Chatfield v. City of Seattle

(dissenting) — The trial to the court of three causes of action (which have been consolidated) brought by a number of employees of the park department of the city of Seattle to require the city to pay to them certain amounts of their respective salaries, which they alleged were unlawfully withheld from them, and to recover for time lost by reason of lay-offs, resulted in findings and judgments in favor of the plaintiffs. The city and its comptroller appealed.

The facts are summarized as follows:

The city council of the city of Seattle duly passed ordinance No. 61,908, which fixed the salaries,…