Tuttle v. Town of Weston
Tuttle v. Town of Weston
Opinion of the Court
.The following opinion was filed October 23, 1883:
The real contention is whether the voters present at the annual town meeting had authority to compromise the plaintiff’s claim by allowing him the amount named in settlement, without any previous notice that such claim would be presented or acted upon-. The complaint seems to have been upon the original contract, but evidently states enough to allow proof of the compromise, as held by the trial court. It is urged that an annual town meeting has no power of compromising a claim like the one in question, except such as is derived from subdivisions 5 and 7, sec. 776, R. S., and that the seventh provides that the powers conferred by those two subdivisions shall not be exercised at any such town meeting, unless the town board shall have given notice of their intention to present the proposition to such meeting, as is required in case of special town meetings, nor unless a resolution or order to be voted upon, containing the particulars required by the next section, shall be first publicly read to such meeting before the vote shall be taken. The next section provides that no bonds shall be issued by any town, when the power to issue the same de
By subd. 1 of sec. ‘776, R. S., the qualified electors of the town, at any annual town meeting, are expressly empowered to vote to raise money for the support of the poor, and for defraying all other proper charges and expenses of the town, subject to certain limitations as to the amount of highway taxes. By subd. 2 of the same section such voters are expressly empowered, at such annual town meeting, to direct the institution and defense of all actions in which the town is a party or interested, to employ all agents and attorneys for the
Having the power .to compromise the claim by the vote taken, the action of the voters in doing so became binding upon the town board, and hence the plaintiff was entitled to the verdict rendered upon the undisputed evidence. Being in settlement, it included all matters between the parties. The conclusions reached render it unnecessary to consider the other exceptions in.the record.
By the Court.— The judgment of the. circuit court is affirmed.
A motion for a rehearing was denied January 8, 1884.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Tuttle v. The Town of Weston
- Status
- Published