Alaska Credit Bureau v. Burnell

11 Alaska 82
CourtDistrict Court, D. Alaska
DecidedApril 11, 1946
DocketNo. 5464-A
StatusPublished

This text of 11 Alaska 82 (Alaska Credit Bureau v. Burnell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Alaska primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Alaska Credit Bureau v. Burnell, 11 Alaska 82 (D. Alaska 1946).

Opinion

KEHOE, District Judge.

On July 31, 1945, the above-named plaintiff filed an amended complaint in the Justice Court for the Juneau Precinct alleging that it was the owner and holder by assignment of a judgment against defendants entered on the [84]*848th day of May, 1939, in the Superior Court of the State of Washington, in the sum of $666.55 with interest from its date. A copy of the judgment attached to the amended complaint reads as follows:

“In the Superior Court for the State of Washington in and for the County of Spokane.
Bonded Adjustment Company, a corporation, v Plaintiff, Ed Burnell, and Mrs. Ed Burnell, his wife, Defendants.^
Nq> 103;338 Judgment

The Court being fully advised in the premises, it is by the Court

Ordered, Adjudged and Decreed that plaintiff do have and recover of and from the defendant and the community existing between himself and his said wife in the sum of $341.55 together with an attorney fee of $35.00 on its first cause of action and in the sum of $237.00 together with an attorney fee of $35.00 on its second cause of action, together with its costs and disbursements herein expended taxed by the Clerk at $18.00, and for interest thereon at the rate of 6% per annum from March 31, 1939, until paid.

Done in open court this 8th day of May, 1939.
/s/ Fred H. Witt
Judge.”

At the trial of the case in the court below the foreign judgment was admitted in evidence and judgment was given by the Justice in favor of the plaintiff and against the defendant Ed Burnell in the sum of $611.55 with interest, attorney’s fees and costs as prayed for. The defendant Mrs. Ed Burnell was not served with summons and complaint and did not appear in the action. This judgment was signed on October 29, 1945. Written notice of appeal was filed on November 21, 1945. The transcript was filed in this court on November 27, 1945. No bond for costs on appeal was filed until February 8, 1946, a motion to dismiss [85]*85the appeal having been filed on January 28, 1946, for failure to file the bond for costs.

On March 27, 1946, at the time the case was set for hearing the defendant Ed Burnell filed a “Motion for Perpetual Stay of Execution and Dissolution of Void Judgment Lien” setting forth as grounds therefor:

1. That the record of the foreign judgment sued upon does not show service of process, or an appearance by the defendants, or either of them.

2. Said judgment shows on its face that the attorney’s fees allowed plaintiff are in excess of any amount allowed by the laws of the Territory of Alaska.

3. The record in this case shows that the judgment sued upon is a judgment against the defendant Ed Burnell and the community consisting of said Ed Burnell and his wife, and not an exclusively personal judgment against the defendant Ed Burnell.

On the hearing on the motion to dismiss the appeal for failure to file the cost bond on appeal, and the motion for perpetual stay of execution, which were heard together, it was argued, first, that the failure of the defendant Ed Burnell to file the bond at the time required by law (section 5593, C.L.A. 1933) is fatal, and the appeal should be dismissed for that reason, and, second, that, in addition to the grounds set forth in the motion for perpetual stay of execution, the foreign judgment sued upon and admitted in evidence in the lower court is not entitled to full faith and credit for the reason that it does .not comply with the requirements as to authentication as set forth in Title 28 U.S.C.A. § 687.

In the case of Corcoran v. Kostrometinoff, 9 Cir., 164 F. 685, 3 Alaska Fed. 609, 21 L.R.A.,N.S., 399, which grew out of an appeal to the District Court for the First Division of Alaska from the Probate Court of Sitka Precinct, the Circuit Court of Appeals held that the failure of appellant to file an appeal bond for costs at the time of taking the appeal was not grounds for dismissal, provided the bond [86]*86be filed within a reasonable time thereafter, and where the appellee was not prejudiced by the delay.

Our statute on appeals from the Probate Court, however, no where provides that a bond on appeal shall be filed (Secs. 4571-4574, C.L.A. 1933). It provides only that exceptions to the order, decree or judgment shall be filed. Neither does the statute set any time limit for the perfecting of such appeal. Our rules, however, do provide that probate appeals be perfected within thirty days after the entry of the order or decree unless for good cause an extension not exceeding ninety days be allowed by the Court. This rule was made years after the Kostrometinoff case was decided. But our statute on appeals from the Justice Court expressly provides that a notice of appeal be given, and a cost bond be filed within thirty days from the date of the entry of the judgment in the lower court.

In the case of O’Connor v. Beck, 5 Alaska 690, the defendant attempted to appeal from a judgment against him in the Justice Court. The transcript was not filed in the District Court within the statutory period. On motion to dismiss the appeal, the Court held that the time for filing the transcript of the cause is jurisdictional and mandatory, it is statutory, and no- exceptions are provided for, nor is the Court given any power to accept any excuse for failure to-comply exactly and promptly with the requirements of the- statute on appeals. Sections 5591 to 5603, C.L.A. 1933, clearly show that the time for filing the transcript of the cause is jurisdictional and mandatory. The transcript must have annexed thereto all the original papers relating to the cause or the appeal and filed with the Justice. Sec. 5598, C.L.A. 1933. The appeal is taken by serving a notice thereof on the adverse party or his attorney and filing the original with proof -of service endorsed thereon with the Justice, and by giving the undertaking for the costs of the appeal. Sec. 5593, C.L.A. 1933.

The transcript in this case did not contain an undertaking for costs on appeal. • No such paper was filed [87]*87with the Justice, nor was it filed in the District Court within the thirty days allowed. May the District Court now permit the cause to be heard on appeal on the filing of a bond after the lapse of three months and after the filing herein of a motion to dismiss the appeal for failure to file the bond ? Since the appeal is statutory the answer must be in the negative. The case of Corcoran v. Kostrometinoff, supra, is not controlling here.

Having held that the appeal should be dismissed it follows that judgment here shall be given as in the court below. Sec. 5601, C.L.A. 1933.

It is claimed by defendant in his brief and on argument that this Court now has the right to inquire into the record of the trial in the court below and to determine therefrom whether that court proceeded in accordance with law, and cites as his authority the case of Loussac v. Jacobsen, 7 Alaska 560, and cases therein cited.

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Related

O'Connor v. Beck
5 Alaska 690 (D. Alaska, 1917)
Loussac v. Jacobsen
7 Alaska 560 (D. Alaska, 1927)
Corcoran v. Kostrometinoff
164 F. 685 (Ninth Circuit, 1908)
Corcoran v. District Court
187 F. 813 (Ninth Circuit, 1911)
Farquharson v. Fresno Oil Co.
9 F.2d 515 (Eighth Circuit, 1925)
Northwestern Mut. Life Ins. v. Stevens
71 F. 258 (Eighth Circuit, 1895)

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11 Alaska 82, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/alaska-credit-bureau-v-burnell-akd-1946.