Warner v. New Orleans

Syllabus

<p>Cross v. Evans, 167 U. S. 60, as to the certification of questions to this court by the court of appeal, approved and applied.</p> <p>The city of New Orleans, under the warranties, express and implied, contained in the contract of sale of June 7, 1876, by which it acquired the property and franchise of the Canal Company from Van Norden, and under the averments in the bill, which are set forth in the statement of the case, is estopped from pleading against the complainant the issuance of bonds to retire $1,672,105.21 of drainage warrants, issued prior to said sale, as a discharge of its obligation to account for drainage funds, collected on private property, and as a discharge from its own liability to that fund as assessee of the streets and squares: and, accordingly the first question asked by the Court of Appeals must be answered in the affirmative.</p> <p>The second question, inquiring whether the decision in Peake v. New Orleans, 139 U. S. 342, should be held to apply to the facts in this case, and operate to defeat the complainant’s action, puts the facts of the one case over against the facts of the other, and asks this court to search the record in each case to see if one operates to bar the other, and practically submits the whole case, instead of certifying a distinct question of law, and therefore does not come within the rule in respect to certifying distinct questions of law.</p>