Kasper v. Miller

156 P.2d 550, 159 Kan. 488, 1945 Kan. LEXIS 169
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedMarch 10, 1945
DocketNo. 36,187
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 156 P.2d 550 (Kasper v. Miller) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kasper v. Miller, 156 P.2d 550, 159 Kan. 488, 1945 Kan. LEXIS 169 (kan 1945).

Opinions

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Wedell, J.:

This was originally an action by alleged owners of a small triangular tract of ground in a residential district of [489]*489Kansas City to enjoin the city from enforcing an order cancelling a building permit thereon. The ground for many years had constituted a beauty spot and purchasers of lots in the vicinity believed it to be a public park.

The original action was expanded. The city -and various lot owners joined in a motion to permit the lot owners to intervene and to be made parties defendant on the ground the latter had an interest in the controversy adverse to plaintiffs. A hearing was had on the motion and it was allowed. Attached to the motion was an answer of the intervening defendants which was later filed. Issues were joined by new pleadings of all the parties. Those pleadings will receive further attention later. Eor present purposes it is sufficient to state that plaintiffs ultimately, under their new pleadings, sought also the affirmative relief of having their title quieted against both the city and the intervening defendants.

The court sustained the city’s demurrer to plaintiffs’ evidence on the single issue of the building permit on the ground plaintiffs had not complied with the ordinances in their original application for a building permit. In support of a joint answer and cross petition of the city and the intervening defendants the city introduced evidence designed to disclose its ownership of the ground as a public park. The court determined the city did not establish its ownership1 of the ground and sustained plaintiffs’ demurrer previously lodged against the city’s evidence and rendered judgment against the city for the costs incident to the assertion of the city’s claim. The extensive findings of fact and conclusions of law will receive further attention presently. In substance, however, the court concluded that as between plaintiffs and intervenors the tract of ground was a beauty spot and public park and that plaintiffs were estopped to contend otherwise. The plaintiffs, except Frank Youngs, with whom plaintiffs had contracted to erect a building on the ground involved, have appealed. The city has not appealed.

Before considering the appeal on its merits we are confronted with a motion of the intervening defendants, appellees, to dismiss the appeal. No notice of appeal was served on the plaintiff, Frank Youngs, or on the city. Appellees’ motion is predicated upon two grounds. The first is that it is to the interests of both the city and the plaintiff, Frank Youngs, that the judgment of the trial court be upheld; that they are each interested in opposing the relief now sought by appellants and under the provisions of G. S. 1935, 60-3306 are adverse parties who must be served with. notice of appeal in [490]*490order to maintain the appeal against appellees. While there may be some merit in appellees’ first contention we prefer to direct our attention to other questions presented.

The second ground of appellees’ motion is that the appeal must be dismissed for. the reason appellants have failed to comply with the requirements of G. S. 1935, 60-3311 pertaining to the filing of a transcript. Appellees insist the transcript contains only a portion of the record and prevents their filing a counter abstract setting forth essential testimony not contained in appellants’ abstract. The certificate of the court reporter covers only certain exhibits and with respect to the oral proceedings states:

“. . . that the foregoing 202 pages are a true and correct transcript of that part of the oral proceedings ordered for vse on appeal in the case of Frederick J. Kasper et al. v. City of Kansas City, Kansas et al., No. 57311-A, and contain all of the testimony of the intervening defendants individually as to representations of J. A. Hoel in regard to Block 10, Westheight Manor No. 2, . . .” (Emphasis supplied.)

The parties did not stipulate that the limited portion of the proceedings ordered by appellants contained all the evidence required for a full review of the facts and that it constituted a sufficient transcript. Appellees deny the right of appellants to determine what testimony constitutes a complete transcript.

Appellants challenge certain important findings of fact. They contend some of the findings are not supported by the evidence and that others are contrary thereto and request that certain findings be modified and that additional findings be made. On the basis of the entire record before the trial court it overruled those motions. If appellees by reason of an incomplete transcript are unable to supplement appellants’ abstract with a counter abstract how can this court determine the correctness of the trial court’s findings of fact? Obviously we cannot reverse a trial court on a record different from the one upon which it made its findings. Neither can this court pass upon a disagreement of counsél on the question whether all material testimony is contained in the transcript furnished and we are not attempting to do so.

The most recent review of our decisions upon this subject is found in Barker v. Chicago, R. I. & P. Rly. Co., 158 Kan. 549, 148 P. 2d 493. We held:

“Where parties seek appellate review of questions depending solely on the sufficiency of .the evidence it is incumbent upon them, in the absence of a stipulation or agreement doing away with its necessity, to procure an official [491]*491transcript of all the evidence, and when they fail to furnish such transcript, or procure one containing only portions of the testimony, which is challenged as inadequate for an effective review, the evidence will not be reviewed and their appeal will be dismissed.” (Syl.)

Failure to comply with the above rule may not always require a dismissal of the appeal with respect to all questions but it may greatly restrict the scope of appellate review. (Barker v. Chicago, R. I. & P. Rly. Co., supra, p. 554.) So in the instant case we shall not consider appellants’ challenge of the findings of. fact but shall restrict our review to the legal question, also raised below, whether the findings made support the conclusions of law. Before treating that question we must briefly notice a preliminary complaint.

Appellants direct our attention to a motion they filed to strike the original answer and cross petition of the intervenors from the files or, in the alternative, to have the cross petition of the intervenors docketed as a separate cause of action. The motion was denied. The principal ground of the motion urged was that several causes of action were improperly joined. Appellants concede the motion to strike was tantamount to a demurrer. Appellants did not appeal from that ruling but subsequently filed an amended petition against the intervening defendants and the defendant city in which they sought affirmative relief against all defendants. All defendants filed a joint answer and cross petition. Appellants filed a reply and an amended reply to that joint answer and cross petition. The action was fully tried upon the issues thus joined by all the parties. Appellants urge they were prejudiced by the joinder of the respective actions. That point was not specifically presented by the motion for a new trial. One ground of the motion was abuse of discretion by the court. In view of the broad provisions of G. S.

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Bluebook (online)
156 P.2d 550, 159 Kan. 488, 1945 Kan. LEXIS 169, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kasper-v-miller-kan-1945.