Abbott v. Rudolph

44 N.W.2d 785, 73 S.D. 520, 1950 S.D. LEXIS 51
CourtSouth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 28, 1950
DocketFile No. 9183
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 44 N.W.2d 785 (Abbott v. Rudolph) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering South Dakota Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Abbott v. Rudolph, 44 N.W.2d 785, 73 S.D. 520, 1950 S.D. LEXIS 51 (S.D. 1950).

Opinion

SMITH, J.

To consider the power of the trial court to include a transcript in the settled record, notwithstanding the failure of appellant to “forthwith” file the same in the office of the clerk of courts after it had been duly ordered and served as provided by SDC 33.0736, we issued a writ of certiorari. For reasons hereinafter set forth, we have concluded that the writ was inadvertently issued. Nevertheless, we have determined to treat the application for the writ as a motion made in the appeal from the judgment of the trial court, and thus relieve respondent from the useless labor of presenting his application in different form.

As we have indicated, the above named defendant-appellant, in attempting to have a record settled for use on appeal, complied with the provisions of SDC 33.0733, 33.0735 and 33.0736 in respect to their requirements dealing with the ordering of a transcript, the preparation and attachment of assignments of error, and the service of the transcript and assignments upon the plaintiff-respondent, but allowed thirty days to elapse after such service on counsel was made before he filed the transcript and assignments in the office of the clerk of courts. Predicated upon the provisions of SDC 33.0736 reading as follbws: “The transcript and assignments of error shall be served upon the adverse party within ten days after the receipt thereof by the party to whom it was delivered and the original transcript and assignments, with proof of service thereof, shall forthwith be filed in the office of the clerk of the court * * *” and the language of SDC 33.0737 reading as follow: “Failure to order, serve, and file a transcript within the time fixed by these rules shall constitute a waiver of the right to such a transcript and the record shall be settled without it as hereinafter provided”, the plaintiff-respondent above named appeared at the time and place fixed for the settlement of the record, and objected to the inclusion of the transcript therein, on the ground that the right to a transcript was waived because the filing of the transcript and assignments came too late, and the trial court was without power to extend or [523]*523fix the new time within which to file the same. The trial court overruled the objection and included the transcript in the record as settled. In his application for a writ of certiorari the plaintiff-respondent asserts that the trial court exceeded its power or jurisdiction in so doing, and that he has no right of appeal, or other plain, speedy, or adequate remedy.

The plaintiff is before this court as respondent to the appeal from the judgment entered in the principal action. In connection with such an appeal, it has been the uniform practice of this court, in response to a motion to strike made by respondent, to review the rulings made by the trial court in the course of the proceedings dealing with the preparation and settlement of a record. Theisen v. Qualley, 42 S.D. 367, 175 N.W. 556. The last instance of such a review was In re Weide’s Estate, 73 S.D. —, 44 N.W.2d 208. We are not disposed to change this settled practice.

Grounded upon the rule of SDC 37.0401 that certiorari will not be granted if, in the judgment of the court, any other plain, speedy, and adequate remedy is available to the applicant, it is next contended that the remedy we have described is not an adequate remedy.

The applicant reasons that if he were required to depend upon a review in the main case, the remedy would not be adequate because of delay and the waste of effort and expense in preparing briefs dealing with an issue of sufficiency of the evidence which would become useless if his contention that the trial court had exceeded its powers were sustained. In view of our powers, in appropriate circumstances, to afford one in respondent’s position complete protection by extending the time for filing of his briefs while we are considering the challenged ruling made by the trial court in connection with the settlement of the record, we regard the contention as inadmissible. In fact, the motion procedure, in cases where a showing is made justifying priority of consideration, will be as efficient as certiorari. Experience convinces us that this remedy which has been afforded litigants throughout the history of this court is plain, speedy, and adequate, and hence that review under a [524]*524writ of certiorari should not be substituted therefor. As indicated we treat the application made as a motion to strike the transcript from the settled record.

The contention on the merits is that the provision of SDC 33.0736 requiring that the transcript and assignments “shall forthwith be filed in the office of the clerk of the court” means “shall at once or without delay be filed in the office of the clerk of the court” and time for compliance with such requirement having elapsed, the trial court was powerless to permit a subsequent filing and to include the transcript in the record. We proceed under the assumption that “forthwith” means “without unreasonable delay.”

This contention that the court was without power to excuse the failure of the appellant to file the transcript within the time fixed by SDC 33.0736 is predicated upon a change made by the 1939 revision. Prior to 1939 it was provided by § 2559, Rev. Code 1919 that the trial court, upon good cause shown, could extend the time, or create a new time within which the acts required in settling a record or in making a motion for a new trial might be done. By the 1939 revision, the substance of § 2559, Rev. Code 1919 appears as SDC 33.1610, so revised as to have no application to proceedings for the settlement of a record. The revised provisions for the settlement of a record appear in SDC 33.07 with other provisions dealing with “Supreme Court Appellate Procedure”. Thus it appears that under the unambiguous wording of the 1939 revision the provisions brought forward from § 2559, Rev. Code 1919 are no longer the source of the power of our trial courts to extend the time, or to fix a new time within which the acts required to settle a record might be done. The defendant points to this situation and makes the further contention that no other provision of the 1939 revision grants power to our trial courts to exercise a discretion in the premises. We consider this further contention.

By SDC 33.0729 it is provided, “When a party shall in good faith give notice of appeal, and shall omit, through mistake or accident, to do any other act necessary to perfect the appeal or make it effectual, including the giving of a [525]*525proper undertaking for costs and damages, or to stay proceedings, the court from which the appeal is taken, or the presiding judge thereof, or the Supreme Court or any one of the Judges thereof, may permit an amendment, or the proper act to be done, including the giving of a new undertaking, on such terms as may be just.”

The foregoing section, which deals with acts “necessary to perfect the appeal or make it effectual” was placed in the above cited chapter of the 1939 revision which is devoted to Supreme Court Procedure, and which, as indicated supra, includes the provisions for the settlement of a record. The trial court depended upon this section as the basis of its power to exercise a judicial discretion in the premises.

It must be admitted that in fact an appeal for the purpose of securing a review of certain assignments of error would be wholly ineffectual without a settled record which embraced a transcript of the record and evidence.

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Related

Abbott v. Rudolph
47 N.W.2d 563 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1951)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
44 N.W.2d 785, 73 S.D. 520, 1950 S.D. LEXIS 51, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/abbott-v-rudolph-sd-1950.