Kirkpatrick v. Munn

181 So. 2d 150, 254 Miss. 391, 1965 Miss. LEXIS 958
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 17, 1965
DocketNo. 43677
StatusPublished

This text of 181 So. 2d 150 (Kirkpatrick v. Munn) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kirkpatrick v. Munn, 181 So. 2d 150, 254 Miss. 391, 1965 Miss. LEXIS 958 (Mich. 1965).

Opinion

INZER, Justice.

This appeal involves the question of whether a surety on a supersedeas appeal bond to this Court is liable on the bond for a judgment rendered in the circuit court,, after the case which was appealed was affirmed by this Court as to liability but reversed and remanded for a new trial for the assessment of damages. We hold that the surety is not liable under such circumstances.

The facts involved were stipulated in the Circuit Court of Marshall County and were-submitted to the circuit judge for a decision-without intervention of a jury. The facts-as stipulated are:

The plaintiff, Mrs. Jane Munn, as administratix of the estate of M, N. Munn, deceased, recovered a final judgment against P. O. Scott in the Circuit Court of Marshall County, Mississippi in cause number 5893 in the amount of $2500.00;" said judgment being of the-date of November 25, 1959. Said suit was for damages sustained by the plaintiff’s intestate in an automobile accident.
[151]*151P. O. Scott, the defendant in the above numbered case, appealed said judgment to the Supreme Court of Mississippi was supersedeas. W. V. Crump and Jimmy Kirkpatrick executed the supersedeas bond as sureties. Both W. V. Crump and Jimmy Kirkpatrick are residents and householders in Monroe County, Mississippi, at all times pertinent hereto.
When the cause was heard by the Supreme Court of Mississippi, being cause No. 42,445, the Supreme Court affirmed the cause as to the liability of the defendant, but reversed the cause on the question of damages, and remanded the case to the Circuit Court of Marshall County “so that another jury may pass upon damages due under the allegations of the declaration, other than for consortium and companionship.” The Supreme Court assessed the costs of the entire proceeding against the plaintiff, Mrs. Munn. The ap-pellee, Mrs. Munn, filed a motion to retax the costs, but was unsuccessful. The mandate of the Supreme Court provided that all costs were assessed against Mrs. Munn.
After remand, the cause was again submitted to the Circuit Court of Marshall County, Mississippi, in cause No. 5893 on the docket of said Court, and resulted in a jury verdict for the plaintiff against the defendant, P. O. Scott, in the sum of $2250.00.
Subsequently, the plaintiff here, Mrs. Jane Munn, filed her suit in the Circuit Court of Marshall County, Mississippi against Jimmy Kirkpatrick and W. V. Crump, defendants, in the cause No. 6191 on the docket of said Court, to recover against the said defendants the sum of $2250.00 plus interest from the date of February 25, 1963.
The defendants, Jimmy Kirkpatrick and W. V. Crump, moved the Court to transfer this cause to the County of their household and residence, namely, Monroe County, Mississippi, which motion has been overruled by the Court.

It was further stipulated that neither of the sureties was a party to the original cause of action and that the final judgment rendered in Cause No. 5893 on the docket of the Circuit Court of Marshall County was a valid judgment. It was also stipulated that the original appeal bond would be considered in evidence together with the opinion of this Court on the former appeal.

The matter was then taken under advisement by the circuit judge, and he later rendered a written opinion and order. His opinion states in part:

The bond in issue is the appeal bond with supersedeas with the condition that the appeal be prosecuted with “effect, and shall satisfy the judgment complained of and also such final judgment as may be made in the cause and all costs, if same be affirmed.”
The phrase “with effect” means more than a mere prosecution of the appeal to a final determination, but requires a final determination in favor of appellant.
The phrase “if affirmed,” obviously, on general principles, means that the final decision determining the rights of the parties must be deemed to have been within the contemplation of the sureties, and they are liable for the payment of the judgment as finally affirmed, even though it was first reversed and then, on a re-hearing, affirmed.
In this matter, the liability of the principal was affirmed and only the amount of damages was reversed for a new trial. No appeal was taken from the judgment entered by the court on the verdict of the jury at the conclusion of the second trail (sic).
Since the matter of liability was affirmed on appeal, the sureties can not [152]*152now be heard to complain because the amount of damages and judgment is lower.

From the judgment rendered against the sureties one of the sureties, Jimmy Kirkpatrick, appeals to this Court. He contends that the trial judge was in error (1) in overruling his motion for a change of venue to the county of his residence and household, and (2) in rendering a judgment for appellee, Mrs. Jane Munn, Administratrix. We will first address ourselves to the second contention.

The condition of the bond in question provides:

Now if the said P. O. Scott shall prosecute said appeal with effect and shall satisfy the judgment complained of and also such final judgment as may be made in the cause and all costs, if the same be affirmed, then this obligation to be void; otherwise, to remain in full force and effect.

The learned circuit judge construed the condition “with effect” to mean more than just the prosecution of the appeal to a successful determination. He held that it required a final determination of the case in favor of appellant. It appears to be his conclusion that even though a case is reversed by this Court for a new trial that the sureties on a supersedeas appeal bond remain liable unless such appellant shall prevail in the retrial of the case. With this thinking we cannot agree. A statement of the general rule relative to recovery on supersedeas bonds is found in SB C.J.S. Appeal and Error § 2042 (1958) :

Before there can be any recovery on a supersedeas bond, a breach of the conditions of the bond must appear. A condition merely to prosecute an appeal, without the use of the statutory words, “with effect,” is fully performed by a prosecution which is unsuccessful and which results in an af-firmance of the judgment appealed from. On the other hand, a condition to prosecute an appeal with effect, as usually construed, means to prosecute it successfully, or to secure a reversal of the judgment appealed from. In some cases, however, it has been held that prosecution with effect does not mean to a successful issue in favor of appellant, but merely prosecution with due diligence to a final determination, or to a nonsuit. Due prosecution of an appeal means its effectual prosecution. So failure to perfect an appeal has been regarded as a breach of the condition to prosecute the appeal with effect, fixing the sureties with liability.

We hold that the phrase “prosecute said appeal with effect” requires that the appeal be prosecuted successfully. In the case of Aetna Life Ins. Co. v. Thomas, 166 Miss. S3, 144 So. 50, 146 So. 134 (1932), we discussed the question of what constituted success upon appeal in regard to the assessment of costs. We said:

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Related

Anderson v. Franklin County School Board
146 So. 134 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1933)
Aetna Life Ins. Co. v. Thomas
144 So. 50 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1932)
Howie v. Bonds
40 So. 227 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1905)
Kibble v. Butler
27 Miss. 586 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1854)

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Bluebook (online)
181 So. 2d 150, 254 Miss. 391, 1965 Miss. LEXIS 958, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kirkpatrick-v-munn-miss-1965.