Martone v. Bryan

130 S.W.2d 962, 233 Mo. App. 1249, 1939 Mo. App. LEXIS 47
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 19, 1939
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 130 S.W.2d 962 (Martone v. Bryan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Martone v. Bryan, 130 S.W.2d 962, 233 Mo. App. 1249, 1939 Mo. App. LEXIS 47 (Mo. Ct. App. 1939).

Opinions

KEMP, J.

— This is an action in attachment filed in the justice court of Louis J. Mazuch, Second District, Kaw Township, Jackson County, Missouri. Kaw Township is within the limits of Kansas City, *1252 Missouri. ■ Defendant is a non-resident of Missouri, and the sole ground of attachment is the non-residence of défendant: The attachment is directed at wages earned by defendant as am employee of Wilson & Company,, the garnishee and appellant herein. The appellant was twice served with “notice and summons of. garnishment” and each time made a return admitting that it owed the defendant $16.60.

• On July 9, 1937, and shortly prior to the filing of - the second answer by the garnishee, although no order of publication had been made by the justice of the peace, the constable of said justice court made a return that on that date he has posted four advertisements in four public places in Jackson County, Missouri, notifying defendant that a writ of garnishment in the above cause had been issued against him and that said cause was returnable July 30, 1937.

On August 16, 1937, the-following judgment in the justice of the peace court was rendered:

“Plaintiff appears by his attorney of record, Joe Levin, but defendant, John W. Bryan, appears not but makes default, and garnishee Wilson and Company, appears not but makes default, and the justice having heretofore found that said garnishee, Wilson and Company, was indebted to defendant, John W. Bryan, in the sum of $33.20 and said sum having been ordered to be paid into court and garnishee failing to pay said sum into court, and the justice having heard the evidence finds that defendant is indebted to plaintiff in the sum of $48.75, and garnishee has the sum of $33.20 belonging to defendant, and that plaintiff’s attachment should be and the same is hereby sustained.
“WHEREFORE.IT IS ORDERED,- ADJUDGED AND DECREED, that plaintiff’s attachment be sustained against defendant, in the sum of $33.20 found in the hands of Wilson and Company, garnishee, and said garnishee .having failed to pay said sum into court as directed, that plaintiff have and recover of and from Wilson and Company, garnishee in this cause, the sum of $33.20 and -his costs herein, and that execution issue therefor. ’ ’

On the same date, garnishee, Wilson & Company, took an appeal to the circuit court of Jackson County, Missouri. After said appeal was lodged in the circuit court, garnishee filed a motion to dismiss on the ground that the justice of the peace acquired no jurisdiction of the person of defendant or the subject-matter of the cause of action and that, accordingly, the circuit court acquired no- jurisdiction to.render,judgment against the garnishee.

On December 21, 1937, said motion was heard and overruled and judgment was rendered in favor of the plaintiff and against the garnishee for the sum of $33.20. From said judgment an appeal was duly allowed to this court. No bill of exceptions was filed and only the record proper is before us.

*1253 The sole contention made by appellant in this case is that the justice of the peace 'never acquired jurisdiction in this case, and hence the circuit court was without jurisdiction to render the judgment herein.

Respondent contends that no part of the transcript of the justice is a part of the record proper in this case, and apparently makes the further contention that, this being true, the record proper is confined merely to the judgment of the circuit court which is regular on its face, and hence there is nothing before this court for review.

In Smith v. Moseley, 234 Mo. 486, l. c. 495, it is held that:

‘ ‘ The record proper ' consists of the process and return, the pleadings, the verdict and judgment in civil cases.”

In Hill v. Combs, 92 Mo. App. 242, the court at page 247 of the opinion said:

“And it will be seen by reference to Bateson v. Clark, supra, (27 Mo. 34), and the many cases that have followed it, that it has also been held that the record proper consists of the petition, summons and all subsequent pleadings, together with the verdict and judgment, and if material error in such record appears, the judgment will be reversed whether any exceptions were saved or not. ’ ’

In Barnes v. Plessner, 162 Mo. App. 460, the court had under consideration a replevin suit which originated before a justice of the peace in Schuyler County. As in the case at bar, it was there contended that “the judgment should be reversed because the record fails to show the justice of the peace, before whom the suit was instituted and tried, was possessed of jurisdiction over the same.” The statute there under considered with reference to jurisdiction provided:

“Every action recognizable before a justice of the peace shall be brought before some justice of the township, either: First, wherein the defendants, or one of them, resides, or in any adjoining township,, etc. ’ ’

The evidence there showed that both plaintiff and defendant resided in Chariton Township in Schuyler County, and the replevinsuit was instituted before a justice of the peace in Liberty Township-in the same county. The docket entries of the justice did not disclose that Liberty Township, in which the suit was instituted and tried,, and Chariton Township, in which both plaintiff and -defendant resided, adjoined. It was there held that:

“It is always competent to look at the return of the constable on the summons in aid of the proceeding, for it is parcel of the judgment roll. If a jurisdictional fact appears from such return, it is-equally available in support of the judgment .as if it appeared from-some other portion of the record, for the whole record is to be viewed’ in support of the jurisdiction of the justice.”

The amended return of the constable stated that “Chariton Town *1254 ship in which defendant was served adjoins Liberty Township in which the suit was instituted, and that both townships are in the same county. ’ ’ The court held that .-

“This is of itself certainly sufficient to support the jurisdiction of the justice, for, as before said, the fact appears in the judgment roll.”

In the ease at bar, the transcript of the justice of the peace included, among other papers and records, the petition or statement of account, the writ of attachment, the return thereon, notice and summons of garnishment and the respective returns thereon, and the judgment of the justice, all duly certified to by the justice as a “full, true, and complete' transcript of -all the proceedings had before me on the above entitled cause, and that such transcript is accompanied by all processes and other original papers filed in said cause. ’ ’

The certificate of the clerk of the circuit court shows the filing of said transcript in said circuit court ,on November 22, 1937. Undoubtedly the plaintiff’s petition or statement and the notice and summons of garnishment and the return thereon are parts of the record proper which is available for examination by this court in determining the question of jurisdiction.

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Bluebook (online)
130 S.W.2d 962, 233 Mo. App. 1249, 1939 Mo. App. LEXIS 47, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/martone-v-bryan-moctapp-1939.