Fairfield v. Rural Independent School Dists. of Allison & Jackson

Citations

• 111 F. 108
• 1901 U.S. App. LEXIS 4952

Syllabus

<p>School Districts—Suits against—Subdivision under Iowa Statute.</p> <p>Under the statutes of Iowa authorizing the subdivision of a school-district township or an independent district into two or more independent districts, and the decisions of its supreme court upon such subdivision, the original district passes out of existence and cannot be sued, but the remedy of a creditor is by action against the several new districts, all of which must be joined in the suit. Held, that such a suit, brought in a federal court, must be in equity, for the reason that there is no privity of contract between plaintiff and defendants which will support an action at law, and for a further reason, where it is shown as a defense, that the indebtedness sued on, if enforced against any one of the defendants alone, will subject it to a liability far in excess of its constitutional limit of indebtedness; it being the duty of the court in such case, in the exercise of its equitable powers, to prevent such result by apportioning the liability in the first instance by its decree.</p>