Continental Casualty Co. v. Goodwin

69 P.2d 644, 180 Okla. 365
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedJune 22, 1937
DocketNo. 27176.
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 69 P.2d 644 (Continental Casualty Co. v. Goodwin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Continental Casualty Co. v. Goodwin, 69 P.2d 644, 180 Okla. 365 (Okla. 1937).

Opinions

CORN, J.

This cause of action was commenced in the court of common pleas of Tulsa county, before Honorable Win. N. Randolph, trial judge, by the plaintiff, as administrator of the estate of Cecil Goodwin, deceased, against the Continental Casualty Company, to recover $1,000, this being the amount of the insurance policy on the life of said Cecil Goodwin. Eor convenience the parties will be referred to as they appeared in the trial court.

In September, 1933, the plaintiff, B. W. Goodwin, as administrator of the estate of Cecil Goodwin, deceased, brought this action against the defendant to recover on an accident insurance policy issued to the deceased by this defendant. This policy provided for indemnity for “loss of life resulting exclusively from bodily injury which is effected solely by external, violent, and purely accidental means, and which causes at once, continuously after the accident, total inability on the part of the insured to engage in any labor or occupation.” Carrie Lee Goodwin, designated as wife of the insured, was named beneficiary under the policy.

The original petition filed by the administrator alleged the accidental death of the insured at the hands of Carrie Lee Goodwin, the wife, and her subsequent imprisonment; and that, not being the lawful wife of the deceased, she had no insurable interest and therefore could not be the beneficiary. The defendant answered that the false statement as to the relationship of the beneficiary voided the policy, denied that the death was by accidental means within the meaning of the terms of the policy, and tendered back the amount of the premiums paid, which was refused.

In December, 1933, the cause was tried to the court, a jury having been waived by agreement of the parties. The plaintiff introduced his testimony and rested, whereupon the defendant demurred to the evidence and was sustained, the court rendering judgment for the defendant. The plaintiff, after motion for new trial had been overruled, appealed to the Supreme Court, and the judgment was reversed, to wit:

“Eor the reasons stated, the judgment is reversed and the cause remanded with directions to overrule defendant’s demurrer and proceed with the trial of the cause.” Goodwin v. Continental Casualty Co., 175 Okla. 469, 53 P. (2d) 241.

An appeal does not lie from an order of the trial court sustaining the defendant’s demurrer to plaintiff’s evidence. Wiley v. Helen, 83 Kan. 544, 112 P. 158. The appeal lies only from the final judgment. After mandate was received and filed, the cause was set for hearing on February 6, 1936, at which time the trial court, instead of granting a trial de novo, overruled the defendant’s demurrer and ordered the defendant to proceed with its evidence. The general rule as to proceedings on new trial is stated in 46 C. J. 461:

“* * * where a motion for new trial has been sustained, the ease stands as if there had never been a trial; the court has the same power with reference to matters connected with the trial of the case as it had before the first trial was had; it is the duty of the court to proceed as in the first instance; the new trial is had as if there-had never been a previous one; and rulings of the court at the former trial are not binding on the court at the new trial. * * *”

At 46 C. J. 462, we find a general statement as to the issues and scope of inquiry:

“Where a motion for new trial has been sustained, the issues stand as though they had never been tried, the cause is to be tried de novo, and the whole case, including the issues of fact at the former trial, is open for hearing ánd determination, unless the order granting the new trial limits it to particular parties or issues, a reference has been had in the ease, or the practice in the particular jurisdiction does not call for retrial of all the issues. * * *”

The reversal of a judgment and the remanding of a cause is the same as if the trial court had granted a new trial. The case must be tried de novo. Ordinarily, amendments can be made to the pleadings and additional evidence can be offered by either party, and to hold as the court held in the instant case is equal to a denial of these rights. The parties are not bound by admissions made by them for the purpose of the former trial. Indiana Harbor Belt Railway Co. v. Green, 289 Ill. 81, 124 N. E. 298, and Murphy v. Gillum, 79 Mo. App. 564.

In the case of Ball v. Rankin, 23 Okla. 801, 101 P. 1105, this court said:

“Where a cause is reversed and remanded by the Supreme Court with directions to the trial court to ‘take such other and further proceedings in the matter as shall accord with said Supreme Court *367 opinion,’ it stands in the court below the same as if no trial had been had. Pleadings could be amended, supplementary pleadings filed, and new issues formed under proper restrictions. Consolidated Steel & Wire Co. v. Burnham, Hanna, Munger & Co., 8 Okla. 514, 58 P. 654. If the parties could amend their pleadings in such a way as to conform to the views of the Supreme Court in relation to the allegation of facts necessary to entitle them to relief sought, they ought not to be deprived of that right merely because they and the trial court had previously been in error as to the theory of the case. The court below in justice to the parties should permit such amendments upon such terms as to costs as it thought just, and it was reversible error to refuse to do so. Leitz v. Rayner & Co., 37 Kan. 470, 15 P. 571.”

In Turk v. Page, 68 Okla. 275, 174 P. 1081, we find the following language:

“Where a decree is reversed and cause remanded with directions to the trial court to grant a new trial, it stands the same, except as to questions of law settled by the proceedings in error, as if no trial had been had. * * *”

See, also, Brotherhood of Painters, etc., v. Trimm (Ala. App.) 97 So. 770, and Watkins v. Dunbar (Ill.) 149 N. E. 14.

Another reason the procedure adopted by the trial court in the second trial of the cause was erroneous is that the court must necessarily have considered the evidence introduced by the plaintiff at the first trial, otherwise no judgment could have been rendered for the plaintiff. It was not competent for the trial court to consider the evidence that was presented at the first trial, as it was no part of the record in the second trial. There was no agreement by the parties that the evidence should be so considered. This court passed squarely upon this proposition in the case of Curtis et al. v. Bank of Dover et al., 113 Okla. 224, 241 P. 173. We quote from the first and second paragraphs of the syllabus:

“Where a law case is tried to the court without the intervention of a jury, and judgment rendered for the defendants, and the court thereafter sustains the motion for a new trial, the case stands as though it had never been tried, and the court is without authority to render judgment in favor of plaintiff without a retrying of said cause.

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Bluebook (online)
69 P.2d 644, 180 Okla. 365, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/continental-casualty-co-v-goodwin-okla-1937.