Brown v. Ball

150 N.W. 890, 29 N.D. 223, 1915 N.D. LEXIS 6
CourtNorth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 6, 1915
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 150 N.W. 890 (Brown v. Ball) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering North Dakota Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brown v. Ball, 150 N.W. 890, 29 N.D. 223, 1915 N.D. LEXIS 6 (N.D. 1915).

Opinion

Fise, J.

This is ah action to recover damages for fraud and deceit. At the time of the commencement of such action plaintiff applied for and obtained an order of arrest under our arrest and bail statute, pursuant to which order the defendant was arrested and held to bail in the sum of $1,500. He immediately furnished such bail, and thereafter moved the district court to vacate the order of arrest, which motion was granted after due hearing and consideration, and the order vacated. Plaintiff appeals from such order, serving with his notice of appeal the following statement of errors of law and insufficiency of the evidence, to wit:

“1st. The affidavits submitted by and on behalf of the plaintiff were [228]*228sufficient in law and fact to sustain tbe order of arrest wbicb was vacated by tbe court.
“2d. That no evidence was submitted by tbe defendant wbicb was sufficient in law or fact to justify tbe court in vacating tbe order of arrest and exonerating tbe bail of tbe defendant.
“3d. That tbe evidence is insufficient for tbe reason that it does not in any manner positively dispute tbe allegations of tbe plaintiff, that tbe defendant was without authority, and knew be was without authority, to sign tbe name of the Columbia Land Company to tbe contract, ‘exhibit B; ’ and was hearsay, and not tbe best evidence as to whether defendant was in fact tbe vice president of said Columbia Land Company.
“4th. That tbe basis of tbe order of arrest and tbe plaintiff’s cause of action being identical, it was tbe province of tbe jury to determine 'the facts in controversy, wbicb were raised by defendant’s and plaintiff’s affidavits on tbe bearing of tbe motion; and that in any event tbe evidence is of such a character that tbe vacating order should be set aside as a matter of discretion, in order that tbe whole case may be investigated by tbe taking of depositions as to matters it was impossible to prove by affidavits.”

Tbe learned trial court, in making tbe order complained of, filed an elaborate memorandum decision or opinion, wbicb has been brought to our attention by counsel. Such memorandum decision has served to materially lighten tbe burdens of this court in clearly pointing out tbe various contentions of counsel in tbe court below, and tbe bolding of that court on each of such contentions. This practice is an admirable one, and we commend it to tbe other trial judges of tbe state, for it is of incalculable benefit to have such information.

We deem it unnecessary to pass upon tbe numerous practice questions raised and decided in the court below and argued in this court in tbe briefs of counsel, for, as we view tbe case, the order appealed from was correct, and must be affirmed upon tbe ground that tbe affidavit upon which the order of arrest was based fails to disclose that a sufficient cause of action exists, as required by § 7491, Compiled Laws of 1913. This section provides: “Tbe order may be made whenever it appears to tbe judge by tbe affidavit of the plaintiff, or some other person, that a sufficient cause of action exists, and that tbe case is one of [229]*229those mentioned in § 7489. Tbe affidavit must be either positive or upon information and belief; and when upon information and belief, it must state the facts upon which the information and belief are founded. If an order of arrest is made, the affidavit must be filed in the office of the clerk of the court.”

We shall therefore direct our attention solely to this one point.

The affidavit presented as a basis for the order reads as follows, omitting formal parts: “Mrs. J. E. E. Brown, being duly sworn, says that she is the plaintiff in the above-entitled action; that a sufficient cause of action exists against said defendant and in favor of said plaintiff for the recovery of damages in an action arising on contract, wherein the defendant has been guilty of a fraud in contracting the debt and incurring the obligation for which the action is brought; and is a cause of action mentioned in § 6890, Revised Codes of North Dakota 1905; that the facts upon which said action is based are stated and set forth in the verified complaint herein, a copy of which is hereto attached, sworn to, and made a part of this affidavit to the same effect as though such facts were again repeated at length herein.” It is apparent that such affidavit, considered apart from the complaint, sets forth no facts from which it was made to appear to the judge that a sufficient cause of action existed to authorize the issuance of such order of arrest. We must therefore look to the complaint, which is made a part of the affidavit, to determine whether such necessary facts were made to appear. Such complaint is quite lengthy, and, instead of setting the same out in full, we shall content ourselves by adopting in main the condensed statement thereof made by appellant’s counsel as follows:

“1st. That some time during the summer of 1909, while the defendant was doing dental work on the plaintiff’s teeth, he commenced negotiations with her, and recommended that she purchase some land from the Inland Irrigation Company, in the state of Oregon.
“These negotiations continued along until about the 14th day of January, 1910, when a contract was drawn up, but was not signed until January 28th, 1910.
“2d. The plaintiff had doubts of the reliability of the Inland Irrigation Company, and also of her ability to perform the conditions set forth in the proposed contract, and refused to enter into the same unless full assurance was given that any money she paid upon the [230]*230contract would be refunded to ber if tbe same did not prove satisfactory to ber, or if sbe was unable to carry out tbe provisions of tbe contract.
“3d. That tbe defendant, for tbe purpose of inducing plaintiff to contract and pay over money, represented that be.and tbe Columbia Land Company were interested as agents; that be was not only agent but vice president of tbe Columbia Land Company; that be was authorized and empowered by said company as its vice president to sign its corporate name; that be would personally and individually act as plaintiff’s agent and trustee; that be would cause tbe Columbia Land Company to act as ber agent and trustee, and that be individually and tbe Columbia Land Company would refund plaintiff’s money to ber within three months after demand if the plaintiff became dissatisfied or was unable to carry out tbe terms of tbe contract.
“4th. That plaintiff believed said statements, and relied upon them, and in consideration thereof executed tbe contract and paid over ber money.
“5th. That sbe so paid over in tbe aggregate tbe sum of $1,029.75, and that said money was so paid by reason of plaintiff’s reliance in and upon tbe statements and contract of said E. E. Ball and tbe pretended agreement of tbe Columbia Land Company.
“6th.

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Related

Federal Land Bank v. Koslofsky
271 N.W. 907 (North Dakota Supreme Court, 1936)
Brown v. Ball
174 N.W. 629 (North Dakota Supreme Court, 1919)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
150 N.W. 890, 29 N.D. 223, 1915 N.D. LEXIS 6, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brown-v-ball-nd-1915.