MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS - INDEBTEDNESS - USE OF MANDAMUS TO COMPEL PAYMENT OF JUDGMENT

Petitioner sought a peremptory order directed to the council of the city of Long Beach, to compel them to include in the 1939 budget a sum sufficient to pay a judgment obtained for materials furnished to the city. Held, the denial of application by the lower court was not an abuse of discretion, since payment of the judgment would have given the petitioner a preference over other creditors of the same class inasmuch as there were insufficient funds available to pay all claims of such class without crippling the city or working unusual hardship on taxpayers. Coombs v. Edwards, 280 N. Y. 361, 21 N. E. (2d) 353 (1939).