McMillan v. Forsythe

154 P. 959, 47 Utah 571, 1915 Utah LEXIS 121
CourtUtah Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 3, 1915
DocketNo. 2624
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 154 P. 959 (McMillan v. Forsythe) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Utah Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McMillan v. Forsythe, 154 P. 959, 47 Utah 571, 1915 Utah LEXIS 121 (Utah 1915).

Opinions

FRICK, J. ■

The plaintiff, respondent in this eonrt, commenced this action against the defendants, appellants here, to vacate a judgment and to enjoin its enforcement. The judgment in question was obtained against respondent by the appellant William R. Forsythe in the justice’s court of Murray. City, Salt Lake County. Appellant Francis G. Luke was the attorney for Forsythe in the justice’s court, and he and James A. Lúke are the principal stockholders of the appellant Merchants’ Protective Association, a corporation, which is a collecting agency through which the judgment in the justice’s court was ob[574]*574tained. The subject of this action in different forms has already been before us twice. McMillan v. Durand, 38 Utah 274, 112 Pac. 807, and Forsythe v. District Court, 41 Utah 16, 123 Pac. 621. Durand is the justice of the peace who rendered the judgment in question. In the first case respondent sought to obtain relief against the judgment by certiorari proceedings, but by reason of the incompleteness of the justice’s record the writ was denied by the district court and on appeal to this court we affirmed the judgment. Respondent then undertook to appeal from the justice’s judgment to the district court of Salt Lake County, and the appellant Forsythe applied to this court for a writ of prohibition to prevent said court from taking jurisdiction and to try • said appeal upon the ground that the same was not taken within the time required by our statute. The writ was issued, and upon a hearing the district court was restrained from trying said appeal. See Forsythe v. District Court, supra. Respondent then commenced this proceeding in equity for the purpose before stated. A hearing in the district court resulted in findings in favor of respondent, and said court entered judgment vacating the justice’s judgment and enjoining its enforcement upon the ground of collusion and fraud practiced in procuring it.

All the defendants appeal from the judgment. They assail the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain the findings, and insist that the judgment is “against law.” What they really complain of is perhaps best stated in their own language which is found on page 4 of their brief as follows:

“Appellants have assigned very many errors, but we shall not discuss them separately. They principally relate to our contention that the judgment is against law, and that any finding of fraud is without support in the evidence.”

It is not necessary to refer to the pleadings, except to state' that the complaint contained the entire history of the case and alleged collusion and fraud and contained a plea of payment, as well as one of the statute of limitations, as defenses to the cause of action alleged in the justice’s court. The collusion and fraud were denied in the answer, and the certiorari pro-" ceedings had, as shown on the appeal to this court and the [575]*575writ of prohibition, were set forth as defenses to this action. The facts upon which the findings and judgment in this case are based, briefly stated, are as follows: On the 9th day of February, 1907, appellant Forsythe, by his attorney Francis G-. Luke, filed his complaint against the respondent McMillan in the justice’s court of Murray City, in which the alleged cause of action is stated, in the following words:

‘£ That on or about the 15th day of January, 1904, at Murray City, Salt Lake County, state of Utah, the defendant became indebted to the plaintiff in the sum of '$183 on account of labor performed by the plaintiff to the defendant, oh or about the day aforesaid, at defendant’s special request. That the defendant has not paid the same, nor any part thereof.”

Judgment was asked for the amount stated. The complaint was signed by Francis G-. Luke as attorney, but was not verified as required by Comp. Laws 1907, Section 3685.- Summons was duly issued, which was served on respondent on the 25th day of February, 1907, and two days thereafter respondent, by his attorneys, who lived and had their offices in Salt Lake City, deposited in the United State post office, postage prepaid, a demurrer in due form addressed to the justice before whom the complaint was filed. Said justice received said demurrer and indorsed thereon the following: “Rec’d. 2 — 28—’07.” He did not file the same in the action for the reason, as he afterwards said, that he held the same for a ten cent filing fee. The justice, without notice of any kind to either the respondent or his attorneys, and notwithstanding he had received and retained the demurrer as aforesaid, on the 11th day of March, 1907, entered a judgment by default against respondent for the full amount claimed in the complaint. On the hearing of the case at bar it was established without question that in entering the judgment in question the justice heard no evidence whatever; that the claim for which suit was brought was for services which Forsythe claimed he had rendered for respondent during the years 1898, 1899, and 1900 in Sevier County, Utah, and for which services he had been fully paid. The cheeks issued by respondent and delivered to Forsythe in payment for said services were produced in evidence, the last one of which is dated April 30, 1900. Neither [576]*576Forsythe, nor any one else, disputed the evidence of payment, nor made any claim whatever at the trial that respondent was indebted to him in any amount at the time of trial, or that he was at any time except as stated above. It is due counsel for appellants to state here that his view of the matter was that he was not required to contradict or meet those matters. For the purpose of this decision the facts herein stated must be assumed to be true. It was also made to appear that the Merchants’ Protective Association claimed one-half of the Judgment as a collection fee, and that Francis G-. Luke and James A. Luke owned a majority of the capital stock of said association. It was also shown without contradiction that not a single fact stated in the complaint filed in the justice’s court was true; that it was not true that respondent, on the 15th day of January, 1904, or at any time, “became indebted to the plaintiff” aforesaid “at Murray- City, Salt Lake County;” that neither the respondent nor his attorneys knew that a judgment by default, or otherwise, had been entered in the case, but that they believed'the case was pending upon the demurrer and did not learn of the judgment, or that the demurrer was “held for fees” until some time in July, 1910, when an execution was issued on the judgment, and from which time respondent and his attorneys have constantly been trying to prevent the enforcement of the judgment, first by the writ of certiorari, and then by appeal as hereinbefore stated. It was further shown that at the time the attorney for Forsythe prepared the complaint filed in-the justice’s court he had evidence before him of the fact that, even though For-sythe at one time had a meritorious claim, yet that it had-been barred by our statute for a number of years before the complaint was filed, and, further, that Forsythe in fact at no time had any claim whatever against respondent which arose at Murray or in the year 1904 as alleged. It did appear, however, that during all the years that the alleged services were rendered, up to the time that the action was brought For-sythe never made any claim whatever that respondent was indebted to him cither for services or otherwise.

The justice was called as a witness by respondent, and he admitted that he received the demurrer as before stated, and [577]

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
154 P. 959, 47 Utah 571, 1915 Utah LEXIS 121, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcmillan-v-forsythe-utah-1915.