Liberty Mutual Ins. Co. v. Williamson Co.

250 N.E.2d 99, 19 Ohio App. 2d 125, 48 Ohio Op. 2d 241, 1969 Ohio App. LEXIS 560
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedAugust 6, 1969
Docket723
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 250 N.E.2d 99 (Liberty Mutual Ins. Co. v. Williamson Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Liberty Mutual Ins. Co. v. Williamson Co., 250 N.E.2d 99, 19 Ohio App. 2d 125, 48 Ohio Op. 2d 241, 1969 Ohio App. LEXIS 560 (Ohio Ct. App. 1969).

Opinions

Guernsey, J.

This action was filed against three defendants alleging their joint and several liability for negligence and breach of warranty. Subsequently service of summons as to the Williamson Company was quashed and thereafter, on its motion, the petition was dismissed as to the Williamson Company. Appeal was taken therefrom by the plaintiff and the sole issue at this stage of the proceedings is whether the judgment is appealable.

It is the opinion of the majority of this court on the reasoning contained in the previously unpublished dissent *126 ing opinion of the author in the cases of Milligan v. Siegel and Hamilton, Admr., v. Siegel, Numbers 196 and 197, Court of Appeals for Wyandot County, decided June 27, 1964, that the order appealed from is not a final appeal-able order. That dissenting opinion, in pertinent part, reads as follows:

“It therefore appears that defendant Cornell is charged to be jointly liable with McBride and Swanson, other defendant drivers of other Army vehicles, for identical acts of negligence, and the petition in each case also charges the joint liability of Siegel and Midwest Livestock Company arising from other claimed acts of negligence or misconduct. It necessarily follows that, notwithstanding that in each case summons on the defendant Cornell was quashed and judgment entered dismissing him as a party defendant, the actions of the plaintiffs still remain pending and undetermined in the trial court and they may proceed to trial and judgment. It is possible that the judgments may be against the plaintiffs or they may be in favor of plaintiffs and against one or more of the defendants other than Cornell. At this time the ultimate result is, of course, a matter of mere speculation.
“The issue before us thus resolves itself to be whether a judgment quashing summons and dismissing from the action one of several defendants charged to be jointly liaable is a final appealable order when the action still remains pending and may proceed to judgment as to the defendants who are not dismissed. In my view such judgment does not constitute a final appealable order.
“I first part company with my colleagues when they say there is no Ohio precedent for this conclusion. There is respectable authority both in Ohio and elsewhere. In the case of Berman v. MacGregor, Admr., 7 Ohio Law Abs. 405, the Court of Appeals for Cuyahoga County had before it an appeal wherein summons was quashed and the action dismissed as against two nonresident defendants but remained pending as to others. In its opinion the court said and held:
“ ‘In the case of Towne v. The National Machinery *127 Company, 10 Ohio App. page 265, Judge "Richards writing the opinion of the court in the Sixth District, in which motion to certify the case was overruled February 5th, 1928, held that an order granting a motion to quash service of summons was not a final order from which error could be taken; that it was necessary to have the case disposed of and a final entry in the case before an error of that kind could be prosecuted, and we are inclined to follow that authority.
“ ‘We do not think that at the present time there is anything before this court in which we can adjudicate the rights of the parties, and we think that a motion to quash the service of summons being granted in the original case, the original defendant MacGregor being still in the Court of Common Pleas, the order granting the motion to quash was not such a final order to which error can be prosecuted. The motion, therefore, to dismiss the petition in error is well taken and will be granted and. of course, that will dispose of the entire case so far as it now stands in this court. ’
“The general rule is succinctlv expressed in Section 104, Appeal & Error, 4 Corpus Juris Secundum 287, where it is stated:
“ ‘a. Tn General
“ ‘A judgment, order, or decree, to be anpealable must ordina?'ilv be final as to all the parties to the proceedinsr.
“ ‘As a general rule, an anneal or writ of error will not lie unless there has been a final disposition of the case, not only as to all the issues, as discussed supra Sec. 95, but also as to all of the parties to the suit., unless a denial of justice or great hardship would result from refusing to entertain an appeal in such a case.
“ ‘b. Dismissal or Nonsuit as to One or More of Several Parties
“ ‘Although there is authoritv to the contrarv. a dismissal or nonsuit as to one or more of several parties is not ordinarily regarded as final.
“ ‘In accordance with the rule stated in the preceding *128 subdivision of this section, it has been held that a Judgment or decree dismissing the action or bill as to less than all of two or more defendants, or a nonsuit as to one of several defendants, is not final so as to permit an appeal.
“ ‘A Judgment of dismissal as to some only of several defendants who have been Jointly charged is not final and a judgment or decree dismissing the action or bill is not final where the ultimate question could not then be determined.
<<<*##>
“Indeed the case of Mid South Paving Co. v. State Highway Comm., 197 Miss. 751, 20 So. 2d, 834, cited by the majority of this court as authority for their position, constitutes sounder authority for the position taken by the author of this dissent, for immediately after the words quoted in the majority opinion appears the following:
“ ‘But while this is true, there must be a final decree as to all the parties before an appeal will lie; and the statute of limitations does not begin to run until final judgment as to all parties. * * *. The reason for the rule is disclosed in Mulholland v. Peoples Bank, 187 Miss. 608, 612, 192 So. 308, namely, that ordinarily the rights and liabilities of the several parties are so connected or interwoven that appeals by piecemeal should not be allowed.’
“Recognizing such rule, the Supreme Court of Mississippi proceeded to a consistent and proper conclusion that there was a final appealable order in the case before it, because the dismissal of a resident defendant permitted the remaining nonresident defendant to have the action removed to the federal courts, thus terminating the action in the state court.
“In the case of Hoff v. Armbruster, 125 Colo. 324, 244 P. 2d 1069, cited in the majority opinion, all but one of several defendants had been dismissed from the action, the trial court had ordered execution stayed and had fixed time for preparation and filing of a reporter’s transcript, but no order was entered staying the effect of its judgment *129

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
250 N.E.2d 99, 19 Ohio App. 2d 125, 48 Ohio Op. 2d 241, 1969 Ohio App. LEXIS 560, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/liberty-mutual-ins-co-v-williamson-co-ohioctapp-1969.