the payment to him (his successor), of any balance of money belonging to the county remaining in his hands;” the other, “conditioned for the faithful
The Act of April 29, 1844, sec. 40, Purd. Dig. 1967, pi. 20, provides that “ it shall be the duty of the commissioners of the several counties to cause to be collected the tax as aforesaid adjusted and assessed; and the respective county treasurers shall pay over the same, as fast as collected, to the state treasurer; and if the quota of any county be not paid before the second Tuesday in January in each year, to the state treasurer, then and in such case, the amount remaining unpaid, after deducting such commissions as are or shall be allowed, by law for the collection of the same, shall be charged against said county on the books of the state treasurer.”
In Commonwealth v. Philadelphia County, 157 Pa. 531, it is said that the act of April 29, 1844 is substantially the same in its provisions as the act of 1889. The cases of this court construing the prior legislation on this subject may, therefore, be regarded as controlling the question under consideration here.
It will be observed that the county treasurer has duties to perform not only for the county, but also for the commonwealth. He must collect the tax levied by the county and certain taxes levied by, and payable to, the commonwealth. For this reason, he is required by law to give a bond to each ; the one, to the county that he will account for and pay over all moneys that may come into his hands belonging to the county; the other, to the commonwealth that he will make payment, according to law, of all moneys received by him for the use of the commonwealth. It is, therefore, apparent that the two bonds are given for different purposes, to secure the payment of different funds, and that the sureties on the one are not liable for a default and failure of their principal to account for moneys secured by the other. If this be not true, and the sureties on the county bond are liable for moneys collected by the treasurer for the state, why take two bonds ? The additional, or state, bond is taken for some purpose, and that purpose is found and disclosed in the bond itself, to wit: to secure payment of moneys collected for the commonwealth.
The foregoing view of the liability imposed by the respective
Neither the act of June 1, 1889, nor the act of June 8, 1891, has changed the mode of collecting state taxes, nor the liability imposed by the respective bonds required by the ti’easurer under the act of 1834, nor the manner of keeping accounts as required by that act. Under the late legislation a four-mill tax is imposed on personal property for state purposes, and it is provided that “ three fourths of the net amount of taxes based on the
2. xAlmost a century ago the legislature of this state declared that in all cases where a remedy was provided, or duty enjoined, or anything directed to be done by any act or acts of assembly of this commonwealth, the directions of the said acts should be strictly pursued; and no penalty should be inflicted, or anything done agreeably to the provisions of the common law, in such cases, further than should be necessary for carrying such act or acts into effect. In the many years which have intervened since this statute became a law of the commonwealth, no court has heretofore failed or refused to enforce its positive mandate or hesitated to give due effect to its provisions. Notwithstanding the uniformity of action by the courts and the settled construction of the act, the judgment of the court below in the present case was entered in direct violation of its terms.
The Act of April 15,1834, section 48, Purd. Dig. 447, pi. 10, provides that “ the auditors of each county .... shall audit, settle and adjust the accounts .... of the treasurer .... of the county, and make report thereof to the court of common pleas of such county, together with a statement of the balance
It will thus be seen that the legislature has created a special tribunal with ample powers to settle and adjust the accounts of the county treasurer with the commonwealth and the county, and thereby to ascertain and determine what, if anything, is due from the officer. The statute, it will be observed, is imperative and provides that the auditors “ shall audit, settle and adjust the accounts of the .... treasurer.” The details of the subsequent procedure are provided for until final adjudication by the appellate court. Here then, is a complete and effective remedy or course of procedure directed by statute by which the accounts of the treasurer shall be adjusted and the balance, if any, due by him to the county or commonwealth ascertained. This, under the act of 1806, is the exclusive and only method by which the treasurer of a county can be determined to be in default. Such has been the uniform interpretation put upon the statute by all the courts of the commonwealth before which the question has been raised, and there is not a single solitary decision to the contrary. Sixty years ago this court held, in Northumberland County v. Bloom, 3 W. & S. 542, that a settlement of the account of a county treasurer by the auditors unappealed from was conclusive against both the county and the officer. In Blackmore v. Allegheny County, 51 Pa. 160, Justice Agnew, delivering the opinion, after refer
These are but a few of the many cases by which it is conclusively established that a common-law action will not lie against a county officer for an alleged shortage in his accounts with the county and that an adjustment of his accounts by the county auditors is a prerequisite to an action on his official bond. They show, if anything can be settled by the repeated decisions of this court, that the act of 1834 provides a complete and exclusive way in which the accounts of a county officer with the county and the commonwealth must be settled and the amount, if any, be ascertained to be due to or from the officer. It necessarily follows that until this tribunal has determined an amount to be due from an officer, he is not in default and no action will lie against him or his sureties on his official bond. This evidently was the view of the appellee, as its substitute statement avers what the original statement omitted, that the accounts of the treasurer had been audited by the county auditors. This, as appears by the affidavit of defense and is conceded, had not been done when this suit was brought, and even if done subsequently cannot avail the plaintiff here, as was correctly ruled by the Superior Court in Commonwealth v. Piroth, 17 Pa. Superior Ct. 586.
The learned trial judge supports his position that a suit will lie on the bond without the prior action of the county auditors in determining the sum due from the officer by saying, arguendo, that to await the action of the tribunal created by law to establish the officer’s default might result in loss to the county by the death or insolvency of the sureties on the bond. With equal relevancy and force it may be suggested that both these events might occur and like conseq uences might result before the expiration of the officer’s term prior to which time no action will lie on the bond. It is further said in support of the position of the court below that the county might be qirejudiced by the delay attending the audit and final settlement of the officer’s accounts. This proposition is sufficiently answered by the suggestion that no delay in the audit of the officers’ accounts can occur unless the auditors fail to perform their duties, which we will not presume the court below, from which this appeal
But if the county-may bring suit on the bond without awaiting the action of the auditors, how is it to establish its claim before the court and jury? This requires, in the present case, a settlement of the accounts of the treasurer during at least one year of his term. The appellee contends that the amount due from the officer shall be ascertained from the “ true and correct accounts” required by the act of assembly to be kept by him. I cannot imagine that the county or the sureties on tbe bond would want to accept as verity an account stated by a defaulting officer. The law requires him to keep an account with the county as well as with the state, but it concludes no party, except possibly the officer himself, and not him if a mistake should be made to appear in the settlement of his accounts by the auditors. To sustain this action, however, the county is driven to the position of accepting his accounts, and has attached copies of it to the statement to show the amount due from the sureties on the bond. Should the case reach a jury, that body wholly unfitted for the purpose must pass upon and determine the correctness of a long and intricate account. The case would be similar to Mothland v. Wireman, 3 P. & W. 185, in which
From the plaintiff’s statement it appears that on January 1, 1900, there was due from the treasurer $126,661.44 which the affidavit of defense shows, and it is conceded, represents two funds, viz: $88,980.88, state taxes on personal property for 1899, and $42,730.61, county taxes for the year 1899. Of this amount the statement avers that there was paid to the county $61,623.50, leaving yet due $65,037.94. This is the total shortage according to the contention of the appellee. As conceded by all parties, and on the theory adopted by this court in Commonwealth v. Hershey, 200 Pa. 306, an action on the same treasurer’s state bond, this sum represents two funds, $43,096.64, state taxes, and $21,941.30, county taxes. The default of the treasurer to the county is, therefore, by the appellee’s own figures only $21,941.30, instead of $54,371.51, the amount declared by the court below to be due from the sureties on the bond and for which the court entered a judgment against them.
Commonwealth v. Hershey, supra, was an action brought for the use of Lancaster county against this same treasurer and his sureties on the state bond to recover that part of the deficit of $65,037.94 due the state and which the county had to pay. The same trial judge tried both cases, and in Commonwealth v. Hershey gave judgment in the action on the state bond for $44,072.94, the amount shown above as the state’s share of the total deficiency. This court held that as three fourths of the $83,930.83 was required to be returned to the county by the state treasurer, there was but one fourth of that sum, $21,612.18, lost to the state by the defaulting of the officer, and the proportionate share of that sum, to wit: $10,666.43, could be recovered from the sureties on the state bond. In this case the trial judge erroneously concluded that as the total shortage was $65,037.94, and this court had held that but $10,666.43 belonged to the state, the residue of the total deficiency was due the county from the treasurer, and that, therefore, the sureties on the county bond were liable for that sum. The trial judge misapplied Commonwealth v. Hershey, and consequently brought about an erroneous conclusion. That
Believing that the position taken by the majority of the court is in direct conflict with all prior rulings of this court, and that the decision will unsettle the well established practice of more than half a century in the audit and adjustment of the accounts of state and county officers by the controllers and auditors of the state, I have felt justified in citing the authorities bearing on the question raised on the appeal and in stating at some lengths the reasons why the judgment of the court below should be reversed.
I am authorized to say that Justice Potter joins in this opinion and dissent.
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
Emanuel H. Hershey was duly elected county treasurer of Lancaster county. To qualify he gave two bonds, one to the commonwealth and one to the county of Lancaster, the latter in sum of $100,000 ; among the conditions of this bond were these, that he would keep full accounts and that on expiration of his term, he would deliver to his successor all books, papers, documents and all other things held by him in right of said office and pay to his successor any balance of money belonging to said county. The other bond was to the commonwealth in the sum of $60,000, conditioned to keep safe and account as directed by law for all moneys received by him for use of the commonwealth. The treasurer’s term of office expired the first Monday of January, 1900, when his successor was duly qualified and assumed the duties of the office. Hershey turned out to be a defaulter, altogether, to the amount of over $65,000. The amount due the commonwealth was ascertained to be $10,666.43. See Commonwealth v. Hershey, 200 Pa. 306. For this amount the commonwealth obtained judgment and the sureties paid it. This amount with some commissions added, deducted from the whole amount of the default, left the balance due the county $61,104.62, the amount for which the court below entered judgment against the treasurer and his sureties on the county bond in this case. The judgment was entered for want of a sufficient affidavit of defense. The two sureties, C. H. Hershey and Amos Hershey, bring this appeal.
There are thirteen assignments of error, most of them to the correctness of the court’s method of ascertaining the balance due the county, and the soundness of its conclusions of law based
Section 48 of the act of 1884 says :
“ The auditors of each county, and two of them when duly convened shall be a quorum, shall audit, settle and adjust the accounts of the commissioners, treasurer, sheriff and coroner, of the county, and make report thereof to the court of common pleas of such county together with a statement of the balance due from or to such commissioners, treasurer, sheriff or coroner.”
This section was not for the protection of the officer or his sureties ; its purpose was the protection of the public; the accounts of the officer must not be left solely to his determination; they must undergo the scrutiny of a board of officers elected by the people entirely independent of him, and having no interest in common with him. This is apparent from the proviso to the act of February 18, 1871. A vicious custom had grown up in some of the counties, of electing as one of the auditors the county treasurer; that proviso expressly prohibits it. The finding of the auditors, may, or may not change the accounts of the officer so as to affect his or his sureties’ liability; their finding might, if not appealed from, absolutely determine a breach of the bond, when by the officer’s own account no such breach was shown. This suit was brought February 9, 1900; there was no auditor’s report until August 21 of that year and if the question, as to whether there is a breach of the condition
“ Each county treasurer shall give bond with sureties .... conditioned for the faithful performance of the duties of his office; for a just account of all moneys that znay cozne into his hands on behalf of the county: for the delivery to his successor in office of all books, papez-s azid docuznezits and other things, held in right of his office and for the payment to hizn of any balance of money, belonging to the county remaining in his hands.”
It will be noticed that in addition to the general duty of faithful performance, he is to do three specific things : 1. Keep a just account of all moneys that come into his hands. 2. Deliver to his successor all books, papers and documents held in right of his office. 3. Pay over to his successor any balance of couzity money remaining in his hazids. And such were the conditiozis of the bond, which conditions his sureties undertook he would pei’form. It is ziot matezial that the written obligation in the bond does not exactly follow the words of the statute; it was a statutory bozid given uzzder and by the provisions of the statute and the liability assumed by the sureties was the one fixed by the statute. No breach of the first and second specific duties is alleged ; the officer did keep accounts, he did deliver to his successor the books and papers held in right of his office; but he failed to perform the third specific duty, pay over to his successor the balance of the county money izi his hands. How do we know this ? We aziswer, from the public account books, which the law enjoined upon him as a duty to keep and which he handed over to his successor; they were not his individual books, they belonged to the public and were kept for a public purpose; they showed a large balance izr his hands belonging to the county: he did not pay this to his successor. Why was not this a breach of duty for which the sureties were at once answerable ? It is answered that the auditors had not yet settled and adjusted his accounts. But this did not postpone the performance of a plain statutory duty on the part of the of
We do not undertake to decide in this case, what would have been the proper course of the county had the treasurer failed to perform any one of the three special provisions of the bond, that is, had not kept accounts, had not handed them to his successor and had not paid over the balance ; such default raises a different question and one not before us. The authorities cited by appellant are not in point; they are all under other statutes with other provisions as to other officers with other duties; we decide the case on our statute prescribing specifically the duties of the officer, the conditions in his bond, and the undisputed fact of his default from the official account kept by him.
The opinion of the learned court below fully demonstrates the soundness of the judgment and it is affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.