F. A. Patrick & Co. v. Nurnberg

131 N.W. 254, 21 N.D. 377, 1911 N.D. LEXIS 109
CourtNorth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedApril 7, 1911
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 131 N.W. 254 (F. A. Patrick & Co. v. Nurnberg) 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
F. A. Patrick & Co. v. Nurnberg, 131 N.W. 254, 21 N.D. 377, 1911 N.D. LEXIS 109 (N.D. 1911).

Opinion

Goss, J.

Defendant appeals from a judgment rendered against him in the district court of Stutsman county. This action is for money only, brought for goods sold and delivered, and was tried to a jury. No motion for new trial, as required by § 7226 of the Revised Statutes of North Dakota for 1905, was ever made or brought on for hearing, and therefore the sufficiency of the evidence to support the verdict cannot be inquired into. Nor was any specification of error embodied in or settled as a part of the statement of the case, as provided by § 7058, N. [379]*379D. Revised Statutes 1905, and the statement should be wholly disregarded. Consequently, there is but little before this court for review, .as the errors urged are to matters occurring during the trial in the admission of testimony, no error based on the judgment roll being alleged. Jackson v. Ellerson, 15 N. D. 533, 108 N. W. 241; Bertelson v. Ehr, 17 N. D. 339, 116 N. W. 335; Landis Mach. Co. v. Konantz Saddlery Co. 17 N. D. 310, 116 N. W. 333 ; Hedderich v. Hedderich, 18 N. D. 488, 123 N. W. 276.

However, as the error complained of consists of the court’s refusal to suppress a deposition, we will pass upon that matter. Appellant questions the sufficiency of the certificate of the notary authenticating the deposition. Our statute (§§ 7284, 7285) regulates the authentication and certification of depositions. The deposition in question was taken pursuant to legal and sufficient written notice, and at the time and place designated in the notice, and was subscribed by the witness in the presence of the officer certifying thereto, after the witness was duly sworn to testify the truth; all of which appears from the certificate of the notary taking such deposition. But such certificate omits to certify that the deposition was reduced to writing by some proper person, and omits to name the person so reducing the deposition to writing, failing to comply with subdivision 2 of § 7285 of the Revised Statutes of 1905. The deposition was in all other respects properly taken and certified. It had been filed with the clerk more than a month prior to the trial, without exceptions being filed thereto. After the term of court at which the case was tried had been in progress for a period of eight days, defendant’s counsel filed written exceptions to the depositions, -asking their suppression because of the failure of the certificate to conform to the statutory requirements in the particulars above recited. Such objections were brought to the attention of the court at the time dhe case was called for trial, when the court overruled the motion then made for the suppression of the deposition. There is some question whether the motion to suppress was brought on for hearing before the trial of the case was actually begun, but we will take it for granted 'the written objections taken and motion to suppress transpired before the commencement of the trial, and determine whether the omission of the certificate to state that the deposition was reduced to writing by some person named therein necessarily requires the suppression of the deposition, in the absence of any showing of prejudice result[380]*380ing from noncompliance with the statute. This question of practice-should be settled, and we pass upon it.

The statute quoted prescribes the rules under which depositions-may be taken, and designates that “the officer taking the deposition-shall annex thereto a certificate showing the following facts: . , .. (3) that the deposition was reduced to writing by some proper person, naming him.” Notwithstanding the language of the statute is-mandatory, the statute is one regulating civil procedure, and is construed to be directory, as similar statutes are usually interpreted to-be when providing a method or manner only of procedure, in the absence of some strong reason for a contrary construction. A substantial compliance with the statute is all that is required, and in determining such compliance the court is not limited to the officer’s return,, but may supplement it by anything appearing in or from the deposition itself. Accordingly, while the certificate did not state that thedepositon was reduced to writing by some proper person named, the-deposition shows for itself that it was reduced to writing, or rather, was typewritten. The presumption then applies that either the notary taking the deposition or the witness so testifying reduced the-deposition to writing; in either of which cases had the certificate so-recited, the deposition would not, because thereof, be subject to attack,, as either the notary taking the deposition or the witness himself would be a proper person to reduce the deposition to writing. The presumpton in favor of regularity of proceedings, and proper performance by the officer of his duties in taking the deposition, also applies in the absence of evidence by notarial certificate or otherwise to the contrary; and the burden is on the party moving to suppress the deposition to-overcome such presumption, otherwise the presumption applies and establishes the admissibility of the deposition. The following cases, are the holdings of the various states having statutes similar to ours-on this same question:

Imboden v. Richardson, 15 La. Ann. 534, held “that the presumption of law is that the magistrate did his duty, and that the answers were written either by himself or by a person not interested in the event of the suit, and that the burden of proof was on- the party' objecting to rebut this presumption.” And Blair v. Collins, 15 La. Ann. 683, to the effect that “it is not necessary that it should appear by whom the deposition was written.” See also Horton v. Arnold, 18 [381]*381Wis. 213; Winton v. Little, 94 Pa. 64, that “it is to be presumed that the depositions were properly reduced to writing, and subscribed by the witnesses, until the contrary was shown,” and, the certificate not reciting such facts, the presumption applied, following Piper v. White, 56 Pa. 90, in which the certificate had the same omission as in the case on trial; and the court said: “It must be presumed that the deposition was correctly taken and reduced to writing by the justice or on his authority.” Also Barron v. Pettes, 18 Vt. 385, in which the court considers the act of taking the deposition by the magistrate “as prima facie evidence both of its official character and the regularity of the proceedings.” And Jolliffe v. Collins, 21 Mo. 338, to the effect that a certificate to a deposition that it was reduced to writing in the presence of the witness, and subscribed in the presence of the officer, is sufficient, although it omits to state that it was reduced to writing in "the presence of the officerj as required by the statute. And also Turner v. Hardin, 80 Iowa, 691, 45 N. W. 758, and Cook v. Gilchrist, 82 Iowa, 277, 48 N. W. 84, holding “the burden is upon the party attacking the deposition to show that the party reducing the same to writing was interested in the event of the action as the attorney or agent of the opposite party;” to the same effect is the decision of our own court in Moore v. Booker, 4 N. D. 543, 62 N. W. 607, and cases cited therein. See also Ueland v. Dealy, 11 N. D. 529, 89 N. W. 325, to the effect that “this court has applied the rule that a purely technical objection to a deposition should be overruled in the absence of any claim of prejudice,” following Moore v. Booker. To the same effect is Burrill v. Watertown Bank & Loan Co. 51 Barb. 105; Cheney v. Woodworth, 13 Colo. App. 176, 56 Pac. 979.

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

Related

Cary Manufacturing Co. v. Ferch
275 N.W. 255 (North Dakota Supreme Court, 1937)
Furst & Thomas v. Elliott
56 P.2d 1064 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1936)
Kennelly v. Northern Pacific Railway Co.
170 N.W. 868 (North Dakota Supreme Court, 1918)
O'Leary v. Schoenfeld
152 N.W. 679 (North Dakota Supreme Court, 1915)
Patterson & Stevenson Co. v. Nurnberg
131 N.W. 256 (North Dakota Supreme Court, 1911)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
131 N.W. 254, 21 N.D. 377, 1911 N.D. LEXIS 109, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/f-a-patrick-co-v-nurnberg-nd-1911.