Hansen v. Haagensen

178 N.W.2d 325, 1970 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 863
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedJune 23, 1970
Docket53988
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 178 N.W.2d 325 (Hansen v. Haagensen) 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
Hansen v. Haagensen, 178 N.W.2d 325, 1970 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 863 (iowa 1970).

Opinion

LARSON, Justice.

On July 26, 1965, plaintiff Clifford F. Hansen sought a summary judgment for the balance of a claimed attorney fee and for costs against defendant Anne Lamm Haagensen in the District Court of Iowa. This action was based upon a purported default judgment rendered by a Minnesota court on the 26th day of September 1961. The trial court dismissed plaintiff’s petition on the ground that this Minnesota judgment was rendered without personam jurisdiction over defendant, and plaintiff appeals. We affirm.

The primary question presented by this appeal is whether personal jurisdiction of this nonresident defendant had been acquired in the proceeding which resulted in the alleged September 1961 judgment sued upon. Perhaps a secondary question, which received considerable attention in the trial court, is whether the Iowa court can determine such a question in view of the judgment rendered by the Minnesota district court.

Although the voluminous record, filed copies, and affidavits do not comply with our appellate rules, we have carefully reviewed all of them and the trial court’s decision herein. As we understand the prior proceedings, the plaintiff and his law partner rendered considerable legal services to defendant and her sister in an estate matter. Subsequent to their dismissal plaintiff acquired his partner’s claim and brought suit against Mrs. Haagensen and her sister, Mrs. McAndrews, for unpaid attorney fees and advanced costs in the sum of $10,350. This action, aided by an attachment of real property in Minnesota, was commenced on August 21, 1959. Published or substituted service in Minnesota was made on September 9, 1959, and personal service on defendants in Decorah, Iowa, was made on September 21, 1959. No answer or pleadings by defendants were filed, and on December 2, 1959, plaintiff obtained a default judgment against them in the sum of $10,300 with interest and costs. This quasi in rem judgment recited in part, “this Court became vested with jurisdiction to the extent of property so attached and garnished; * * The effect of such a judgment is not to impose a personal liability or obligation upon anyone and not to affect the interests of all persons in a thing but to affect the interests of particular persons in a thing. Such a judgment may be rendered where the jurisdiction of the court which renders it is based on the court’s power over the thing, although it does not have power over the persons whose interests are affected. Restatement of the Law of Judgments, ch. 1, p. 7.

Subsequent to this judgment defendant filed what was denominated a special appearance and motion to dissolve the judgment as to her because inter alia she had *327 no property in Minnesota. This motion was heard and considered by the court and the same was denied. Nothing further was done and no appeal was taken from the December 2 judgment quasi in rem.

Although the property attached in the original action was subsequently sold and the proceeds applied upon the judgment, nothing was done in the matter for about 17 months thereafter, too late for further proceedings. (See Minnesota Rules of Civil Procedure, 60.02). A motion was then filed by plaintiff on September 25, 1961, supported by his own affidavit, asking that an order be entered “that on the files and records herein, together with the evidence presented to the Court, that Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law, and Order for Judgment be duly entered in favor of Plaintiff and against the above-named Defendants for judgment for the amount remaining due and owing upon the damages set forth and demanded in the pleadings of Plaintiff herein; * *

On September 26, 1961, the court did render judgment against defendant as prayed for the amount not satisfied by the sale of property attached in the sum of $5,967.80 plus interest from April 11, 1960.

An examination of the record and the September 26 judgment reveals that it purports to render a personal judgment against defendant for that sum, although no new notice was had upon her. The Iowa District Court dismissed this summary action on the basis that no jurisdiction had been obtained of defendant’s person and rejected her counterclaim for damages in the sum of $7,000 for the failure to sustain her burden to prove those damages. Plaintiff appealed and defendant did not. We are inclined to agree with the trial court and find in this record nothing to sustain a finding of jurisdiction of her person which would support the decree rendered by the Minnesota court on September 26, 1961, and compel recognition by the courts of Iowa.

I. It is true, as appellant contends, that the Minnesota courts may determine whether an appearance in an action brought in Minnesota is general or special and that such- determination under Minnesota rules is binding upon the Iowa courts. Nevertheless, as to the issue of whether jurisdiction of a person was ever obtained in an action or matter purportedly adjudicated by a foreign court, the Iowa courts may review.

The trial court reviewed a number of Minnesota authorities which it believed permitted the filing of special appearances to contest the jurisdiction of the court, citing IB Dunnell Minnesota Digest, 3rd Edition, § 479, and Vol. 10, § 4967, relating to Minnesota Rules of Civil Procedure, in support of its view that the defendant’s special appearances here did not confer jurisdiction of her person in this original action. Be that as it may, we are inclined to the view that due process is not violated by a determination by a state court that under its rules of civil procedure the appearances made prior to final judgment may amount to a general appearance no matter how labeled. Had it appeared here that these defendant special appearances had been made before the December 2 judgment and the court had rendered a per-sonam judgment thereon, we would be inclined to hold that judgment is enforceable in Iowa. However, that does not appear to be the case before us. It appears here that the judgment rendered December 2 was quasi in rem and that no personal jurisdiction had been acquired prior thereto. Defendant’s appearances thereafter relate to the prior concluded proceedings and are not to be considered as retroactive to justify a new judgment without proper reopening procedure or the commencement of a new action and due notice to defendant.

It is appellee’s contention that, since no personal appearance had been made or recognized in the original action prior to the December 2 judgment, judgment was final *328 and, when no appeal was taken or reopening asked pursuant to R.C.P. 60.02, concluded the proceedings. She further contends an additional or new notice and pleadings which were prior to her alleged appearances to set aside the quasi in rem judgment were necessary to secure a personal judgment for the alleged deficiency. This not being shown herein, the September 26, 1961, judgment sued upon in Iowa, she claims, was invalid anywhere.

Apparently appellant concedes he had not obtained personal jurisdiction of defendant when the quasi in rem judgment was obtained on December 2, 1959, that he did not seek to reopen the matter for over 17 months, and that he commenced no new action or served no new notice on her thereafter.

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Bluebook (online)
178 N.W.2d 325, 1970 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 863, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hansen-v-haagensen-iowa-1970.