Inhabitants of Thomaston v. Starrett

147 A. 427, 128 Me. 328, 1929 Me. LEXIS 115
CourtSupreme Judicial Court of Maine
DecidedSeptember 30, 1929
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 147 A. 427 (Inhabitants of Thomaston v. Starrett) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Judicial Court of Maine primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Inhabitants of Thomaston v. Starrett, 147 A. 427, 128 Me. 328, 1929 Me. LEXIS 115 (Me. 1929).

Opinion

Bassett, J.

Petition to the Supreme Judicial Court of Knox County for a review of a complaint brought under R. S., Chap. 24, Sec. 84, in which the present defendant’s testate was complainant and the petitioner was defendant, for the assessment of damages to his property in Thomaston caused by raising the grade of a street in front of it in the construction of a bridge. The case was reported to the Law Court and judgment given for the complainant by the Court in its decision reported in Starrett v. Thomaston, 126 Me., 205.

The petition is brought under R. S., Chap. 94, Sec. 1, Par VII, providing, “A review may be granted in any case where it appears that through fraud, accident, mistake or misfortune, justice has not been done, and a further hearing would be just and equitable.”

The petitioner alleges two grounds of relief; first a “mistake” of the Law Court in its above decision in inferring from the proceedings of the State Highway Commission that the way upon which the bridge was constructed and the grade of which was raised was a town way, when it was in fact a state highway and consequently the defendant was not legally liable for any damage caused by the change of grade; and second, that “due to accident or mistake” the three commissioners, appointed by agreement of the parties by the Court to determine the amount of damage, based their finding upon a computation outside the scope of their authority and found an excessive amount of damage.

The sitting Justice, upon motion of the respondent, dismissed the petition and the case comes up on exceptions to that ruling.

[330]*330In Donnell v. Hodsdon, 102 Me., 420, upon a petition for review brought under Par. VII, the presiding Justice after hearing the evidence found as a matter of fact that the default of the petitioner in the action sought to be reviewed occurred through the negligence of her attorney and ruled that it was such accident,, mistake or misfortune on her part as would entitle her to a review. Upon exceptions, this court held'the ruling was wrong because it ignored other statutory requisites to the granting of a review. “Under clause VII upon which this petition is based, the petitioner is not entitled to a review unless he proves to the satisfaction of the court at nisi prius three propositions (1) that justice has-not been done; (2) that the consequent injustice was through fraud, accident, mistake or misfortune; and (3) that a further-hearing would be just and equitable. If the presiding Justice is satisfied of all those and grants the petition or is not satisfied of some of them and denies the petition, his decision is final and not subject to review upon exceptions. Where however as here the-presiding Justice rules in effect that it is enough to show the negligent omission of the attorney to notify the client of the day set for trial and that he, the presiding Justice, need not be satisfied of anything else, such ruling is subject to exception and for the-reasons above stated is erroneous. It grants a review although there may not be a defense to the action and although a further1 hearing would not be just or equitable.”

In Grant v. Spear, 105 Me., 508, also a petition for review under the same clause, the presiding Justice found on hearing that the-negligence of the petitioner’s attorney was such “accident, mistake or misfortune” as would entitle to a review, and also that “justice had not been done^’ and that “a further hearing would be-just and equitable.” Exceptions to the decision of the presiding-Justice were overruled. The Court said the rule in Donnell v. Hodsdon, supra, was decisive of the case. While in that case only one of the three elements had been found by the presiding Justice, here he had found all the elements in favor of the petitioner and his decision1 concluded the matter.

In McDonough v. Blossom, 109 Me., 141, the Court quoted with-approval the rule of Donnell v. Hodsdon, and decided, the case [331]*331coming up on report, that the three propositions which must be proved had been proved by the evidence and ordered writ of review to issue.

At the hearing on the petition in the instant case, no evidence was presented. Before the presiding Justice were the petition, motion, the original printed case, which were printed together, Starrett v. Inhabitants of the Town of Thomaston and Starrett v. State Highway Commission, and which were made part of the bill of exceptions, and the above cited decision of this court.

The motion to dismiss was based on three grounds: first, res ad judicata-, second, that Starrett died in November, 1927, following the above decision of this court in April, 1927, and it would be inequitable to require a rehearing on the case without his assistance and the petitioner could have filed the petition in his lifetime; third, because it does not appear in the petition that a review if granted would result in any material alteration of the decree of this court.

Upon the foregoing record, the presiding Justice ordered “Motion granted. Petition dismissed,” to which ruling exceptions were taken.

In Donnell v. Hodsdon, supra, it is held that the decision of the presiding Justice “is final and not subject to review upon exceptions.”

In York & Cumberland Railroad Company v. Clark, 45 Me., 151 (1858), the sitting Justice ordered a petition for review to be dismissed and the petitioner filed exceptions. The opinion states, “This case comes before us upon exceptions taken to the ruling of the Judge at nisi priws, in ordering the dismissal of a petition for review upon the whole case as presented before him. His adjudication, therefore, must have involved the determination of all such questions of law and fact as arose at the hearing. That both questions of law and fact were embraced in that adjudication is apparent, from the statement of the case, as contained in the exceptions. There is, however, no specific ruling in relation to any matter of fact or law, other than what relates to the admissibility of certain evidence, which was objected to by the petitioner, and admitted. Upon the merits, the only ruling consists in the order, of [332]*332dismissal.” The opinion goes on to state that under the statutes for review then in force, as under the earlier statutes, “all matters of fact or of discretion were left wholly to the determination of the presiding Judge and his decision in relation thereto was final. ... In view of the numerous decisions, and the statutes we think it clear that prior to the R. S. of 1857, Chap. 77, Sec. 27, exceptions were not allowed in cases like the present, unless some question of law was therein distinctly presented.” The Court held that the statute referred to did not apply and said, “As the same power which was vested in the Law Court (the whole court) at the time of this decision (Leighton v. Manson, 14 Me., 213 [1837]) is now vested in a single Justice, no reason is apparent why such Justice, in a hearing upon a petition for review, is not clothed with the same discretion as the Law Court formerly was. In both cases,' the discretion to be exercised must be the discretion of the particular tribunal in which the law has placed it. An exception to the refusal of a judge to take off a default stands on the same ground.

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Bluebook (online)
147 A. 427, 128 Me. 328, 1929 Me. LEXIS 115, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/inhabitants-of-thomaston-v-starrett-me-1929.