Court Opinion

ID: 9686723
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 16:03:36.612849+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:21.757339
License: Public Domain

Broadfoot, J.
(dissenting). I cannot agree with the decision of the majority of the court that the demurrer to the amended complaint herein should be overruled. The amended complaint merely states that one of the relators, on behalf of others who are unnamed, requested the commissioner of banks to enforce the provisions of sec. 221.04 (1) (f), Stats., and that the commissioner declined to take any action and therefore any attempt to exert further compulsion on him was futile and any further formal demand to that end an idle ceremony.
The statutes charge the commissioner of banks with the enforcement of all laws relating to banks. The rules of the banking department require that requests for action on the part of the commissioner shall be by a petition in writing, duly verified. There is no allegation in the complaint that indicates any attempt to comply with this regulation. Attached to the complaint is a copy of the petition directed to the attorney general. Surely if a proper petition had been filed with the commissioner a copy thereof would have been likewise attached to the complaint. The only inference to be drawn from the complaint is that there was an informal request to the commissioner and an informal answer. The allegation that a formal demand would be an idle ceremony is an unwarranted statement about an efficient and conscientious public official. In my opinion the trial court was clearly correct in sustaining the demurrer.
I am authorized to state that Mr. Chief Justice Martin joins in this dissent.