The morning journal-courier., 1908-07-10
CLAIM UNSETTLED
Lynch strenuously Opposes City Reimbursing Policeman
 Landy.
AN OLD CASE REVIEWED
Board of Finance Asked to Pay Pa- trolman's Court Ex-
 pcnses.

The session of the board of finance yesterday took on the nature of Q court, The case at bar was that of the payment of Officer Landy of the police department, who asks that the city reimburse him for hls expenses in fighting a case brought against him for damages by a man by the name of Lynch. It had been agreed by the board that the parties In the case should be notified so that the matter could come up yesterday after noon. Attorney Goodhart and MT. Stoddard, his partner, were on hand to represent Landy, while Mir. Lynch appeared to oppose tho payment by the city and tho corporation counsel was on hand to guide the city body.
 The bill which Landy asks the city to pay consists mainly of attorneys fees and costs of the action together with damages of s25 and cost of s53 which were awarded by the jury in the case. The total is s344.49. At torney Goodhart spoke first for the payment by the city, He represented that Landy had acted in obedience to orders by his superior and that for the good of the service the bill should be, paid by the city in support of an officer who had simply carried out the instructions of his superior. He said that the bill had been approved by the board of police commissioners and In his opinion should be paid by the city.
 Mir Lynch replied In direct opposi- tion to the payment He declared that the suit he had brought against Landy had been a personal suit and not one against the city; that 1t was a brutal case of assault and nothing else, and he said he could see no req son why the city should pay for Landy's attorney than for his own, and he had had to pay them. The city, he declared, was not paying men Ito waylay others on the streets. He also tried to show that Landy was not acting under instructions from su- perior officer in the acts that had caused the suit.
 Lynch further said that on account ol uiluloIy ttIlitS lltli UEth carried out in connection with bring jng the case before the police com enittee on efficiency he had never ap- peared before that body so that the case had never been thoroughly tried out there. He took umbrage at re- mark by Attorney Goodhart In regard no the damages being placed so low as Indicating the jury did not think he had been wronged much and he as- serted that there had been ten men on the jury who wanted to give him $500, whereat Attorney Goodhart re- piled that he had heard that there were eleven on the jury who did not wish to give him anything.
 The matter was brought back to earth again by Alderman Miller who defined the issue as one in which the only question was whether the man had acted in obedience to orders and If so, whether under the circum- stances 1t was public policy for the city to pay the bill. This was agreed to on all hands and the board slgni- lied that 1t would attempt to deter mine the facts along this line.
 Corporation Counsel Rogers read the opinion which former Corpora tion Counsel Daggett had handed in on the question, for 1t is one which has been hanging fire since 1906. The opinion held that the city was not lla- ble at all for the claim, but that 1t might be matter of public policy to pay the claim if the facts were found to be that he had acted In obedience to orders of a superior. In that case he said the board might properly in quire Into the facts and pay the bill If 1t thought proper to do so. In this expression of opinion Corporation Counsel Rogers concurred.
 After hearing this the board decid- ed to lay the matter over for consid- eraticn later when the facts in the ease can be ascertained.
 Formal authorization of the SS5, ,00C bridge bonds which the board of al nermen have passed was made yes terday afternoon. Bids were author lzed and 1t is now up to the controller to call for them when he Is ready tc Issue these bonds They will go along s,ith the other bonds which are being
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