Kirkland v. Spriggs

171 P. 992, 19 Ariz. 425, 1918 Ariz. LEXIS 96
CourtArizona Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 30, 1918
DocketCivil No. 1565
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 171 P. 992 (Kirkland v. Spriggs) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Arizona Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kirkland v. Spriggs, 171 P. 992, 19 Ariz. 425, 1918 Ariz. LEXIS 96 (Ark. 1918).

Opinion

ROSS', J.

Appellee, as plaintiff, instituted suit against defendants as partners for arrearages in rent, for damages for breach of contract of lease, for money loaned to the partnership, and for assigned wage accounts of three employees of the partnership. Six causes of action were set out in the complaint. Two of these causes of action grew out of transactions between appellee and defendants; one for rent for $294, and one for the alleged breach for $1,000. The others were assigned to appellee for collection and were a note to the Salt River Valley Bank for $400 made and executed by defendant Williams. This cause is set out in two counts; one on the contract with appropriate allegations, and the other on the general count for money loaned the partnership. The other three causes of action were for work and labor of employees of defendants aggregating $54.50, or a total of $1,748.50.

The defendant Williams was not served with process and made no appearance. Appellant, Kirkland, demurred to the complaint for a misjoinder of parties defendant and because, as he contends, it improperly unites actions ex contractu with an action ex delicto. The demurrer's were overruled. In his answer he denied the partnership, as also any indebtedness for rent or on account of the note made by Williams or for money loaned Kirkland and Williams by the bank or for wages of employees, or for breach of contract of lease. A jury trial was had which resulted in a verdict for appellee for $1. At the time suit was filed a writ of attachment was sued out and levied upon some 15 head of dairy cows, 22 head of calves or young cattle, some horses, and other personal property. The officer who made the levy turned this livestock and other property over to appellee as custodian or bailee. For the care of the stock, appellee claimed, and was allowed by the court, in his cost bill, $894.27, after deducting a credit of $67.73 for milk, for hides of calves that had died, and for milk [427]*427cans sold by the custodian. Appellee was allowed $60 for the labor of milking cows, $20 for treating sick cattle, and $12.50 for sheep dip and a blackleg injector, all told, with the costs of the clerk, sheriff, and witness fees, and mileage, $1,323.52, which was taxed against appellant, Kirkland, in the court’s judgment. Appellant moved for a new trial. He appeals from the judgment and the order overruling his motion for a new trial.

The appellee has made a motion to dismiss the appeal, based upon the following facts of record: The notice of appeal recites that it is an appeal by the partnership composed of Kirkland and Williams, whereas the bond on appeal is executed by Kirkland in his individual capacity and for him only. This variance between the notice and the bond might be fatal under other circumstances, but not under the present. Williams had failed to appear. In fact, it is shown that he had left the country under a cloud. The attorney for Kirkland had no right or authority to represent Williams, and when he drafted the notice of appeal he was not Williams’ attorney. The notice, in fact, then, was effective only as to Kirkland’s appeal. The variance between the notice and the bond is more apparent than real. Garrigan v. Kennedy, 17 S. D. 258, 96 N. W. 89. The motion to dismiss is denied.

The demurrer for misjoinder of parties defendant was based on the fact that the assigned note from the Salt River Valley Bank was signed by Williams individually and that it was therefore his debt and not a partnership debt. The complaint, however, alleges that the $400 was obtained for and used by the partnership. If that be true, it was a partnership debt. Whether true or not, it cannot be determined by demurrer, but must await the evidence.

An action for breach of contract may or may not sound in tort. In the present complaint it is based on the violation of covenants and agreements contained in the lease, from which it is alleged appellee suffered damages. The duties imposed under the lease, for the breach of which damages are sought, were contractual. 1 C. J. 129, § 153. Actions in contract and in tort were not united in the complaint, and the demurrer on that ground was properly overruled.

Appellant has assigned a great number of errors based on rulings of the court: (a) In not releasing attached property on his motion: (b) in not ordering a nonsuit on his motion; [428]*428(e) in overruling motion for arrest and for a new trial; (d) in instructing the jury; (e) in the admission of testimony over defendants’ objection; (f) in the rejection of testimony offered by him; and (g) in overruling defendants’ objections and exceptions to the cost bill.

Most of these assignments we will pass over as without merit. It is evident, that the testimony to which appellant excepted, even if erroneously admitted, did not militate against appellant, and the same may be said as to the instructions on the measure of damages, the verdict being for only $1 as against $1,748.50 claimed in the complaint. Under the evidence and the admissions in the pleadings, it appears that appellee should have recovered at least the balance of rent due, to wit, $294, and we can only account for the small verdict upon the theory that the jury concluded the appellee’s conduct toward appellant was so harsh and oppressive as to merit the rebuke implied in its verdict. Prom any viewpoint, appellant cannot complain of the verdict, and appellee does not complain.

The allowance in the cost bill of the charges for keeping and caring for the livestock attached from the time of the attachment to the time of the trial and judgment is presented by appellant’s assignment as error. The attachment was levied by the constable of Mesa precinct, who took possession of the attached property and immediately turned it over to appellee as custodian or bailee. In connection with the cost bill is found a written statement by the constable in which he says, after giving an itemized statement of costs and expenses incurred :

“That he placed said property under the care of A. E. Spriggs who held possession of said property for this claimant as constable, and subject to this claimant’s direction and supervision as constable; . . . that he, the said claimant, undertook to see that the said A. E. Spriggs should be repaid for his services, feed, and care of said property to the amount and out of any and all costs allowed by this court for the caring and feeding of said property; and that the foregoing charges are the reasonable costs for feeding and caring for said property.”

The charges for the care and keeping of attached property are contained in appellee’s verified cost bill. Our statute on attachments (chapter 1, title 6, Civil Code 1913) nowhere in direct terms provides for the payment of charges for keeping [429]*429and caring for the attached property, but that the officer shall be paid for his expenses incurred in the caring for the property attached is clearly implied in section 1413, wherein it is provided for its sale, if “the keeping of the same until the trial will necessarily be attended with such expense or deterioration in value as greatly to lessen the amount liable to be realized therefrom. ’ ’

If the property attached is personal, the requirement is that it remain in the hands of the officer unless bonded by the defendant or a third party, or unless sold as provided by law. Section 1410. But if it is not disposed of in one of these ways, it is provided that:

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Bluebook (online)
171 P. 992, 19 Ariz. 425, 1918 Ariz. LEXIS 96, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kirkland-v-spriggs-ariz-1918.