Hunter v. Bremer

100 A. 809, 256 Pa. 257, 1917 Pa. LEXIS 598
CourtSupreme Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJanuary 8, 1917
DocketAppeal, No. 166
StatusPublished
Cited by46 cases

This text of 100 A. 809 (Hunter v. Bremer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hunter v. Bremer, 100 A. 809, 256 Pa. 257, 1917 Pa. LEXIS 598 (Pa. 1917).

Opinion

Opinion by

Mr. Justice Moschzisker,

This action was instituted by David Hunter, Jr., as receiver of the Land Trust Company, against J. D. Bremer, to recover the balance due upon two promissory notes signed by the latter and held by the former. The first of these, dated December 22, 1905, payable upon demand, was called about three months thereafter, and the second, dated June 25, 1907, fell due'on October 25, 1907. The present suit was not commenced until July 22,1914, when both obligations were more than six years overdue.

The defendant interposed the bar of the statute of limitations ;. to which the other side replied that, on the facts in this case, the Act of May 22, 1895, P. L. 112, forbade him the benefits of this defense. The act in question provides: “In all civil suits.......in which the cause of action shall have arisen within this state the defendant or defendants......, win shall have become nonresident of the state after said cause of action shall have arisen, shall not have the benefit of any statute of this state for the limitations of actions during the period of such residence without the state.”

The issues involved, as to the residence of the defendant at the time the cause of action arose and his subsequent nonresidence, were submitted to the jury and found in favor of the plaintiff; a verdict Avas rendered accordingly, upon which judgment was entered, and the defendant has appealed.

The defendant claimed that he was not a resident of this State when the notes in suit were executed or at the time default was made thereon; that his permanent resi[260]*260dence was then in New York, and he simply came here on business; that he did not establish a residence in Pennsylvania until 1910; and he gave his-own testimony to substantiate these contentions. On the other hand, the plaintiff said that Mr. Bremer was a resident of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, when the cause of action arose and for some time thereafter; but that, subsequently, he became a nonresident, and lived without the State for such a period as prevented the bar of the statute of limitations.

When upon the stand, the defendant admitted that, from 1902 to 1906, he was secretary of a fire insurance company, with headquarters in Pittsburgh, and that he had a half interest in another like business in the same place; that afterwards he was special agent for a third insurance concern, which also necessitated his presence in that city; and that, when in Pittsburgh, he had his living quarters at a hotel or in a boarding house, where he “rented a room” and kept sufficient personal articles to meet his requirements. On cross-examination, his attention was called to certain testimony given by him, July, 1911, in an extradition proceeding in the Quarter Sessions Court of Allegheny County, which involved the question of his residence, wherein he made a declaration susceptible of the construction that he had been a resident of Pennsylvania for about 22 years; this in contradiction of his allegation at bar that in 1905 and 1907, when the notes in suit grew due, he was a nonresident of Pennsylvania. Again, the defendant was confronted with certain testimony given by him in a legal proceeding, in 1913, when he said that he was then resident in the State of New York; this in contradiction of his allegation at bar that he had been a resident of Clarion County, Pennsylvania, since 1910. In addition, the plaintiff offered as a witness one who was an assistant district attorney of Allegheny County at the time of the extradition against the defendant; he testified that those proceedings involved the question as to whether Mr. [261]*261Bremer was a resident of Pittsburgh or of Texas, and that the latter then said he had been a resident of Pittsburgh and its vicinity for 22 years. The plaintiff also produced other witnesses to substantiate his contentions as to the residence of the appellant.

The testimony in the case, both pro and con, was fairly reviewed by the trial judge, who, in submitting it to the jury, said: “You observe the language of this statute ......[Act of 1895, supra]......It does not use the word ‘citizen,’ or even the word ‘domicile,’ but......‘resident.’ If the statute had said that a man’s domicile must have been changed, or his place of citizenship changed, the meaning would be different from what it is, because there is a distinction between residence and domicile. A man’s domicile is where he has his residence, with an intention of remaining there. Residence does not necessarily involve the idea of an intention of remaining there at that place where his residence is. Residence means where a man abides, not merely temporarily like a traveling man coming into Pittsburgh and staying a day, a week, or even a month, or something of that kind, but it is where he resides. He may not have á domicile where he resides, where he would have the right to- vote, for example ; but as I say to you, it means more than a mere boarder, roomer or something like that. You have the testimony as to what took place with reference to the defendant being in Pittsburgh at the time these notes were made. He was here, he had a place where he went from day to day, either at a hotel or boarding house....., and he was the secretary of this insurance company, and he did business in Pittsburgh. He was part owner of an insurance agency here in this city. If you......are satisfied by the weight of the evidence that the defendant was, at the time of the making of these obligations,. a resident of the City of Pittsburgh.......then the plaintiff will have established the first thing it must, in order to avail itself of the provisions of this statute. If, however, you find he was not, if you find he was at [262]*262that time a resident of the State of New York, and that is what he said he Avas, and only here in a temporary manner, then the plaintiff will have failed to make, out the first thing which it must do, in order to avail itself of the benefit of this statute. Then the second thing is that the defendant became a nonresident of Pennsylvania, after the making of these notes. So if you find ......that the defendant, after the making of these notes, became a resident of the State of New York, as is claimed by the plaintiff, then it will have made out'the second element which it must do, in order to take advantage of this statute. If he did not. become a resident of the State of New York, then the plaintiff will have failed.”

The instructions just quoted are complained of in the defendant’s second assignment of error; but we see only one statement therein which is open to criticism; that is where the trial judge said, “Residence does not necessarily involve the idea of an intention of remaining there at that place where his residence is.” If the word “permanently” had been used immediately before “remaining,” the instructions would have been strictly correct. When, however, we take the particular instruction under discussion with its context, it is perfectly clear the trial judge meant that, to constitute residence, an intention permanently to remain at the place in question was not necessarily involved; and the jury must have so understood. With this matter cleared up, as just explained, the instructions are beyond criticism.

Of course, there are many cases dealing with residence and domicile; but in view of the recent consideration given the subject by this court in Raymond v. Leishman, 243 Pa. 64, 68, 70, 71, a citation of that authority is enough. There we passed upon the Foreign Attachment Act of June 13,1836, P. L. 568, as amended by the Act of March 30,1905, P. L.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
100 A. 809, 256 Pa. 257, 1917 Pa. LEXIS 598, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hunter-v-bremer-pa-1917.