Ferguson-McKinney Dry Goods Co. v. Garrett

252 S.W. 738
CourtTexas Commission of Appeals
DecidedJune 6, 1923
DocketNo. 399-3744
StatusPublished
Cited by46 cases

This text of 252 S.W. 738 (Ferguson-McKinney Dry Goods Co. v. Garrett) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Texas Commission of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ferguson-McKinney Dry Goods Co. v. Garrett, 252 S.W. 738 (Tex. Super. Ct. 1923).

Opinion

POWELL, J.

During the year 1901, Joseph E. Garrett was a retail merchant in a small town in Indian Territory. He became indebted to the Ferguson-McKinney Dry Goods Company, wholesalers of .St. Louis, Mo., a corporation, owing it the principal sum of $1,479.14 on November 18, 1901. Being indebted to other concerns also, Garrett went into bankruptcy. He abandoned his efforts to secure a discharge in the bankrupt court. Plaintiff in error filed suit on its aforesaid claim in the United States District Court at Pauls Valley in Indian Territory and recovered judgment there on December 3, 1903, for $1,660.33, with 6 per cent, interest from that date, and costs of court.

The judgment was revived in the district court of Garvin county, Okl., on September 12, 1913, upon the theory that it had become dormant under the Oklahoma laws on November 16,. 1912.

The judgment was not collected, and on November 20, 1913, plaintiff in error instituted its suit in the district court of Nueces county, Tex., against Garrett to recover on aforesaid original judgment and revived judgment. It was alleged that the original judgment was not dormant and that it was effective, as well as the revived judgment.

Although the case at bar was filed late in November, 1913, it was not actually tried until February 7, 1921, when a trial before a jury was had. Counsel for Garrett asked a peremptory instruction which was given. Upon. the instructed verdict the district court entered a judgment in favor of Garrett.

Upon appeal to the Court of Civil Appeals at San Antonio, that court affirmed the judgment of the district court. See 235 S. W. 245.

The dry goods company, upon proper application therefor, obtained a writ of error . from the Supreme Court.

[740]*740The nature of the defense!? urged by Garrett, and the position of the plaintiff company with reference thereto, will now be considered in their turn.

Counsel for Garrett contend that he was' entitled to a peremptory instruction upon any one of three grounds. In the first place, it is asserted that the revivor proceedings were invalid because of failure to obtain legal service upon Garrett; that, since the judgment was not properly revived,.the original judgment was still dormant; .that being dormant under the laws of the forum in Oklahoma, the original judgment was incapable of being enforced in the courts of Texas.

The Court of Civil Appeals sustained the contentions just above set out. We think it correctly held that the revivor proceedings were not binding upon Garrett. But the Court of Civil Appeals seems to overlook' entirely the contention of counsel for the dry goods company to the effect that it was not depending upon the revivor proceedings, but upon the original judgment only; that the revivor proceedings had been taken when they were not necessary and were mere sur-plusage. .The record shows that the attorneys for plaintiff in error expressly abandoned any effort to claim under said revivor proceedings. So, we come to consider whether or not the original judgment was dormant under the law of the forum where rendered when the suit was filed in Texas.

Counsel for the company, without any objection from opposing counsel, introduced in evidence the original judgment entered in the United States court aforesaid; also an Act of Congress of May 2, 1890 (26 Stat. 81), defining the boundaries of the Indian Territory and conferring jurisdiction upon the courts there and specifically enacting that Mansfield’s Digest of the Laws of Arkansas, hereinafter referred to, should be in force in that territory until Congress' should enact otherwise; then, further, various provisions of these laws of Arkansas, among which was section 4487, providing that—

“Actions on all judgments and decrees shall be commenced within ten years after the cause of action shall accrue, and not afterwards.”

Counsel for Garrett introduced nothing in evidence to show that the Arkansas laws aforesaid were not still in force so far as this judgment is concerned. We think, in the absence of all controverting testimony, the company made out a prima facie case that this judgment was not dormant in the forum in ■ Indian Territory where it was rendered and obtained.

Upon appeal, counsel for the company show conclusively that the laws of Arkansas do still govern the judgment in suit, for they cite several decisions of the Supreme Court of the present state of Oklahoma which are exactly in point.

Certainly, no court is better qualified to speak upon this question than the Supreme Court of Oklahoma. Under the rules laid down by that court, the original judgment in controversy was not dormant. In the case of Davis v. Foley, 60 Okl. 87, 159 Pac. 646, L. R. A. 1917A, 187, that court held:

“On September 9, 1901, C. E. Foley obtained judgment against Samuel C. Davis in the United States District Court for the Northern District of the Indian Territory, sitting at Muskogee, Okl. On June 13, 1911, Foley commenced an action against Davis, on said judgment in the district court of Tulsa county, Okl. The defendant demurred to the petition which was overruled, and then pleaded the statute of limitation. The cause was submitted to the court upon the pleadings and judgment given for plaintiff, from which judgment defendant appeals.
“But two questions are raised upon the appeal: First. Could the plaintiff maintain an action on his judgment during the time that he had the right to issue an execution thereon? Second. Was the statute of limitation of Oklahoma, extended in force at statehood over the whole state, comprising in part what was originally Indian Territory, a bar to plaintiff’s cause of action, or is the same governed by that portion of Mansfield’s Digest of the Laws of Arkansas in force in the Indian Territory at the time the judgment was recovered?”

The court then answered the first question in the affirmative and proceeded as follows:

“The second proposition as to the application of the statute of limitation is clearly determined by Patterson v. Rousney, No. 4233, 159 Pac. 636, recently decided upon rehearing, and not yet reported.’ In that case it was said:
“ ‘Where a promissory note, executed and payable in the Indian Territory, was subjected to the running of the statute of limitation as contained in section 4483, Mansfield’s Digest, Statutes of Arkansas, for a period of time prior to the erection of the state, an action was instituted thereon after the admission of the state into the Union in the courts of this state. Held that the eaus.e of action on said note was governed, as to the length of time necessary to constitute a bar thereto, by section 4483, Mansfield’s Digest, and not by the laws of Oklahoma Territory extended over the state by the Constitution.’
“The section of Mansfield’s Digest in force in the Indian Territory applicable to the present case is section 4487, which reads as follows:
“ ‘Actions on all judgments and decrees shall he commenced within ten years after the cause of action shall accrue, and not afterwards.’
“It is apparent, therefore, that this being the controlling statute of limitation under the doctrine of Patterson v. Rousney, supra, the plaintiff brought his action within time, and the court properly rendered judgment for. him.”

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Bluebook (online)
252 S.W. 738, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ferguson-mckinney-dry-goods-co-v-garrett-texcommnapp-1923.