Columbus Green Cab Co. v. Miller

20 Ohio Law. Abs. 211, 1935 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 1095
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedOctober 22, 1935
DocketNos 2599 & 2600
StatusPublished

This text of 20 Ohio Law. Abs. 211 (Columbus Green Cab Co. v. Miller) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Columbus Green Cab Co. v. Miller, 20 Ohio Law. Abs. 211, 1935 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 1095 (Ohio Ct. App. 1935).

Opinion

OPINION

By BODEY, J.

On August 30, 1935, a petition in error was filed in this court. While we find in the file the original papers and the bill of exceptions which was originally filed in the Court of Common Pleas, the same do not bear a file mark as having been filed in this court. However, it appears from the affidavits of Joseph A. King, Deputy Clerk of Courts, Frank W. Phillips, Deputy Clerk of Courts and Andrew J. White, Jr., counsel for the plaintiff in error, that; on August 30, 1935. there was filed with the Clerk of the Court of Appeals of Franklin County the petitions in error, together with transcripts of the docket and journal entries, the original papers and the original bill of exceptions; that the clerk with whom said papers were filed placed the file mark upon the petition in error but neglected to stamp any of the other papers as being filed. It is necessary that the court have before it a bill of exceptions in order to pass upon the errors complained of by the plaintiff in error. Counsel for the defendants in error claims that it is necessary in a case brought into this court from the Common Pleas Court, which originated in the Municipal Court of Columbus, that a bill of exceptions be taken in the Common Pleas Court and filed in this court. Counsel also claims that it is necessary that such a bill [213]*213of exceptions from the Court of Common Pleas be filed within, forty days from' the date of the final judgment. We do not so read the statutes. Under §1558-75 GC we find that proceedings in error to the Court of Common Pleas from the Municipal Court of Franklin County may be prosecuted under the same conditions as provided by law for proceedings in error from the Court of Common Pleas to the Court of Appeals. Therefore, the sections contained in Chapter 4 of Division 3 of Title 4 of Part Third of the General Code of Ohio determine the method of prosecuting error with a bill of exceptions from the Municipal Court to the Court of Common Pleas. Under §11564 GC, it was necessary in this case that the bill of exceptions be prepared originally and filed in the Municipal Court not later than forty days after the overruling of the motion for a new trial. Thereafter, this bill within the time prescribed by statute, reached the trial judge, who corrected and allowed the same. Thereafter, that bill of exceptions was filed with the petition in error and the other papers in the Common Pleas Court under §11572 GC. The petition in error and the other papers, including the bill of exceptions, must be filed in the latter court within seventy days after the motion for new trial was overruled under the provisions of §12270 GC. When the various steps here outlined have been taken by a plaintiff in error, his case is properly before the Court of Common Pleas for review. An examination of the record in these cases will indicate that all of the papers, including the bill of exceptions in' these cases, were properly filed within time in the Court of Common Pleas. As has been before stated, the judgment of the lower court wras affirmed and the same plaintiff in error proceeded to bring his case to this court. It is our view that it was then not necessary for it to prepare and file a new bill of exceptions. The errors of which it complained were set forth in the petition in error. In order to review the proceedings it was only necessary for this court to have before it the original pleadings, the transcript of the docket and journal entries and the bill of exceptions which had been filed from the Municipal Court. We believe that the question could be brought before the court by properly filing all of the original papers, together with the transcript of docket and journal entries and the new petitions in error. After the Court of Common Pleas had reviewed a case which originated in the Municipal Court, the bill of exceptions became an original paper and should be filed as such. This view is sustained by the Supreme Court of Ohio in the following case: Myers et v Jenkins, 63 Oh St, 101.

Since the court is of opinion that it was not necessary for the plaintiff in error to have prepared a new bill of exceptions, but rather that its contention could be disposed of by filing the former bill of exceptions as an original paper, we now approach the question as to whether or not such procedure was followed in this case. It would appear from the affidavits herein referred to that plaintiff in error did everything which it was called upon to do in order to perfect this error proceeding. It filed its petition in error and handed to the clerk for filing the original papers, including the bill of exceptions, and the transcript of the docket and journal entries. It is our view that the latter papers have been properly filed with the clerk in this court and that the clerk at this time should place upon the same the file date of August 30, 1935. The Supreme Court in the case of Porter v Rohrer, 95 Oh St, page 90, so holds in the following language which is taken from the syllabus:

“If the excepting party has performed the statutory duty required of him relating to the preparation, filing and perfection of a bill of exceptions, and the same-has not been properly perfected by reason of the nonfeasance of some ministerial act by the clerk or trial judge, the excepting party may Cause the same to be filed in the reviewing court at any time before the final consideration of the case in that court.”

We hold that the plaintiff in error should not be penalized for the clerk’s failure to discharge a ministerial duty and that there has been properly submitted for our consideration the original papers, the transcript of the docket and journal entries and a properly filed bill of exceptions. The motion of the defendant in error in each case to affirm the lower court, because of the failure to file the bill of exceptions is overruled. Exceptions are saved.

We now consider these cases upon their merits. The petitions are in almost identical language -and allege in substance “that the defendant, Columbus Green Cab, Inc., is a corporation duly organised and qualified to do business in the State of Ohio, with its principal office in the City of Columbus, Ohio; that on or about January 1, 1935, at 1:30 A. M., the plaintiff was riding as a fare passenger in a taxicab owned and operated by the defendant on South High Street at the intersection of [214]*214Town Street.” The plaintiffs then allege that said cab was operated in a negligent manner and that they suffered damages thereby for which they prayed judgment. To each of these petitions the defendant filed an answer, which is in part as follows: ‘Defendant admits that it is a corporation doing business in the State of Ohio; that on or about January 1, 1935, plaintiff was a passenger in a taxicab owned by defendant; that on said date another car collided with said taxicab at the intersection of South High Street and Town Street in the City of Columbus, Ohio; and that plaintiff received some injuries, the exact nature and extent of which are unknown to defendant.” The defendant then denies the remaining allegations of the petitions and avers that the collision and any damage resulting therefrom was caused by the carelessness and negligence of the driver of the other car involved in the collision and without any fault on the part of the defendant.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Anderson v. Yellow Cab Co.
191 N.W. 748 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 1923)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
20 Ohio Law. Abs. 211, 1935 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 1095, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/columbus-green-cab-co-v-miller-ohioctapp-1935.