Central Indiana Railroad v. Mikesell

221 N.E.2d 192, 139 Ind. App. 478, 1966 Ind. App. LEXIS 560
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 10, 1966
DocketNo. 20,233
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 221 N.E.2d 192 (Central Indiana Railroad v. Mikesell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Central Indiana Railroad v. Mikesell, 221 N.E.2d 192, 139 Ind. App. 478, 1966 Ind. App. LEXIS 560 (Ind. Ct. App. 1966).

Opinion

Per Curiam

Appellee filed a motion to dismiss or affirm this appeal because of the failure of appellant to have the clerk’s seal on the certificate to the transcript.

In the meantime, appellant filed a timely petition for leave to attach verification to the transcript which was granted and the seal has been affixed. Appellee also requested and. obtained an enlargement of the time within which to file a brief on the merits and that brief has been filed.

[480]*480[479]*479We are aware of some early decisions refusing to consider an unsealed transcript. A more recent tendency has [480]*480been, where possible, to decide appellate matters on their merits. Miller, etc. v. Ortman, etc., et al. (1956), 235 Ind. 641, 650 (note), 136 N. E. 2d 17; Franklin et al. v. Hunt et al. (1961), 132 Ind. App. 575, 576, 178 N. E. 2d 464.

Even an objection that the clerk’s certificate to the bill of exceptions is not in the record does not go to the merits of the appeal and is waived by a petition for extension of time. Langford v. DeArmond (1965), 137 Ind. App. 439, 209 N. E. 2d 737, Vol. 6, #4 Ind. Dec. 207.

Where the courts have appeared technical in inadvertent matters there usually has been no effort to correct them. Here we have witnessed prompt action and no delay to the proceedings.

The motion also states that pretrial pleadings in this case were filed and determined in the Hamilton Circuit Court and that subsequently the venue thereof was changed to the Marion Circuit Court; that the transcript does not show authentication of any such pretrial pleadings or record of the Hamilton Circuit Court. It is not shown nor alleged that the same are necessary or material to disposition of this appeal on the merits and we may not and do not so assume.

The petition to dismiss is denied and the motion to affirm is held in abeyance for opinion on the merits.

Opinion on the Merits

Faulconer, J.

This appeal is based upon an action brought by appellee, Dessie Mikesell; and her since deceased husband, John Milford Mikesell, against appellant, Central Indiana Railway Company, in the Hamilton Circuit Court, for damages to real and personal property of appellee. The cause was later venued to the Marion Circuit Court. The issues were formed by appellee’s amended complaint in two paragraphs and appellant’s answer in general denial, and second paragraph of answer.

Paragraph I of the amended complaint alleged, in pertinent part, as follows:

[481]*481“3. That on or about said 30th day of June 1957, defendant maintained a fifteen feet high embankment which it had previously built and upon which defendant had erected its railroad tracks which said embankment passed in an east-west direction south of plaintiff’s property about fifty feet south of plaintiff’s said garage.
“8. That plaintiff’s [appellee’s] aforesaid damages were directly and proximately caused by defendant’s [appellant’s] careless and negligent acts and omissions, and each of them as follows:
“(a) Defendant carelessly and negligently constructed, erected and located its aforesaid embankment and tracks in such a place and manner so as to back up and dam up surface water south of said embankment thereby creating a situation where large volumes of water were collected thereby creating a hazardous condition resulting in the embankment collapsing and thereby permitting vast volumes of water to suddenly strike and damage plaintiff’s property all of which defendant by reasonable care should have foreseen.
“ (b) Defendant carelessly and negligently located, erected and constructed its aforesaid embankment and tracks so as to create a water damages hazard to plaintiff’s property when it rained all of which defendant knew or by exercising due care should have known but which defendant chose to disregard.
“(c) Defendant carelessly and negligently constructed and erected a 48 inch tile drain in said embankment which was too small to carry the flow of said natural watercourse during periods of rain and too small to carry away surface water all of which defendant knew or should have known by exercise of reasonable care, thereby keeping said water from flowing in its natural manner in aforesaid creek, backing up water south of said embankment allowing vast quantities of water to collect and eventually be discharged on plaintiff’s land and home and garage and tool shed as aforesaid.
“(d) That defendant carelessly and negligently permitted debris and silt to collect in said drain pipe thereby impeding the natural flow of water along said natural watercourse, causing said water to be dammed [482]*482up creating a large body of water to be collected which eventually was discharged on plaintiff’s property damaging same as hereinabove described.”

Paragraph II of the amended complaint sets out and incorporates the acts of negligence alleged in Paragraph I and alleges, in part, “[t]hat by reason of defendant’s [appellant’s] erection and maintenance of aforesaid embankment and tracks and by reason of defendant’s failure to make necessary and proper provisions for the passage of water” a private nuisance was thereby created. To this amended complaint appellant filed a demurrer to Paragraph II thereof, which was overruled.

Appellant then filed an answer in general denial, and a separately filed second paragraph of answer stating, in part, that “the damage as described in plaintiff’s complaint was caused solely from an act of God and an unprecendented [unprecedented] downpour of rain within a short length of time, which could not be foreseen nor guarded against by the defendant.”

Both, appellant’s motion for a directed verdict at the close of appellee’s evidence, and appellant’s motion for a directed verdict at the close of all the evidence, were overruled. The jury returned a verdict for plaintiff-appellee in the sum of $2,625, plus interest, from the date of the alleged damage. Judgment was entered thereon in the sum of $3,688.13.

Thereafter appellant filed its motion for a new trial, the overruling of which is assigned as error on this appeal.

While appellant’s motion for a new trial contains thirty separate grounds, appellant includes only twelve in the argument section of its brief and, therefore, the remaining specifications are waived. Rule 2-17 (e) (f), Rules of the Supreme Court, 1964 Revision; Huff, et al. v. Ind. State Hwy. Comm., (1958), 238 Ind. 280, 282, 149 N. E. 2d 299; White, et al. v. Lafoon, (1963), 135 Ind. App. 100, 102, 192 N. E. 2d 474.

[483]*483Appellant, in the argument section of its brief, sets out five separate propositions. Under Proposition No. 1 appellant states that it is treating together the first five specifications in the motion for a new trial. Specification number three of appellant’s motion for a new trial alleges “ [m] isconduct of the plaintiff, the prevailing party, by his attorney. . . .” This specification is not discussed by appellant in the argument portion of its brief and is, therefore, waived. Rule 2-17 (e) (f), supra.

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Bluebook (online)
221 N.E.2d 192, 139 Ind. App. 478, 1966 Ind. App. LEXIS 560, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/central-indiana-railroad-v-mikesell-indctapp-1966.