Murphy v. McCarty

204 P.2d 1014, 69 Idaho 193, 1949 Ida. LEXIS 224
CourtIdaho Supreme Court
DecidedApril 8, 1949
DocketNo. 7523.
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 204 P.2d 1014 (Murphy v. McCarty) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Murphy v. McCarty, 204 P.2d 1014, 69 Idaho 193, 1949 Ida. LEXIS 224 (Idaho 1949).

Opinion

*195 PORTER, Justice.

The plaintiffs are engaged in the sawmill business in Latah County, Idaho. On June 3, 1948, they entered into a so-called “Loan Agreement” with one Uno C. Fogelstrom. By the terms of such agreement, Fogel-strom agreed to advance to plaintiffs the approximate sum of $29,000 immediately, and to make further advances, for the use of the plaintiffs in their sawmill business and in carrying out the terms of the loan agreement. The loan agreement also contained numerous provisions governing the handling of the products of the mill and purchase of same by Fogelstrom. To secure these advances and the performance of other terms of the loan agreement, the plaintiffs executed a chattel mortgage covering their sawmill and the machinery and equipment used in the operation of their business. Also, as like security, the plaintiffs executed a real estate mortgage on a considerable body of lands situated in the County of Latah.

On October 22, 1948, an action was filed in the District Court of the Second Judicial District of the State of Idaho, in and for the County of Latah, entitled Uno C. Fogelstrom, plaintiff v. M. J. Murphy and Stella R. Murphy, defendants, seeking to foreclose such mortgages.

On the same day, a request was made to Judge A. L. Morgan, of the Second Judicial District, for the appointment of a receiver. The application was based upon the verified complaint and the accompany.ing affidavit of William J. Jones, one of the attorneys for the plaintiff. Judge Morgan, being temporarily unable to act in the matter, orally requested Judge E. V. Boughton, of the Eighth Judicial District, to act upon such request. Judge Boughton was at that time, in Lewiston, Idaho, in the Tenth Judicial District. The application was submitted to Judge Boughton on the same day at Lewiston, and he thereupon appointed a receiver ex parte of the property covered by the mortgages. Thereafter, the receiver took possession of such property.

Judge Morgan having been thereafter disqualified by the defendants in such action. Judge Leo McCarty, of the Tenth Judicial District, was appointed by the Governor to hear and determine the case. On January 13, 1949, the defendants in such action, filed a motion before Judge McCarty to discharge the receiver and for the return of the property to the custody of such defendants, on the following grounds:

“First. The complaint and affidavit on which the receiver was appointed show insufficient facts for the appointment of a receiver and the court had no jurisdiction to appoint a receiver on the facts and showing made and none should have been appointed.

“Second. The defendants further move to discharge the receiver on the files and records of the cause, and on the affidavit of the defendants attached hereto, incorporated herein and made a part hereof, and of *196 L. R. Pugh attached hereto and made a part hereof.”

A hearing was had on the motion on the same day, and on the showing made, the motion was by Judge McCarty, denied.

On February 12, 1949, this action was commenced in this court, seeking a Writ of Prohibition, prohibiting Judge McCarty from further enforcing such receivership, and from further proceeding under the order appointing the receiver, and praying that this court hold such order void. The petition in this action is based upon substantially the same grounds as were urged in the district court upon the motion for the discharge of the receiver; and upon the additional ground that the order appointing the receiver was void for want of jurisdiction by Judge Boughton to act and particularly to act at Lewiston. On February 22, 1949, this court issued an alternative writ of prohibition. Thereafter, the defendants filed a demurrer to the petition, a motion to quash the alternative writ and an answer. Affidavits were filed by both parties and the matter was presented orally to the court on March 18, 1949, and was by the court taken under advisement.

At the outset, plaintiffs contend that Judge Boughton did not have personal or territorial jurisdiction when he made the order for the appointment of the receiver. It appears from the affidavit of Judge Morgan that at the time the request for receiver was submitted to him he was temporarily [wnaible to act and, finding that Judge Boughton was available, orally requested him to act upon the matter. Section 1-704, I.C.A., provides in part as follows :

“A district judge may hold a court in any county in this state upon the request of the judge of the district in which such court is to be held; * * (Emphasis supplied.)

Section 1-905, I.C.A., provides as follows :

“In case of a vacancy in the office of any district judge, or in his absence from the judicial district or state, or his sickness or inability to act from any cause, motions may be made before, or orders granted by, any other district judge, who shall have the same jurisdiction under this chapter as though he was the judge of said distinct, and orders, writs and judgments entered by such judge shall be made matters of record as herein directed and have the same effect as though made by the judge of said district.” (Emphasis supplied.)

In the case of Application of Allen, 31 Idaho 295, 170 P. 921, 922, the Judge of the Seventh Judicial District held a court in the Third Judicial District. The record did not disclose that either of the judges of the Third Judicial District was absent from the state or district, or that either of said judges was unable by reason of sickness or for any other cause, to hold court in said county and district, or that either of said judges requested the Judge of the Seventh Judicial District to hold said court. Chief *197 Justice Budge, speaking for this court, after noting that the provisions of our constitution and statutes do not require that such facts appear in the record, continued as follows:

“In the case of State v. Holmes, 12 Wash. 169, 40 P. 735, 41 P. 887, it was held that where neither the Constitution nor the statutes make provision for spreading upon the record the fact that the visiting judge had been called to hold court either by the Governor or by the judges in the county where the term of court is held, ‘it follows that the superior courts, being courts of general jurisdiction, it will be presumed that the court in each instance acted within its jurisdiction in the absence of an affirmative showing to the contrary,’ and in our opinion this affirmative showing must appear in the record.
******
“The California constitutional and statutory provisions in this respect are substantially identical with our own. In People v. Ah Lee Doon, 97 Cal. 171, 176, 31 P. 933, 934, that court said with reference to the identical question before us: ‘It is objected that Judge Murphy had no authority to act in the cause on January 10th when he received the defendant’s plea. It is certainly true that the order of the Governor, issued on January 12th, conferred no authority to act on the 10th. But Judge Murphy may have been, and probably was, presiding on the 10th by invitation of Judge Angellotti. Such invitation would have conferred the requisite authority.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
204 P.2d 1014, 69 Idaho 193, 1949 Ida. LEXIS 224, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/murphy-v-mccarty-idaho-1949.