Bond v. Epley

48 Iowa 600
Supreme Court of Iowa·Decided June 10, 1878·Published·Cited by 7 cases

Opinion

Day, J.

I. Proceedings to vacate a judgment for fraud practiced by the successful party, and unavoidable casualty or misfortune preventing the party from defending, must be by [604] petition verified by affidavit, and must be commenced within one year after the judgment or order was made. Code, §§ 3154 and 3157. The judgment in this case was entered on the 20th day of October, 1874. • The original petition for' the vacation of the judgment was filed October 13, 1875, seven days before, and the amended and substituted petition was filed October 22, 1875, two days after the expiration of the year from the rendition of the judgment. 'Notice of the application was not served upon the plaintiff until January 26, 1876, more than fifteen months after the judgment was rendered. The court overruled the application upon the ground that the proceedings were not commenced in time. This ruling was, we think, correct under the statute. But, whether correct or not; it cannot now be reviewed. No exception was taken to the ruling, but the cause was transferred to the equity docket, and twenty-two days thereafter the defendant filed an amended petition in equity, seeking relief upon equitable grounds. The defendant’s right to relief must be determined by the case made in this equitable proceeding.

II. The petition in equity was filed a little more than eighteen months after the rendition of the judgment. The facts relied upon for relief are the same as those stated in the substituted petition of October 22, 1875, namely, fraud of plaintiff in delaying service of notice till defendant was beyond communication, and unavoidable casualty . preventing him from defending, in that he did not know that the suit was commenced until after judgment was rendered. Not a fact is stated which was not known to defendant, from his own showing, as early as November 14, 1874, less than one month after the judgment was rendered. The case is simply this : The defendant, having neglected to make his application at law for relief within the time allowed by statute, resorts to a court of equity for relief, without furnishing any excuse whatever for the delay, or showing that a single fact has come to his knowledge which was not known to him in time to have made his application under the statute, within the year. Under [605] these circumstances equity will not grant relief. A court of equity will grant a new trial in an action at law, after the time for applying for relief under section 3157 of the Code has elapsed, only when proper reasons are shown for the application. District Township of Newton v. White, 42 Iowa, 608; Bowen v. Troy Portable Mill Company, 31 Id., 460; Partridge v. Harrow, 27 Id., 96; Hoskins v. Hattenback, 14 Id., 314.

3 _._. notice. It is claimed that the court had no jurisdiction to render the judgment. If this be true the defendant should be relieved against it, notwithstanding the delay in making the application. The notice, a copy of which was served upon the wife of the defendant Epley, and which was duly published in a weekly newspaper, is as follows: “You are hereby notified that on or before the 1st day of June, A. D. 1874, there will be on file in the office of the clerk of the District Court of Linn county, Iowa, the petition of the plaintiff aforesaid, claiming of you the sum of five thousand three hundred and forty-four dollars and sixty-eight cents, as money justly due from you on two promissory notes, and interest thereon at one and one-half per cent from the 3d day of October, A. D. 1873, until paid, and that a writ of attachment issue' to secure the same and costs of this suit. You are also notified that unless you appear thereto, and defend before noon of' the second day of the term of said District Court of Linn county, to be held on the 19th day of October, A. D. 1874, a default will be entered against you, and judgment rendered thereon. ” This notice complies fully with the provisions of section 2599 of the code. It is almost an exact copy of the form for notice prescribed in section 2518 of the Code of 1851, with the addition that it named the term of court at which defendant is required to appear, as provided in sections 2599 of the Code of 1873, and 2812 of the Revision, which provision is. not contained in section 1715 of the Code of 1851. The defendant claims that this notice is defective, in that it does-not inform the defendant of the place where he must appear and defend the action. Reliance is placed upon the case of' [606] Kitsmiller v. Kitchen, 24 Iowa, 163. In that case the notice concluded after making a statement of what the petition claimed, and did not notify the defendant that he was required to appear and defend anywhere, or at any time. It is with reference to this state of facts that the court say that “the failure of the original notice to inform the defendant as to the place where, and the time when, he must appear and defend the action, was a substantial and fatal defect. ” In this case both time and place are stated. The time is the 19th day of October, 1874; the place is the District Gourt of Linn county. The case of Kitsmiller v. Kitchen does not hold that the city or town in which the court is to be held must be stated, and the statute makes no such requirement. The notice was clearly sufficient to authorize a judgment in rem against the attached property.

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Bond v. Epley, 48 Iowa 600 (iowa 1878).

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