Court Opinion

ID: 9446560
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-03 21:58:27.253341+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:30:42.079064
License: Public Domain

HUTCHESON, Chief Judge,
dissenting.
As I understand the decision of the majority, it does not hold that in Floyd County v. Scoggins, 164 Ga. 485, 139 S.E. 11, 53 A.L.R. 1286, from which it takes its shibboleth, its “Thou shalt not pass”, the Supreme Court of Georgia had before it for decision or undertook to decide “the precise point in controversy” here and that, therefore, it has “binding effect as a precedent therein,” within the true meaning of precedent as pointed out in the majority opinion quoting from 35 C.J.S. Federal Courts § 176, p. 1260.
If, in the light of the undisputed facts of that case and of this, as they are clearly set out in the findings of fact and conclusions of law1 of the district judge, *492whose long and distinguished career in .the Georgia State and Appellate Courts and as a United States Judge in Georgia .furnishes for me, where the Georgia Appellate Courts have not spoken on the subject, “the best evidence available, the directions or the counsel of those who dwell upon the spot”, Hawks v. Hamill, 288 U.S. 52, 53 S.Ct. 240, 77 L.Ed. 610, they had so held, I should have contented myself with setting out the facts of both cases and simply drawing the deadly parallel.
If, on the other hand, the majority opinion, conceding that there were no binding precedents in favor of its view, and that the question was open for decision, had held that the correct way to decide it as a case of first impression was to deny liability and permit the county to avoid payment for the insurance, the benefits of which it had received, thus welshing on its agreement, I should content myself with saying that the decision was neither morally nor legally right, and, in support, should point to the uniform course of authority to the contrary of its view. My brothers, however, take neither of these courses.
Flatly stating:
“The question presented is not an entirely different question. We *493read Scoggins as being in point and as clearly establishing the rule which we are compelled to follow.” (Emphasis supplied.)
and by this dictum assuming the grounds on which their decision is to rest, the majority lay down the bridge over the chasm which, under the undisputed facts of the two cases and in the state of the law, it could not logically have crossed. It then proceeds to berate those who, like myself, cannot and will not follow this kind of question begging and, making broad its phylacteries, passes by on the other side.
My brothers correctly say, “It is the duty of a federal court to ascertain what the state law is and not what it ought to be.” In reply to each of them, I say, as the prophet Nathan in effect said to David, “Out of thine own mouth art thou judged.” All that I have ever asked or could justly ask of them is that, swallowing or confessing their pride of opinion in their power of divination and its inerrancy, which, by a kind of crystal ball gazing, enables them to prophesy on the basis of Scoggins as to what the Supreme Court of Georgia will do under an entirely different set of facts, is that they simply acknowledge: that Scoggins is a special, a peculiar, and a limited case; that in it the Georgia Supreme Court, resisting and rejecting, as the usurpation of authority, an act of the Legislature of Georgia, which ordered and undertook to compel counties to assume workmen’s compensation liabilities, decided this and nothing else, for nothing else was before it for decision, that the legislature had exceeded its powers.
That this is the case is shown not only by the opinion in the Scoggins case but even more strongly and clearly in later cases which have cited and discussed it and given it its true and limited meaning and effect, particularly two cases, Kelley v. Newton County, 198 Ga. 483, 32 S.E.2d 99, interpreting and applying it, and City of Atlanta v. Pickens, 176 Ga. 833, 169 S.E. 99, interpreting and distinguishing it.
The majority, in effect seeming to take the view that those who do not follow its view as to the way this case should be decided are in effect engaging in crystal gazing for the purpose of keeping up with, indeed getting ahead of the procession, a practice which in considered opinions I have not only eschewed but condemned, makes it appear that unwillingness to follow its lead in making the Scoggins case, like Moses’ rod, swallow all the other cases decided and to be decided in Georgia with respect to the power of counties, makes us subject to the charge that in arriving at our decision as to state law, we “psychoanalyze state court judges instead of rationalizing state court decisions.” With not too much deference to these view's of my distinguished brothers, I say in reply, for myself and my assaulted brother, that it is not he and I, but they who have done and are doing this thing.
Flying in the face of the full quotation from 35 C.J.S., 1260, supra, which I wholeheartedly adopt, the majority then proceeds, I think, to substitute for the facts required to make the Scoggins case a case on the precise point at issue here, to spin a web of theory based on conjecture as to what the judges in the Scoggins case were really trying to do, or had in their minds to do, or would have done if the facts here had presented themselves there.
Finally, citing in support of their view, New York Life Insurance Co. v. Schlat-ter, 5 Cir., 203 F.2d 184, a decision in which the writer participated and which, with deference, I submit does not at all support its view, the majority, following the same line of reasoning followed throughout, a line strongly reminiscent of that the wolf in Aesop’s Fables followed, when, concluding his argument with the lamb, he said, “Well, I am going to eat you anyway”, come up with this conclusion:
“Therefore, our decision is controlled by the Scoggins case, whether it be regarded as precisely in point or as furnishing compelling infer-*494enees and logical implications. Having concluded that the appellant, Polk County, should recover, we remand to the district court for the entry of an appropriate judgment” (emphasis supplied),
to which, replying, “Parturient montes et nascetur ridiculus mus”, I dissent for the reasons and upon the authorities cited by the district judge.

. Findings of Fact:
“This case is pending in this court because of diversity of citizenship of the parties. The plaintiff is Polk County, Georgia, and the defendant The Lincoln National Life Insurance Company, a nonresident. Plaintiff seeks to recover from defendant company the sum of $14,210.-81, representing insurance premiums paid by plaintiff to defendant upon certain policies of insurance which were in effect from Aug. 28, 1952, until Mar. 18, 1957, for the benefit of employees of the plaintiff, representing life insurance and disability insurance.
“The insurance was issued upon a contributory basis, a part of the premiums being paid from deductions from salaries of employees and a part from county funds. Total gross premiums paid during said period were $25,671.50 part of which was refunded. During that period of time defendant company paid as benefits to employees the sum of $13,198.00. Alleging that ‘the sum of $14,210.81. was an unauthorized expenditure of funds by the Board of Commissioners of Roads and Revenues of Polk County’, their successors in office, the present Board, now seek to recover the same from defendant.
“There is no dispute concerning the contention of defendant that the foregoing sums were paid by the County Commissioners for the benefit of the employees of the county, and there is no reason to doubt that the funds should be considered as additional wages or compensation to the latter. As this Court is ruling plaintiff cannot recover, it will not be necessary to make any additional Findings of Fact, and the foregoing facts are agreed upon between the parties.” (Emphasis supplied.) Conclusions of Law:
“If plaintiff recovers in this case it must be upon its contention that the former Board of County Commissioners paid out funds of the county for such insurance premiums and such payments were made for a purpose not including the purposes for which county taxes may be levied under the laws of Georgia. In Georgia Code Sec. 92-3701 there is an enumeration of the purposes for which the county may levy taxes. No contention is made to the effect that the employees who would benefit by these premium payments were not engaged in furtherance of the purposes for which taxes could be levied by the county authorities.
“It may be assumed that if these premiums were paid illegally the county would have the right to recover them back, and it will be noted that the eoun*492ty is not now seeking to recover all of the premiums paid, but only the amount over and above the claims paid by defendant insurance company. Plaintiff is correct in stating that if a contract made is illegal and is beyond the powers of a county, however beneficial it may be, the public ought not to be estopped to deny its validity. 14 Am.Jur., 213 and 215. It is also true that ‘counties possess no power to incur an obligation except as authority as given them by statute.’ See Nolan v. Cobb County, 141 Ga. 385 [81 S.E. 124, 50 L.R.A.,N.S., 1223]; also Lynch v. Harris County, 188 Ga. 651 [4 S.E.2d 573].
“On the other hand, the expenditures for premiums were legal if the purposes thereof ‘bore some clear and reasonable relation to one of the purposes for which taxes could be levied.’ See Floyd County v. Scoggins, 164 Ga. 485, at p[age] 487, [139 S.E. 11, 53 A.L.R. 1286]. Plaintiff relies strongly upon the case just cited to sustain its contention in this case, but there are several material distinctions between the case cited and the instant case. In the case cited the Court held to be invalid a Georgia statute requiring that counties furnish workmen’s compensation insurance to its employees, and to pay for the same. The statute therein involved in effect placed the mandatory duty upon the county commissioners which involved a liability against the county which previously did not exist. The purposes for which the insurance premiums were paid which are herein sued for, however, are of a •different nature and constitute additional compensation to the employees as wages and salary, the payment of which was left in the discretion of the county commissioners.
“It would seem that the weight of authority both in Georgia and other states is to the effect that the county commissioners had the right to supplement the salary or wages of its employees by paying part of these insurance premiums for the employees, and that a number of beneficial results flowed to the county by so doing. The county would be able to obtain better employees, the employees would have a sense of security, the county employee when injured could be paid his wages by the insurance company and not by the county. These various factors are pointed out in the cases cited below, upholding the validity of such payments by counties, to-wit: Nohl v. Board of Education [of City of Albuquerque, 27 N.M. 232], 199 P. 373; Bowers v. City of Albuquerque [27 N.M. 291], 200 P. 421; State ex rel. Thompson v. City of Memphis [147 Tenn. 658], 251 S.W. 46 [27 A.L.R. 1257]; Lower Colorado River Authority v. Chemical Bank & Trust Co., [Tex.Civ.App.], 185 S.W.2d 461; People ex rel. Terbush & Powell, Inc. v. Dibble, [Sup.], 189 N.Y.S. 29 (is contrary to the foregoing).
“That the county commissioners were acting within their discretion in taking out these insurance policies would seem to be supported by the Georgia Courts in the eases of: McCrory Co. of Georgia v. Board of Commissioners, 177 Ga. 242 [170 S.E. 18]; Spalding County v. [W.] Chamberlin & Co., 130 Ga. [649] 650 [61 S.E. 533]; Wright v. Floyd County, 1 Ga.App. 582 [58 S.E. 72],
“Based upon the foregoing this court concludes that the sums of money sued for in this case were legally paid out by the County Commissioners of Polk County and cannot be recovered in this case, and judgment will be entered accordingly.”