Johnson v. Johnson

730 P.2d 1221, 302 Or. 382
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 23, 1986
DocketTC A8408-04591; CA A35979; SC S32947
StatusPublished
Cited by35 cases

This text of 730 P.2d 1221 (Johnson v. Johnson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Johnson v. Johnson, 730 P.2d 1221, 302 Or. 382 (Or. 1986).

Opinion

*384 CAMPBELL, J.

Since Friese v. Hummel, 26 Or 145, 37 P 458 (1894), this court has recognized a distinction between extrinsic and intrinsic fraud in granting relief from a judgment. We have held that relief will be granted on the basis of extrinsic fraud, but will be denied if the fraud is intrinsic. Extrinsic fraud consists of collateral acts not involved in the fact finder’s consideration of the merits of the case. On the other hand, intrinsic fraud consists of acts which pertain to the merits. Slate Const. Co. v. Pac. Gen. Con., Inc., 226 Or 145, 151, 359 P2d 530 (1961); Friese v. Hummel, supra.

Plaintiffs petition for review presents two questions in this case: (1) Did plaintiffs complaint and supplemental complaint allege acts constituting extrinsic fraud, and (2) Should the “extrinsic/intrinsic” fraud concept be abandoned and replaced by Restatement (Second) of Judgments § 70 (1980)? (Quotedpost at 390-391.) Plaintiff contends that if we answer either question in the affirmative, then the summary judgment entered for defendants by the trial court must be reversed.

We hold that plaintiff alleged only acts constituting intrinsic fraud in her complaints and that we should not adopt Restatement (Second) of Judgments § 70. Defendants were entitled to a summary judgment. We affirm the Court of Appeals and trial court.

The Plaintiff’s first pleading is entitled “COMPLAINT IN EQUITY [FOR] INJUNCTION AGAINST ENFORCEMENT OF JUDGMENT.” Plaintiff alleged: Previously defendant Johnson and plaintiff had been husband and wife. After a trial in April 1980, the court entered a decree dissolving the marriage and awarding plaintiff the family home subject to a lien in favor of defendant Johnson in the sum of $24,000. Thereafter, on the application of defendant Johnson, the court in April 1983 modified the decree as to support payments. The gravamen of plaintiffs complaint is as follows:

“V
“Thereafter [after the modification] plaintiff learned that during this period of said action defendant Johnson had removed to the State of Washington and the State of Idaho, *385 large sums of money in the approximate amount of $450,000 and had concealed said money out of reach of garnishment by plaintiff who was unaware of said transfers and concealment and no way lacking in diligence and said defendant Johnson under oath on or about April 2, and 3,1980 upon the aforesaid trial and on trial of the modification on or about April 8,1983 answered deliberately and knowingly falsely, that he had no such property or income, with intent to injure plaintiff by decreasing her award and increasing his award and did so in obtaining the aforesaid judgment and modification and plaintiff was entitled to rely upon said representations by defendant Johnson.” 1

The complaint also alleged that execution had been “issued and levied” on defendant Johnson’s judgment and the family home was scheduled to be sold by the Sheriff of Multnomah County on August 24, 1984, and that defendant Cramer was the attorney for defendant Johnson in executing the judgment. Plaintiff prayed that the defendants be enjoined from enforcing the judgment.

The defendants filed an answer to the complaint, admitting the formal matters and the history of the dissolution and modification proceedings but denying paragraph V (set out above) and “the whole thereof.”

Plaintiff filed a supplemental complaint alleging that her motion requesting a temporary injunction to stay the enforcement of defendant Johnson’s judgment had been denied, but that she had been able to obtain a loan to pay off the judgment and keep the home. The supplemental complaint also alleged in effect that plaintiff suffered monetary loss due to the conduct of defendant Johnson. 2

Plaintiff concluded her supplemental complaint by praying for judgment against defendants Johnson and Cramer for compensatory and exemplary damages in the amount of $469,920. The supplemental complaint changed plaintiffs case from a “suit” for an injunction to an action for damages. *386 Defendants’ answer to the supplemental complaint was a general denial.

Defendants filed a motion for summary judgment claiming “that there is no issue to be disposed of in this case, that the case is moot and summary judgment should be entered for defendants.”

Attached to the motion for summary judgment is a 21 page transcript of the hearing on plaintiffs motion for a temporary injunction before Circuit Court Judge James R. Ellis. The transcript does not contain the sworn testimony of any witness. It contains a stipulation as to what plaintiff would generally testify to if she were called as a witness. 3 It also contains the oral arguments of counsel and the comments of Judge Ellis.

In opposition to the motion for summary judgment, plaintiff filed an affidavit in which she swore:

“Defendant William Gerald Johnson hid $45,000 of his money in out of state financial institutions in Washington and Idaho and then on his depositions and on trial lied about this denying its existence. In this he was assisted by his attorney defendant John F. Cramer, Jr.
“Since the temporary injunction was denied I am entitled to trial on the merits of these allegations.”

Defendants did not file an answering affidavit.

Circuit Judge Thomas O. Carter, Pro Tern, entered a summary judgment for the defendants. If he issued an opinion which stated the reasons for his decision, it is not a part of the record. Later, to set the case up for appeal, plaintiff submitted to Circuit Judge Clifford B. Olsen, in the absence of the presiding judge, a final judgment. Appeal was taken from the final judgment to the Court of Appeals, which affirmed without opinion. 78 Or App 669, 716 P2d 264 (1986).

Defendants’ position is that plaintiffs complaint and supplemental complaint show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that they are entitled to a judgment as *387 a matter of law. They argue that plaintiff in this case is making a collateral attack on the court’s previous judgment in the dissolution case. They contend that plaintiff has alleged only “intrinsic” fraud and that a judgment cannot be collaterally attacked on that basis.

Plaintiffs position is that her complaints sufficiently state facts to constitute “extrinsic” fraud under the Oregon case law and that this type of fraud will allow relief from a judgment previously entered, or, in the alternative, that Oregon should abandon the “extrinsic/intrinsic” fraud distinction as the test for granting relief from judgments and adopt Restatement (Second) of Judgments § 70.

The relevant portions of ORCP 47 on summary judgments are:

“B.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
730 P.2d 1221, 302 Or. 382, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/johnson-v-johnson-or-1986.