star-pagination">*Page 630 transferring this case to the Supreme Court where we think it properly belongs.

The principal allegations of the petition for an injunction are that the auditors, acting under instructions from defendants, have taken possession of certain records of the sheriff's office, which records have been lost, misplaced or destroyed while in the possession of these auditors; that these auditors have been in the office of the sheriff for four months and completed their annual audit through June 30, 1941, and said auditors have made a demand for an audit of the period from June 30 to July 15, 1941; that there is no occasion for this partial audit for this short period of time after the completion of the annual audit, as the sheriff had made a full settlement with the State up to the end of this period. In the following articles of the petition, the allegation is made that if these auditors are permitted to continue their audit and keep the sheriff's records, it will interfere with him in the discharge of his duties as sheriff.

In answer to this petition, the defendants allege that the auditors had made an incomplete audit of the sheriff's books and records through June 28, 1941, which disclosed a discrepancy in the sheriff's account in the sum of approximately $6,000; that one of the sheriff's deputies stated to the auditors on July 15, 1941, that this deficit was made up of post dated checks which he had deposited to the credit of the sheriff on July 12, 1941, which checks had not been shown to said auditors; that it became necessary for the auditors to extend their audit through July 15, 1941, to ascertain the source of said deposit.

From the pleadings, it will be seen that the case involves principally the question of whether or not there was a deficit or shortage in the sheriff's accounts of approximately $6,000 at the close of the audit on June 30, 1941, and the right of the auditors to ascertain and determine from the records of the sheriff after that date whether or not this shortage existed. Therefore, this case involves as a pecuniary result the potential liability of the sheriff of an amount approximately $6,000; that is to say, if such a shortage should be found to exist, the sheriff would be subjected to a liability of that amount, and on the other hand, if no such shortage does exist, he would be relieved of that amount of liability.

Where the pecuniary result of granting an injunction, or other similar writ, would compel one of the parties to spend, or become liable for spending, a sum of money, such sum determines the jurisdiction of the appellate court, where, otherwise, there is no specific amount in dispute. While in this case the maintaining or the dissolving of the injunction would not have the direct effect of relieving or holding the sheriff responsible for the amount of the alleged deficit, yet the real matter in dispute is the determination of whether or not there is a liability on the part of the sheriff for an amount above the jurisdiction of this court. This seems to have been the interpretation placed on the question by the Supreme Court in the case of Board of Health v. Town of De Quincy, 163 La. 369, 111 So. 789.

For the reasons herein assigned, and in accordance with Act 19 of 1912, it is ordered that the appeal in this case be transferred to the Supreme Court of Louisiana; that the appellants be and they are hereby given thirty days from the return of the record in this case to the district court after this judgment becomes final in which to file and perfect this appeal in the Supreme Court, and on their failure to do so, the appeal to stand as dismissed.

LE BLANC, DORE, and OTT, JJ., concur.

Citation profile

Relationships

How this case has been treated — in progress