First Federal Savings & Loan Ass'n v. Shorts

82 N.E.2d 426, 52 Ohio Law. Abs. 110, 1947 Ohio App. LEXIS 752
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedOctober 23, 1947
DocketNo. 3187
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 82 N.E.2d 426 (First Federal Savings & Loan Ass'n v. Shorts) 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
First Federal Savings & Loan Ass'n v. Shorts, 82 N.E.2d 426, 52 Ohio Law. Abs. 110, 1947 Ohio App. LEXIS 752 (Ohio Ct. App. 1947).

Opinion

OPINION

By PHILLIPS, J.

Gladys Lucas, a minor, brought an action in the Municipal Court of Cleveland, Ohio, by and through her father as her natural guardian and next friend, to recover damages for injuries sustained within the corporate limits of the City of Cleveland by reason of the alleged careless and negligent operation of a motor vehicle by defendant-appellee Harold W. Shorts, a then and since conceded resident of Youngstown, Mahoning County, Ohio, who was served with summons in that action in accordance with provisions of §6308 GC, by leaving copy thereof at his place of residence therein.

By authority of §11358 GC, counsel for defendant-appellee Shorts verified and filed an answer for him in that action admitting the occurrence complained of but denying the extent of defendant-appellant Lucas’ injuries sustained therein or liability therefor.

Defendant-appellee Shorts failed to .appear upon trial to defend that action against him. Thereupon the trial judge found for defendant-appellant Lucas, assessed her damages at-$2,000.00 and entered judgment upon his finding.

On the first day of September, 1945, defendant-appellant filed a certificate of that judgment in the court of common, pleas of Mahoning County.

[112]*112Subsequently the First Federal Savings and Loan Association of Youngstown, the plaintiff in the court of common pleas in the case we review, named defendant-appellant Lucas party defendant in its action to foreclose a mortgage it held on the real estate of defendant-appellee Shorts.

In that action defendant-appellant Lucas set up in her answer filed therein the judgment in the Municipal Court of Cleveland, and the trial judge entered a decree of foreclosure for plaintiff The First Federal Savings and Loan Association of Youngstown, and found defendant-appellant Lucas to have .a good and valid second lien on the foreclosed real estate, which later upon motion of defendant-appellee Shorts he vacated and set aside on the, ground that:—

“The Municipal Court of the City of Cleveland in the case -of Virginia Lucas v Harold W. Shorts did not obtain jurisdiction over the person of this defendant, Harold W. Shorts, by having a service of summons served in Mahoning County ■as alleged in the answer and cross petition of Virginia Lucas.
“The action of the legislature in enacting §1579-604B GC, .amending the Lorain Municipal Court Act by specifically providing for service of summons in motor vehicle cases to nonresidents of Lorain County, as provided in §6308 GC taken with the fact that the jurisdiction sections of the, Lorain :and Cleveland Municipal Court Acts before said amendment were substantially alike, makes clear the legislative purpose, that without such specific amendment, service under §6308 GC does not attach to the Cleveland Municipal Court.”

Defendant-appellant Lucas appealed to us on questions of law and fact from the judgment of the court of common pleas entered in this case; but upon motion of defendant-appellee Shorts to dismiss such appeal counsel stipulated that the appeal “may be considered by this court as an appeal on questions of law alone”, thus sparing us the necessity of passing upon the motion as filed. Accordingly the appeal was then argued, submitted and will be determined as an .appeal on questions of law.

Sec. 1579-7 GC, a part of the act Creating the Municipal ■Court of Cleveland, provides as follows:—

“The municipal court shall have jurisdiction within the limits of the county of Cuyahoga:
“1. To compel attendance of witnesses in any pending action or proceeding.
“2. To issue execution on its own judgments.
[113]*113“3. In all actions and proceedings whether legal or equitable, to enforce the collection of its own judgments.
“4. In all actions and proceedings in the nature of creditors’ bills, and in aid of execution to subject the interests of a judgment debtor in real or personal property to the payment of a judgment of the municipal court and in such cases the court may proceed to marshal and foreclose liens thereon irrespective of amount, and all rights, vested or contingent, therein.
“5. In all actions and proceedings where one or more defendants reside or are served with summons in the city of Cleveland.
“6. To issue and enforce orders of attachment in all cases in which the defendant is a resident of the city of Cleveland.”

Sec. 6308 GC, provides that:—

“Actions for injury to a person or property, caused by the negligence of the owner or operator of a motor vehicle, may be brought, by the person injured, against such owner or operator in the county wherein such injury occurs. A summons in such action against any defendant or defendants shall be issued to the sheriff of any county within this state wherein such defendant or defendants reside and may be served as in other civil actions, notwithstanding any contrary provision of law for the service of summons in civil actions.”

Defendant-appellant Lucas contends that the power conferred by §6308 GC, is not limited to any particular court and that it is this court’s duty to liberally construe it, and support that contention by a ruling of the supreme court in the case of Pappas v Jeffrey Manufacturing Co., 139 Oh St 637, that “the provisions of §6308 GC, relate solely to venue and, being remedial in character, are to be liberally construed”. And also call our attention to Inter Insurance Exchange of the Chicago Motor Club v Wagstaff, 144 Oh St 457; Snavely v Wilkinson, Exr., 138 Oh St 125; Omus v Baumhardt, 47 Oh Ap 491; Uthoff v DuBrie, 62 Oh Ap 285; and a mandate issued by the Court of Appeals of Cuyahoga County in the apparently unreported Cuyahoga County case of Joseph Zaccheo v Mutual Trucking Company, No. 19448, which holds inter alia “that the municipal court of Cleveland has jurisdiction of any action within the monetary limitations in which the plaintiff is a resident of Cleveland and the claimed [114]*114injury or property damages were sustained as the result of a traffic accident in Cleveland and jurisdiction of the defendant may be obtained by proper service in any county in Ohio”; and that by filing an answer to the petition of defendant-appellant Lucas in the Municipal Court of Cleveland defendant-appellee Shorts legally entered his appearance in the case pending in the Municipal Court of Cleveland and by “so pleading waived the imperfections, if any, in the service”.

Defendant-appellee Shorts contends that §6308 GC, is a venue and not a jurisdiction statute and does not enlarge the jurisdiction of the municipal court of Cleveland but merely ■enlarges the geographical boundaries for the exercise of the general jurisdiction conferred by other statutes, and that the Municipal Court of Cleveland never obtained jurisdiction over his person.

There is no doubt but that the Municipal Court of Cleveland had jurisdiction of defendant-appellant Lucas, who was plaintiff in that action, and if it obtained jurisdiction over defendant therein, defendant-appellee in this case, by “proper service in” Mahoning County, or if he voluntarily entered his appearance therein, that its judgment entered therein would be binding upon defendant-appellee Shorts in Mahoning- County.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
82 N.E.2d 426, 52 Ohio Law. Abs. 110, 1947 Ohio App. LEXIS 752, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/first-federal-savings-loan-assn-v-shorts-ohioctapp-1947.