Haggin v. Clark

12 P. 478, 71 Cal. 444, 1886 Cal. LEXIS 607
CourtCalifornia Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 27, 1886
DocketNo. 9280
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 12 P. 478 (Haggin v. Clark) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Haggin v. Clark, 12 P. 478, 71 Cal. 444, 1886 Cal. LEXIS 607 (Cal. 1886).

Opinion

Searls, C.

This cause was decided by Department Two on the thirtieth day of January, 1886.

A réargument in Bank was ordered, and we are again called upon to review the cause.

It is claimed that in the former opinion too much weight was given to the previous decision in the same case (61 Cal. 1), and that what we extracted from the last-named decision as the law of the case, and treated as res adjudicata on the question at issue, was in reality obiter dicta, or at least based upon a record in no respects binding upon the plaintiffs, Haggin and Le Roy.

The following summary will suffice to an understanding of the salient points involved in the case:—

On the second day of May, 1864, Theodore Le Roy, as the assignee of Jacob P. Leese, recovered judgment in ejectment against defendant Clark for the undivided four sixteenths (4-16) of certain premises situate in the city and county of San Francisco.

On the 22d of March, 1865, Haggin and Le Roy, as plaintiffs, recovered judgment against said Clark for pos[446]*446session of the same land, according to their respective interests; that is to say, the said Haggin four sixteenths (4-16), and said Le Roy eight sixteenths (8-16), undivided.

On the eighteenth day of June, 1866, Theodore Le Roy and Rudolph Steinbach conveyed te Haggin seven sixteenths (7-16), undivided, of, in, and to said land, which included the four sixteenths of said land formerly owned by said Haggin, which still left said Le Roy the owner of nine sixteenth (9-16) of said land.

Two actions were brought against Clark to recover mesne profits of the land during the period of his wrongful possession.

One of these actions was brought by Le Roy, and the other by Haggin and Le Roy.

By consent of counsel, the two actions were tried together, upon an agreement that in case of recovery by plaintiffs, one half of the amount found in their favor should be. awarded in each case.

The causes were tried by the court without a jury, and all of the foregoing facts as to title and the quantity of interest appear in the findings of fact.

Judgment was rendered in each case about September 11, 1874, in favor of the plaintiff or plaintiffs therein for $5,400, and certain further sums by way of interest, which interest was, however, on appeal to this court, stricken out and disallowed, with costs to defendant, and thereafter judgment was entered in the court below for $5,400, with legal interest thereon from date of entry, and at the same time, and as a part of the same judgment, defendant recovered his costs of appeal, taxed at $79.50.

Pending the appeal to this court, defendant Clark took from Le Roy an assignment of all his interest in the two judgments, and subsequently the court below ordered them satisfied on payment to Haggin of the share or proportion -due him as per the findings in the case.

[447]*447This appeal is from the order so made satisfying the judgments in Le Eoy and Haggin against Clark.

The question presented for determination is this:—

Where the findings in a cause show that two plaintiffs are entitled to recover, and show the share or interest which each plaintiff has in the subject-matter of the action, can oral testimony or affidavits be received on a motion to have the judgment satisfied, to show that the interest of the plaintiffs in the judgment is other or different from that shown in the findings?

By section 578 of the Code of Civil Procedure, it is provided that the judgment may, “when the justice of the case requires it, determine the ultimate rights of the parties on each side, as between themselves.”

In the present case, it appears that the court did, by its findings, determine the interests of the respective plaintiffs as between themselves.

We must presume in favor of the findings (in the absence of the pleadings) that they are responsive to the issues made in the case.

It is true, the appellant contends that there was nothing in the pleadings warranting these findings, but the pleadings, which are the only legitimate evidence on the subject, were not offered to substantiate their position.

We must therefore hold that, under the presumption in favor of the findings above referred to, some necessity existed for the findings of the court, and that they were warranted by the issues in the cause.

In view of this position, it was not in order for plaintiff Haggin, upon a motion to have the judgment satisfied, to show by affidavits and deeds that his interest all along was greater than that found by the court. Non constat, but this very evidence may have been introduced upon the trial, and overcome by the admissions of the pleadings or by other evidence. If injustice was done the appellant, he had his redress by a motion for a new trial or appeal to correct the error, but he cannot waive [448]*448all these rights, and by a motion founded upon oral evidence or affidavits try the facts of the cause anew, or any portion of them, in a manner not known to the practice of our courts.

We may infer that it was in view of this reasoning that this court, when the cause was here before (61 Cal. 1), indicated as the data upon which the amount due Haggin was to be determined the proportion or interest to which the findings showed him to be entitled.

We see no reason for modifying what was said in the opinion heretofore rendered by Department Two on this appeal, to the effect that the relative rights of the parties having been settled on the former appeal (61 Cal. 1), such decision became the law of the case.

Waiving this conclusion, however, and we are of opinion that if appellant has a remedy, it must be by appropriate action against his co-plaintiff, who he shows occupied the relation of a trustee to himself, and not by the means invoked on this motion.

We are of opinion the former decision of Department Two affirming the order of the court below should stand as the decision in the cause.

Foote, C., and Belcher, C. C., concurred.

The Court.

For the reasons given in the foregoing opinion, the order is affirmed.

The following is the opinion of Department Two, above referred to:—

The court below, on motion of defendant, ordered satisfaction of a judgment in favor of plaintiffs, under section 675 of the Code of Civil Procedure.

From this order plaintiffs appeal.

This action was originally brought to recover rents, issues, and profits of certain premises situate in the city and county of San Francisco, and which premises had [449]*449before that time been recovered from the defendant in certain actions of ejectment.

The cause was tried by the court and written findings filed, upon which judgment was entered in favor of the plaintiffs for $17,408.

Of this sum, $12,008 was for interest. An appeal was taken to this court, and the judgment of the court below was modified by'striking out the sum of $12,008 allowed as interest, and the court below instructed to modify its judgment accordingly. (51 Cal. 112.)

This was done by the entry of a judgment in favor of plaintiffs for five thousand four hundred dollars.

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Bluebook (online)
12 P. 478, 71 Cal. 444, 1886 Cal. LEXIS 607, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/haggin-v-clark-cal-1886.