Grinnell Brick & Tile Co. v. Booknau

167 Iowa 279
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedNovember 5, 1914
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 167 Iowa 279 (Grinnell Brick & Tile Co. v. Booknau) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Grinnell Brick & Tile Co. v. Booknau, 167 Iowa 279 (iowa 1914).

Opinion

Preston, J.

Plaintiff sold to defendant about $1,550 worth of tile, and sued to recover a balance of $402.64, alleged to have been due on the account. Defendant, by way of answer and counterclaim, alleged, in substance, that under the agreement the tile was to be of good quality and delivered at Newburg in good condition; alleges that many of the tile were broken and were defective; that'he was unable to state the nature of the defect, but says they were rotten, and they crumbled and were broken in ordinary handling; that he paid freight and was otherwise damaged. He asked damages on his counterclaim in the sum of $1,007.19. Plaintiff denied it was to pay freight, and denied liability because of breakage, etc. On the issues raised in the original hearing, a trial was had to a jury, resulting in a verdict and judgment for defendant for $200. This was-on June 15, 1912. Plaintiff filed a motion for new trial, which was overruled June 24, 1912. February 13, 1913, plaintiff .filed its petition for new trial, and the matter is being now reviewed. To the petition a motion for more specific statement was made and sustained in part, then plaintiff amended the petition, and defendant demurred. Plaintiff again amended its petition and attached an affidavit of Houvenagle. as Exhibit A. Defendant again demurred, attaching an affidavit to his demurrer. There appears to have been no ruling on the demurrers. No answer was filed, none being required under section 4095 of the Code. Evidence was introduced by both parties on this hearing, and plaintiff filed still another amendment to the petition to meet the proof.

The procedure was somewhat irregular, and is conceded to be so by one of the parties, but no objection is made as to this. Sixteen pages of the abstract are taken up' in the printing of the pleadings in this application for a new trial. The [281]*281evidence on the original trial is not all set out in the abstract; some of it is. The arguments here are somewhat confusing because the discussion is, to some extent, as though the first trial was being now heard, or that the case was being now retried. It is not, of course, a retrial now, but an application to determine whether or not there shall be a new trial.

It is difficult to treat the questions presented without going somewhat into detail and without some repetition, because it involves the stating of facts in three different ways; that is, to state the substance -of what is set out in the application for a new trial as the alleged newly discovered evidence, and to compare that with the evidence given on the.first trial, and with the testimony of the witness at the present hearing. The substance of the errors relied upon is that the court erred in holding that the perjury of a party to the action is not sufficient ground to justify granting a new trial, and in holding that the evidence was not newly discovered, and that reasonable diligence was not shown.

Appellee’s points for affirmance are substantially that the'evidence is not newly discovered; that plaintiff is simply asking for another opportunity to canvass the same evidence adduced on the original trial; that the so-called newly discovered evidence is cumulative and impeaching, and such as might be met by other and opposite cumulative evidence on the part of defendant; no diligence is shown; that the trial court did not abuse its discretion; and that it does not appear that the alleged newly discovered evidence will change the result.

1' pkhtion1l giounds. The grounds relied upon in the petition for new trial, condensed as much as we are able to do, are, substantially, that there were errors of law occurring at the trial, excepted to by the party making the application. But it occurs to us the remedy as to this would be appea^ -¿o a higher court. Another ground is that the verdict is not sustained by the preponderance of evidence. We do not understand this to be a ground for new [282]*282trial by petition. Another ground is that the verdict is contrary to law, as shown by Exhibit A, Exhibit A being the affidavit attached to the petition and before referred to. Other grounds are that fraud was practiced by the defendant in obtaining the judgment, and that there was irregularity in obtaining the judgment, as will more fully appear by reference to paragraphs 1, 2 and 5.

Though not cited by counsel, we assume that the petition was filed under Code, sections 4094, 4095, or 4092 and 3756. Section 4094 provides that the facts or errors must be set forth in the petition. The allegation is that plaintiff will show these matters by the evidence of Louis Houvenagle and others. The others were not named in the petition. Other witnesses were examined, but we take it plaintiff relied on the evidence of Houvenagle, because this is the matter set forth in the petition.

Paragraphs 1, 2 and 5, just referred to, are as follows:

1. That there was misconduct of prevailing party (the defendant) in this that:

(a) He testified falsely; that the tile crumbled; that three tile crumbled in one place dug down to; that the earth had a boiled appearance, and that this appearance did not obtain because of surface water draining into these low places; that the tile crumbled into five pieces; that the tile was not fit to use; that he discovered this boiled appearance within one week or ten days, later testified he discovered the tile unfit on October 6th, at another time, testified he knew it long before, at another in September; that he had a level properly run; that there was broken tile because of settle in line where ditch was filled; as to the reason given by Houvenagle for refusing to lay tile, that Louis Houvenagle took load of tile out of road; that he saw all tile go in, and that they were good when put in; that Louis Houvenagle did not put in any cracked or broken tile; that he dug in places and found crumbled tile; that tile was laid through a barrel, when he. knew these things so testified were false and untrue, and this was done by the said defendant for the purpose of obtaining a result contrary to right; and plaintiff alleges that the things so testified to were matters material to the issues herein, and that their [283]*283falsity was not known to the plaintiff before judgment and could not have been known by it before judgment.

(b) That he (said defendant) procured false testimony to be given upon the trial of this cause, and that the false testimony so procured aforesaid was material to the issues.

2. That there was surprise which ordinary prudence could not have guarded against in this: That the defendant testified falsely as above; that he procured his only witness to testify falsely as set out in Exhibit A, hereto attached and by reference made a part hereof.

5.

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Bluebook (online)
167 Iowa 279, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/grinnell-brick-tile-co-v-booknau-iowa-1914.