Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1916-11-15
|S0R[|E NEEDS NOT
|5PAY' FOR...l0ST''LEG
Supreme Court Reverses Decis:
ion Of Trail County s. in ~: Injury !: :
4o@ :o % :s Suit, si "'; ,o e., :. :.
l;;o, 81 It, .re .!' 80 y ,y.:saa:G q,
COUNTY CANNOTiBEr HELD h
l9taE .s'.Sis 99!Hlini-, ~ 9tirW n
FOR FEE TREASURER GOT
- g.G@yhW @,i' - ---+--- Tj.r1". a;i.
Cass County Tribunal Upheld in
Ruling Against City Of Fargo
;Js:o'l -; in Test Case ~ * J. r"

OI'J. SOrlie, unsuccessful candidate
for the Republican nomination for lieu.
tenant governor at the June primaries,
need not pay. the assessment',of;$ $4,000
levied against him in the Trail county
district court for Arvid Nordberg's
leg which was lost as result Of q
collision between the Nordberg motor.
cycle and the Sorlie automobile in
Trail county July II, 1914.
Lower Court Reversed.
Nordberg, according to the evidence.
was speeding in one direction and Sor.
lie in the other on country road. Sor.
lie started to turn out, but did not sue.
coed in clearing the highway before
Arvid crashed into him. Arvid's injur.
les necessitated the amputation of a
leg. He brought action against Sorlie
in the Trail county district court, be-
fore Judge Cooley, charging negli:
gence upon the part of Sorlie, and he
recovered 4 verdict for $4,000.
=. Action Dismissed. K,
Sorlie appealed to the supreme
court, which this week rendered de-
cision reversing the lower court and
ordering the action dismissed. The
opinion, written by Judge Goss, holds
there was no proof of the defendants
negligence: that there was proof OF the
plaintiffs contributory negligence, and
that the finding of the jury in the trial
court, holding the plaintiff not guilty
of contributory negligence is contrary
to all the admitted facts and to the
plaintiffs own proof.
Was Going Some.
Evidence was introduced in the low
er court to the effect that Nordby, just
before the crash, was hitting IS miles
an hour. .-..'.
Charles A. Lyche of Hatton and Hen.
~ Leum of Mayville were attorneys
for Nordby and Theo kaldor and John
Carmody of Hillsboro represented Sor.
lie. ..
County Need Not Pay.
Cass county is not liable to the city
of Fargo for a fee of one percent re-
tanned to themselves from 1901 until
after 1910 by the county treasurers
from Fargo city special assessments
collected by the county officials. The
supreme court this week upholds the
district court of Cass county in ruling
that while the county treasurers were
not entitled to withhold one per cent
0: the city special assessments, no
liability on the part of the county can
be inferred simply because by statute
the bonds of the county treasurer are
subject to the approval and action of
teh administration board of the eoun.
ty, leaving the treasurer without con-
t,ol or supervision by the city.
Has case-Against Whom?
In other words, the city of Fargo has
q case, but it is not against the county
of Cass. The amount involved Is
S3,S47. The county, the court finds,
never received this money, as it was
never placed in any fund of the county
treasurery. The city, however, claim
ed that the treasurer made the collec.
tons as an agent of the county. which
in turn became the collecting agent
for the city under the law whereunder
the county treasurer was made respon.
sible for the collection of special city