Bryne v. Bryne

196 A. 402, 135 Me. 330, 1938 Me. LEXIS 5
CourtSupreme Judicial Court of Maine
DecidedJanuary 20, 1938
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 196 A. 402 (Bryne v. Bryne) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Judicial Court of Maine primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bryne v. Bryne, 196 A. 402, 135 Me. 330, 1938 Me. LEXIS 5 (Me. 1938).

Opinion

Hudson, J.

Action of assumpsit on six promissory notes, of all of which the defendant, James L. Bryne, is'maker and the plaintiff, Willard, his brother, payee. Upon the resting of the plaintiff’s case (the defendants offering no testimony), the court ordered a verdict which besides the principal gave to the plaintiff interest only from the date of the writ. To the direction of this verdict the plaintiff excepted.

He filed three exceptions, the first two of which are not pressed, the exceptant stating in his brief:

“The only question presented to this Court is the ruling and the instructions by the Court in relation to the date from which the plaintiff is entitled to recover interest on the pleadings and the evidence.”

Counsel for the defendants attacks the sufficiency of the exception. Omitting the formal parts, it reads :

“Third Exception: At the conclusion of the testimony the Presiding Justice directed the jury to return a verdict for the plaintiff for the amount of $2666.47 which included interest from the date of the writ,; and instructed the jury as a matter of law that ‘. . . the plaintiff, under the evidence and the pleadings filed in this case, is entitled to recover interest on his notes only since the date of the writ which is November 10, 1936.’ ■
“By which said rulings and instruction the plaintiff was and is now aggrieved, and having seasonably excepted, and having reduced his exceptions.to writing, prays that the same may be allowed.
“The writ, pleadings, evidence, exhibits reported, and the charge of the Presiding Justice are made a part of this bill of , exceptions.”

It is fundamental that “an excepting party, if he would obtain any benefit from his exceptions, must set forth enough in the bill of exceptions to enable the Court to determine that the points raised are material and that the rulings excepted to are both erroneous and prejudicial. The bill of exceptions must show what the issue was, and how the excepting party was aggrieved.” Jones v. Jones et al., 101 Me., 447, 450, 64 A., 815, 817; Feltis et al. v. Lincoln County [332]*332Power Co., 120 Me., 101, 102, 112 A., 906; State of Maine v. Mooers, 129 Me., 364, 369, 152 A., 265; State of Maine v. Holland, 125 Me., 526, 527, 134 A., 801.

The aggrievance must be shown affirmatively. It can not be left to inference. State v. Wombolt et al., 126 Me., 351, 353, 138 A., 527; Borders v. Boston & Maine R. R., 115 Me., 207, 208, 98 A., 662.

Exceptions lie to rulings upon questions of law only, and not to findings upon questions of fact. Laroche v. Despeaux, 90 Me., 178, 38 A., 100; American Sardine Co. v. Olsen et al., 117 Me., 26, 29, 102 A., 797; Bowman v. Geyer, 127 Me., 351, 352, 143 A., 272; Hurley v. Farnsworth, Admx., 115 Me., 321, 322, 98 A., 821.

The instant exception was taken to a ruling of the presiding Justice by which the jury was ordered to return a verdict for the plaintiff in a certain amount which did not include interest on the notes anterior to the date of the writ. The issue raised by this exception to thedirection of the verdict is one of law, Rhoda v. Drake Jr., 125 Me., 509, 131 A., 573; and all of the evidence by necessity becomes a part of the cáse, and this would be so even though it had not been mentioned in the bill of exceptions. People’s National Bank v. Nickerson, 108 Me., 341, 343, 80 A., 849; Williams v. Sweet, 121 Me., 118, 119, 115 A., 895; Brown v. Sanborn, 131 Me., 53, 54, 158 A., 855.

The exactions of the law are satisfied by this exception in that it does set forth the issue, the claimed aggrievance, and enough to enable the Court to determine whether the point raised is material and the ruling excepted to erroneous and prejudicial.

For authority Rose v. Parker, 116 Me., 52, 99 A., 817, 818, is decisive on the question of the sufficiency of this exception. Therein a verdict was ordered for the plaintiff to which exceptions were taken. They are so brief that we quote them, omitting the formal parts :

“At the close of the evidence the presiding Justice directed a verdict for the plaintiff.
“The writ, the plea and all evidence is made a part of these exceptions.
“To all which rulings excepts and prays that his exceptions may be allowed.”

[333]*333It was held that while questions regarding the admission or exclusion of evidence were not open to the exceptant, “the order of Court directing a verdict” was before the court.

In directing this verdict, the Justice must have found that on the evidence with correct application of law thereto a different verdict from that ordered could not properly have been rendered by the jury and that, considering the evidence most favorably for the exceptant, it would not have warranted a verdict including the interest denied him. Toole, Assignee v. Bearce et al., 91 Me., 209, 214, 39 A., 558; Colbath v. Stebbins Lumber Co., 127 Me., 406, 416, 144 A., 1; Shaw v. Kroot, 124 Me., 439, 440, 126 A., 922; Shackford v. New England Tel. & Tel. Co., 112 Me., 204, 205, 91 A., 931.

To pass upon the correctness of this ruling, we are presented with all that the court below had before it, in spite of a contention of the defendants which will now be considered.

It is contended that the whole record is not before us because in the exception it is stated that “exhibits reported” are made a part of the bill. This, it is said, implies that not all of the exhibits are presented. While perhaps the language is a bit unfortunate, we think a fair construction of it would be that all of the exhibits were made a part of the bill. Anyway, that should be the presumption, even from the language used. As in Toole, Assignee v. Bearce et al., supra, where the bill did not contain an affirmative statement that the exception to the instruction complained of was noted before the jury retired, the court held that it would be presumed that it was seasonably noted, so here a presumption that all material exhibits were included in the bill should obtain, where the Justice, whose ruling is under attack, has allowed the bill. Furthermore, as above noted, where the exception is to the direction of a verdict, all of the evidence becomes a part of the exceptions, even though not mentioned in the bill. There is no claim, as a matter of fact, that all of the exhibits are not now before this Court.

It now becomes necessary to determine whether the direction of this verdict constituted reversible error. The question presented was whether the plaintiff could recover any interest on the notes prior to the date of the writ and that depended upon whether any demand for their payment had been made before suit was brought.

[334]*334Where no. express reservation of interest is made in a demand note, it will not carry interest until demand. 8 C. J., Sec., 1426, page 1095; Whitcomb et al., v. Harris, 90 Me., 206, 211, 38 A., 138; also see Swett v. Hooper, 62 Me., 54.

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Bluebook (online)
196 A. 402, 135 Me. 330, 1938 Me. LEXIS 5, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bryne-v-bryne-me-1938.