Cromwell v. County Of Sac

94 U.S. (4 Otto) 351 (1876)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

County of Sac (D) issued bonds to a contractor to erect a courthouse. The bonds were to be redeemed in 1868, 1869, 1870, and 1871. The courthouse was never built. Cromwell (P) sued to force D to redeem the bonds. The trial court held that the bonds would have been redeemable if P had owned the bonds before the maturity date, and had actually given value to acquire them. P was estopped from proving the latter requirement because of his participation in a previous and unsuccessful litigation effort to redeem the bonds through a third party named Smith. The trial court rendered judgment for D. P appealed; his claim was different from the claim made by Smith.