Pearson v. City of Seattle

Citations

• 14 Wash. 438
• 44 P. 884
• 1896 Wash. LEXIS 385

Syllabus

<p>MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS — CONSTRUCTION OP ORDINANCE — LICENSES — ESTOPPEL TO QUESTION — REVOCATION — RECOVERY OF UNEARNED PORTION — VERIFICATION OF CLAIM.</p> <p>A city, after receiving a license fee for public amusements and permitting a public dance to be conducted under the license thereby obtained, cannot claim, after stopping the dance, that the license did not authorize the dance and that therefore the fee was voluntarily paid and the unearned portion could not be recovered.</p> <p>A public dance is á public amusement within the meaning of an ordinance imposing a license fee on “ every theater, opera, concert . . . or other public amusement that is given in or connected with any saloon.”</p> <p>That a claim presented to a city council was not verified as required by the city charter is no defense to an action against the city for the amount, if it was not rejected on that ground and the charter does not forbid an action on an unverified claim.</p> <p>Upon revoking a license to conduct a public amusement for which a fee entitling to a license for a year had been received, a city is bound to return the unearned portion of the license fee.</p>