Dangerud v. Dobesh

353 N.W.2d 328, 1984 N.D. LEXIS 369
CourtNorth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 27, 1984
DocketCiv. 10612
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 353 N.W.2d 328 (Dangerud v. Dobesh) 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
Dangerud v. Dobesh, 353 N.W.2d 328, 1984 N.D. LEXIS 369 (N.D. 1984).

Opinions

ERICKSTAD, Chief Justice.

Leo Dobesh appeals from a district court judgment entered in favor of Orville Dan-gerud in Dangerud’s action to recover $24,-000 paid to Dobesh pursuant to an oral agreement. We affirm.

On July 10, 1978, Dangerud began conducting a livestock auction business, TriState Auction Market, as a sole proprietorship in the same location as Hettinger Auction Market, Inc., had previously conducted a similar business. Although Dangerud once owned stock in Hettinger Auction Market, Inc., he did not at the time of the transactions involved in this ease.

Dangerud’s amended complaint in this action alleged that he, through his agent, and Dobesh orally agreed that Dangerud would purchase and Dobesh would sell to Dangerud certain cattle [Hotchkiss cattle] for $24,000; that Dangerud paid Dobesh $24,000 for the purchase of the cattle; that Dobesh failed to deliver any cattle; and that Dobesh failed and refused to return the $24,000.

Dobesh’s amended answer admitted the alleged oral agreement, failure to deliver any cattle, and failure to return the money. Dobesh alleged as an affirmative defense, however, that Dangerud failed to set forth the claim as a compulsory counterclaim in a previous action between the parties. Do-besh also alleged as an affirmative defense that Dangerud owed Dobesh $24,000 and that the $24,000 advanced to Dobesh by Dangerud was an accord and satisfaction of that debt.

Because of the defenses Dobesh has alleged in this case and the issues he has raised on appeal, it is necessary to set forth some of the facts developed in the previous action between these parties. In that suit, Dobesh alleged that on July 24, 1978, Dan-gerud gave Dobesh a note for $30,000, which was later replaced on September 10, 1979, with a note for $23,833.12,1 which was unpaid, and demanded judgment for $23,833.12. Dangerud answered, alleging lack of consideration and mistake of fact.

During the trial, Dangerud offered in evidence a check payable to Dobesh for $24,000 issued by Kevin Dangerud, as the agent for Orville Dangerud doing business as Tri-State Auction Market. Evidence was also introduced to show that the purpose of the payment was for Dobesh to buy cattle, that Dobesh didn’t deliver the cattle, and that Dobesh kept the money.

[330]*330After trial, Dangerud moved to amend the pleadings to conform to the evidence and assert a counterclaim for recovery of the $24,000 paid to Dobesh to purchase cattle. In its memorandum opinion, the trial court (a judge other than the one who presided in the instant case) denied the motion and stated that “the court is not considering the check in its decision for it is not a proper counterclaim at this time.”

The trial court in the previous case found that on May 22, 1978, Hettinger Auction Market, Inc., gave Dobesh a check for $76,-458.63 for livestock Dobesh shipped to Jacobson Livestock on or about May 20, 1978. The court also found that when the check was returned unpaid because of insufficient funds, Dobesh gave the check to Kevin Dangerud, acting for Orville Dangerud, in exchange for a note dated July 24, 1978, in the amount of $30,000, which was later exchanged for a note for $23,833.12 on September 10, 1979. The court concluded that the note for $23,833.12 was payment for an antecedent obligation and that Do-besh was entitled to a judgment for $23,-833.12.

After trial of the instant case, the trial court found facts sustaining the existence of the oral agreement alleged and Dobesh’s inability to complete his part of the transaction. The court also determined that (1) at the time of the transaction, Dobesh was a creditor of Gerald Jacobson or a “corporation known as Hettinger Livestock Auction Market, Incorporated or a similar corporate name”; (2) Dobesh informed Kevin Dange-rud that he would retain the $24,000 to apply to the debt owed to him by Hettinger Auction Market, Inc.; (3) Dobesh received no response from either Kevin or Orville to that proposal; (4) there was no mutual agreement that Dobesh could keep the $24,000; (5) there was no accord and satisfaction between the parties; and (6) the notes involved in the previous action were a separate transaction from the Hotchkiss cattle transaction. The court concluded that the claim represented by the $24,000 check was not a compulsory counterclaim.

Dobesh raises as issues whether or not (1) Dangerud was required to plead his claim for $24,000 as a compulsory counterclaim in the previous action; (2) Dange-rud’s claim for $24,000 was tried by the express or implied consent of the parties in the previous action; (3) Dangerud was required to appeal the denial of his motion to amend the pleadings in the previous action in order to avoid res judicata; and (4) there was an accord and satisfaction.

The first issue we address is whether or not Dangerud was required to plead his claim against Dobesh for $24,000 as a compulsory counterclaim in the previous action brought against him by Dobesh. Rule 13(a), N.D.R.Civ.P., provides in pertinent part:

“(a) Compulsory Counterclaims. A pleading shall state as a counterclaim any claim which at the time of serving the pleading the pleader has against any opposing party, if it arises out of the transaction or occurrence that is the subject matter of the opposing party’s claim and does not require for its adjudication the presence of third parties of whom the court cannot acquire jurisdiction _” (Emphasis added.)

In construing the underscored language, we said in the syllabus in Leo Lumber Company v. Williams, 191 N.W.2d 573 (N.D.1971):

“3. In applying the Rules of Civil Procedure requiring a claim arising out of a ‘transaction or occurrence that is the subject matter’ of an action to be pleaded as a counterclaim, the phrase ‘transaction or occurrence that is the subject matter’ should be given a broad realistic interpretation in the interest of avoiding a multiplicity of suits.
“4. Any claim that is logically related to another claim that was the subject matter of a prior action ‘arises out of the transaction or occurrence’ constituting the subject matter of the prior action comes within the meaning of Rule 13(a), N.D.R.Civ.P., and, therefore, such claim must be pleaded as a compulsory counterclaim in the previous action.”

[331]*331At trial in the previous action between the parties, Dobesh testified that the $24,-000 check given him by Kevin Dangerud in the Hotchkiss cattle transaction did not “have anything to do with the note ... in the sum of $30,000.” Dobesh also testified that that $24,000 check did not “have anything to do with the note in the sum of $23,833.12 _” The trial court stated in its memorandum opinion in the previous action that “the court is not considering the check in its decision for it is not a proper counterclaim at this time.” The trial court in the instant action determined that the notes involved in the previous action were a separate transaction from the Hotchkiss cattle transaction involving the $24,000 check and that the claim represented by the $24,000 check was not a compulsory counterclaim.

We conclude that Dangerud was not required to plead his claim as a compulsory counterclaim in the previous action.

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

Related

Haugrud v. Craig
2017 ND 262 (North Dakota Supreme Court, 2017)
Huber v. Dooher
1997 ND 87 (North Dakota Supreme Court, 1997)
Security National Bank, Edgeley v. Wald
536 N.W.2d 924 (North Dakota Supreme Court, 1995)
Husky Spray Service, Inc. v. Patzer
471 N.W.2d 146 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1991)
Klem v. Greenwood
450 N.W.2d 738 (North Dakota Supreme Court, 1990)
Dangerud v. Dobesh
353 N.W.2d 328 (North Dakota Supreme Court, 1984)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
353 N.W.2d 328, 1984 N.D. LEXIS 369, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dangerud-v-dobesh-nd-1984.