Hagenauer v. Detroit Copper Mining Co.

124 P. 803, 14 Ariz. 74, 1912 Ariz. LEXIS 98
CourtArizona Supreme Court
DecidedJune 22, 1912
DocketCivil No. 1211
StatusPublished
Cited by34 cases

This text of 124 P. 803 (Hagenauer v. Detroit Copper Mining Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Arizona Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hagenauer v. Detroit Copper Mining Co., 124 P. 803, 14 Ariz. 74, 1912 Ariz. LEXIS 98 (Ark. 1912).

Opinions

CUNNINGHAM, J.

An examination of the original complaint and of the amended complaint reveals that the cause of action set forth in each is the negligent construction of the dam. This was the cause of all the wrong done by defendant, and all the damages suffered by the plaintiff resulted from the breaking of the dam. This was the wrong . defendant was charged in each as having committed, and the plaintiff, in each complaint, makes it appear clearly that [80]*80it was the same dam which broke and" gave way, located at the same place, in the same relative position to the same mill operated by the defendant; that the same material of which the dam was constructed is the same charged in each of said complaints, the manner of construction is the same, the effect of the dam on the fall of waters within the watershed drained by the gulch is shown in each to be the same, the danger to property below is charged to be the same, the corporation responsible for the existence of the dam at that point is the same corporation, the date on which the dam broke and gave way is the same, the injury resulting to plaintiff’s property is the same, and the property injured is the same, the same amount of damages is claimed in each complaint and the property is damaged in the same manner, and in each the knowledge of the defendant of the surrounding circumstances is alleged.

The amended complaint amplifies a number of the corresponding allegations of the original complaint, and it is contended by the defendant in error that the amended complaint, which is offered to cure the original complaint by relation, so as to cut out the intervening bar of limitations, sets out that “the dam or barrier was negligently and carelessly constructed,” and was a danger “to the property of the plaintiff”; “that it was carelessly and negligently piled up in said gulch, without skill or care, and without any proper or sufficient support to strengthen the same, and without any proper or mechanical construction whatever”; that it was of great height; that the danger to property created thereby, and its careless and negligent construction, were well known to defendant, “who wholly failed and neglected to provide any means to render said dam safe, or to restrain the slimes, sands and tailings impounded by it, and to prevent the breaking of said dam and the consequent injury to plaintiff.” It alleges that the dam broke “by reason of its negligent and careless construction as aforesaid,” and that plaintiff’s injury was sustained “by reason of the negligence and carelessness of the defendant.”

In the original complaint the dam is alleged to have been “constructed of tailings loosely thrown across the said gulch, without skill or care or mechanical construction,” giving the dimensions, and “was so constructed that all of the waters [81]*81falling,” etc., were “retained and held by said dam in a vast reservoir”; that the dam was so constructed without means of outlet to the accumulated water to escape, without passing over or by breaking the dam; that the dam on the day it broke, “held in one vast reservoir many millions of gallons of water;” “that said dam, by reason of the way in which it was constructed, . . . and by reason of the careless manner of its construction,” was liable to break from the accumulated waters and cause damage to plaintiff, ‘ ‘ all of which defendant well knew at the time it constructed and maintained the said dam.” That “the defendant’s said dam gave way and broke,” and the waters flooded the store and property of plaintiff, “and completely destroyed” the property of plaintiff.

When viewed as asserting a cause of action, and not viewed as a technical statement of a cause of action, as required when tested as a pleading, the original complaint, so considered, must carry the conviction to a reasonable man that plaintiff was complaining of the careless and negligent manner in which defendant constructed a dam, and by reason of such negligent and careless construction such dam was insufficient to restrain the water impounded by the dam, and that defendant knew the manner in which the dam was constructed and the menace the dam offered to plaintiff’s property—in other words, the plaintiff’s cause of action was the negligent, and careless construction of the dam. The same cause of action is asserted by plaintiff in his amended complaint, by a statement thereof, the sufficiency of which is not questioned. Such omissions and defects, in the manner in which the cause of action was asserted in the original complaint, were cured and supplied in the statement of the cause of action asserted in the amended complaint, and these amendments are claimed by defendant in error to state a cause of action as of the date of the filing of the amended complaint, and open to the defense of the statute of limitations. If the amended complaint does not relate back to the time of filing the original complaint, the position of counsel is well taken, and that opens the questions: Will it relate back, when the same cause of action is asserted in both the original and the amended complaints? What amendments will tie the two complaints together, so that one will be and be considered the counterpart [82]*82of the other, and both be considered as the prosecution of one and the same lawsuit, and shut out the defense of the statute of limitations?

Plaintiff concedes the statement of the cause of action asserted by the original complaint is faulty when attacked by a general demurrer, but insists that, even so, it is sufficient to assert a good cause of action, and when a good cause of action is so asserted it is sufficient to stop the running of the statute of limitations against such cause of action, even though a general demurrer to the statement would be good; and this proposition is denied by defendant in error, who insists that a complaint held bad on general demurrer must be considered as a nullity, and an amended complaint thereafter filed, sufficiently stating a cause of action when attacked by a general demurrer, is the commencement of the suit on such cause of action, and is open to all defenses as such, thus making the test of the commencement of the action relied on the ruling of the court on the effect of the general demurrer to the statement of the cause of action. These questions have never been answered by the supreme court of the territory, to which this court is the successor by operation of law, and they are, therefore, questions of first impression in this jurisdiction.

To give to the special demurrer, setting up the statute of limitations to an amended complaint, the effect contended for by the defendant in error, would be equivalent to giving such special demurrer the force and effect of a general demurrer, and permit the pleading thereby to attack the sufficiency and the manner of stating a cause of action, which is not the purpose of such special demurrer. It does not attack the manner of stating the cause of action, but it is more to be considered in the class of pleas in confession and avoidance of the cause of action stated, be the manner of statement as it may appear, the special plea admits the sufficiency of the allegations of the pleading attacked thereby, to state a cause of action, but seeks to avoid the prosecution of such suit, and relegate the cause of action to repose and bring the litigation to an end forever. It thus directly attacks the cause of action, and does not attack the manner of stating the cause of action—the statement of the cause of action.

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

Related

Montano v. Scottsdale Baptist Hospital, Inc.
581 P.2d 682 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1978)
Marsh v. Hawkins
437 P.2d 978 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 1968)
Ballou v. Jewett City Savings Bank
10 Conn. Super. Ct. 419 (Connecticut Superior Court, 1942)
Daniel v. City of Tucson
79 P.2d 516 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1938)
Mitchell v. Vulture Mining & Milling Co.
55 P.2d 636 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1936)
Claudon v. Illinois State Sav. Bank
73 F.2d 876 (Seventh Circuit, 1934)
In Re Yellow Motor Co.
34 F.2d 118 (Eighth Circuit, 1929)
Kunselman v. Southern Pacific Railroad
263 P. 939 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1928)
Hovland v. Farmers' State Bank of Christine
10 F.2d 478 (Eighth Circuit, 1926)
Gambrell v. McKean
237 P. 196 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1925)
Key v. City of Ardmore
1925 OK CR 167 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1925)
Bryan v. Inspiration Consolidated Copper Co.
205 P. 904 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1922)
Arizona Lumber Co. v. Detroit Copper Mining Co.
124 P. 811 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1912)
Backstein v. Detroit Copper Mining Co.
124 P. 811 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1912)
Backstein & Naubauer v. Detroit Copper Mining Co.
124 P. 811 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1912)
Bazaar Department Store v. Detroit Copper Mining Co.
124 P. 811 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1912)
Balin v. Detroit Copper Mining Co.
124 P. 811 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1912)
Bianes, Valdez & Co. v. Detroit Copper Mining Co.
124 P. 811 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1912)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
124 P. 803, 14 Ariz. 74, 1912 Ariz. LEXIS 98, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hagenauer-v-detroit-copper-mining-co-ariz-1912.