Myers v. Miller

55 Mo. App. 338, 1893 Mo. App. LEXIS 310
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 4, 1893
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 55 Mo. App. 338 (Myers v. Miller) 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
Myers v. Miller, 55 Mo. App. 338, 1893 Mo. App. LEXIS 310 (Mo. Ct. App. 1893).

Opinion

Smith, P. J.

This was an action of unlawful detainer. The undisputed facts showed that the land in controversy was originally situated in Chariton county, and that in 1856 the Missouri river begun to encroach upon it so that by 1868 it was entirely washed away. In the year 1878 it was re-formed by the action of the waters of the Missouri and Grand rivers. When re-formed, it was found situate on the west side of Grand river, by reason of which it became embraced within the territorial limits of Carroll county.

There was a trial in the circuit court, which resulted in judgment for the plaintiff, and from which defendant has appealed.

The defendant by his appeal assails the judgment mainly on the ground that the trial court erred in declaring the law to be that if it, sitting as a jury, found from the evidence that-the judgment and writ of restitution in the forcible entry suit of Gilliam v. Reece was prosecuted by collusion between said Gilliam and Reece without notice to. Myers and Coffey, then [343]*343Gilliam acquired no right under said judgment and writ to the possession of the land described in the complaint as against Myers, and the possession ' of Miller obtained from Gilliam cannot be set up to defeat plaintiff’s recovery. We are thus called upon to decide whether this theory of the case announced by the trial court accords with the law.

It is conceded that the justice, by whom the judgment was rendered, had jurisdiction of the parties and the subject-matter of the action, and that the judgment was regular on its face, so that the vital question involved is, whether the judgment was open to collateral attack by plaintiff. The rule to be deduced from the cases in this state is, when a court has jurisdiction of the parties and the subject-matter, the judgment is binding and effectual upon all the parties and their privies, and that it cannot be questioned by them in a collateral proceeding. Yates v. Johnson, 87 Mo. 213; Forder v. Davis, 38 Mo. 108; Pentz v. Kuester, 41 Mo. 447; Gray v. Bowles, 74 Mo. 419; Karnes v. Alexander, 92 Mo. 660; Haggard v. Railroad, 63 Mo. 302; Baker v. Baker, 70 Mo. 136; Carpenter v. King, 42 Mo. 219; State v. Evans, 83 Mo. 319; Johnson v. Beazley, 65 Mo. 250; Lewis v. Gray, 66 Mo. 614; Fulkerson v. Davenport, 70 Mo. 546; Henry v. McKerdie, 78 Mo. 416; Scott v. Crews, 72 Mo. 263; State v. Weatherby, 45 Mo. 17; Jeffries v. Wright, 51 Mo. 220. Nor are the judgments of justices of the peace or other statutory courts, where jurisdiction appears to have attached, any more subject to collateral attack than those of courts of record. Jeffries v. Wright, 51 Mo. 215-221; State ex rel. v. Donegan, 12 Mo. App. 190; s. c., 83 Mo. 374; Sloan v. Mitchell, 84 Mo. 546; McClanahan v. West, 100 Mo. 309; Fulkerson v. Davenport, 70 Mo. 541; Hope v. Blair, 105 Mo. 105; Exendine v. Morris, 76 [344]*344Mo. 416; Johnson v. Beasley, supra; Rowden v. Brown, 91 Mo. 429.

But. may not such a judgment be collaterally attacked for fraud in its procurement by one who is a stranger to it? As was remarked by the judge who delivered the opinion in McClanahan v. West, 100 Mo. 309, the authorities differ on the point whether a judgment can be attacked for fraud, or whether it alone can be done by a direct proceeding. In Yanfleet on Collateral Attack, section 13, it is stated that in ejectment the defendant cannot raise the question that a deed offered by plaintiff was procured by fraud or deceit, and so in regard to a judgment. And a similar statement of the law has been announced by the supreme court of Iowa (Mason v. Messinger, 17 Iowa, 261; Smith v. Smith, 22 Iowa, 272), and perhaps by the appellate courts of some of the other states. But, many very respectable authorities hold that this rule while extending to parties and privies does not exist as to strangers to the judgment. Since the latter have no right to vacate or reverse it by a proceeding for that purpose, it results from the necessity of the case they ought as a general rule be permitted to set up the defense of fraud in obtaining it whenever it is attempted by it to affect their rights. Bigelow on Estoppel [5 Ed], 209 to 217; Freeman on Judgments, secs. 334-336; Hall v. Hamlin, 2 Watts, 354; State v. Little, 1 N. H. 257; Murchison v. White, 54 Tex. 78; Sidensparker v. Sidensparker, 52 Me. 481; Granger v. Cram, 32 Me. 130; Thompson’s Appeal, 57 Pa. St. 175; Frazier v. Gates, 61 Ill. 180.

The supreme court of the United States in Webster v. Reid, 11 Howard, 437, which was an action of ejectment where the- plaintiff in the trial court gave in evidence a sheriff’s deed and also the judgments and executions on which it was founded, and the defendant [345]*345offered to prove that the judgment, execution and sheriff’s deed were procured by fraud of the plaintiff, which offer was rejected by the court, — the defendant being a stranger to the judgment he sought thus to attack collaterally, — in the opinion of the court, which was delivered by Justice McClain, said that the “district court erred in overruling the evidence offered by defendant to prove fraud in the judgments, executions, sheriff’s sales and deed. When a judgment is brought collaterally before the court as evidence, it may be shown to be void upon its face by want of notice to the person against whom judgment is rendered, or for fraud.” Gaines v. Relf, 12 How. 472, is to the same effect.

In the consideration of the rule embodied in the declaration of the trial court to which we have already referred, we are entirely relieved of the embarrassment which the conflicting authorities just cited otherwise might have occasioned us by the ruling made by the supreme court of this state in Callahan v. Griswold, 9 Mo. 457, where it was declared by so eminent a jurist as Judge Napton that “the judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction cannot be impeached collaterally in another court in an action between the same parties, etc. The party must apply to the court which pronounced the judgment to have it vacated. This principle does not prevent a party who was a stranger to the proceeding and had no opportunity to defend against such judgment from showing that it was procured by fraud and that an unconscientious use is about to be made of it.” It must, therefore, be ruled that the theory declared by the trial court was correct if the evidence adduced tended to support its hypothesis.

There was introduced evidence which tended to show that Myers and Coffey, after their purchase from the Keyte heirs, had instituted a suit in ejectment [346]*346against Reece in the Carroll circuit court, and this suit was settled by their purchase of Reece’s claim and title. At the time of their purchase from Reece he had leased all of the land, except about five acres, to a number of different tenants, among them the defendant, Miller; and after Reece made his deed, he and all his tenants became the tenants of Myers and Coffey until January 1, 1891, the tenants by written lease, and Reece by positive agreement.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Jacques v. Goggin
245 S.W.2d 904 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1952)
Livingston v. Allen
83 Mo. App. 294 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1900)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
55 Mo. App. 338, 1893 Mo. App. LEXIS 310, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/myers-v-miller-moctapp-1893.