National Surety Co. v. United States

29 F.2d 92, 1928 U.S. App. LEXIS 2624
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedOctober 29, 1928
Docket5496-5498, 5539, 5540. No. 5496
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 29 F.2d 92 (National Surety Co. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
National Surety Co. v. United States, 29 F.2d 92, 1928 U.S. App. LEXIS 2624 (9th Cir. 1928).

Opinion

*96 HUNT, Circuit Judge

(after stating the facts as above). Plaintiff’s general demurrer struck at the whole answer. Therefore, when the court sustained it, defendant, by standing upon its answer, could offer no evidence, and it made no attempt to do so. But the court went ahead, and after permitting plaintiff to introduce the bond in evidence, and after stating that the court took notice of the former journal entry of forfeiture, rendered judgment against the defendant. With the ease in that situation, the question for decision by this court is whether the averments of the answer presented a defense to the writ. Hollister v. United States (C. C. A. 8) 145 F. 773; Heid v. Ebner (C. C. A.) 133 F. 158.

We are of opinion that whether there was any judgment and order of the District Court discharging the writ of habeas corpus and ordering Unverzagt’s removal to another federal court was put in issue by the denials of the answer. Counsel for the government concede that “apparently no final order was entered,” but point out that such an order is to be found in the order of the District Court denying a motion for a new trial, wherein the court cited an entry made in the *97 clerk’s docket, dated May 7, as set forth in the statement of facts preceding this opinion. But in the light of the averments of the answer the plaintiff was obliged to establish that it could maintain the writ, a burden which it could not sustain, unless it put in evidence the record showing default judgment and order. 6 C. J. 1071; 35 Cyc. 1158; Hunt v. United States (C. C. A.) 61 F. 795; Hollister v. United States, supra. The records which the court referred to in the decision upon the motion for a new trial were not before the court upon the trial, and therefore could not be resorted to, to supply evidence required on the trial. It may safely be said that generally a court will not take judicial notice of proceedings in specific pri- or litigation in the same court, and that proceedings by seire facias upon a forfeited recognizance being a civil action, to which defendant may plead nul tiel record, the original record should be produced. United States v. Ambrose (C. C.) 7 F. 555; Burk’s Extr. v. Tregg’s Ex’r, 2 Wash. (2 Va.) 215; Alexander v. Foreman, 7 Ark. 252; Adams et al. v. State, 11 Ark. 466; Hagar v. Cochran, 66 Md. 253, 7 A. 462; Moody v. Muscogee Mfg. Co., 134 Ga. 721, 68 S. E. 604, 20 Ann. Cas. 308. We conclude that plaintiff’s demurrer should have been overruled.

We now indicate our views as a guide in possible future trial. If, upon the introduction of the record and the inspection thereof, it should appear that on May 13, 1925, forfeiture against Unverzagt was made, then, as the District Court had authority to take the recognizance, the short entry made by the clerk would be conclusive evidence that,- as a step before forfeiture, the principal was called and did not appear. United States v. Ambrose, supra; Fox v. Commonwealth, *81 Pa. 511; Commonwealth v. Basendorf, 153 Pa. 459, 25 A. 779; Peacock v. People, 83 Ill. 331.

In the Basendorf Case, in scire facias on an alleged forfeited recognizance the defense set up, among other matters, was that there was no jurisdiction in the tribunal which took the recognizance on which seire facias issued; that defendant signed the recognizance on condition that another defendant should sign it; that no offense was stated under the law of Pennsylvania in the information in the case. The entry in the docket of the magistrate was: “Recognizance forfeited May 5, 1891.” It was held that the judgment against the sureties was right; that the defense stated was insufficient; that the entry as recited was conclusive; that the defendant and the bail were called and did not appear.

The surety company contends that no appeal was allowable, because there was no final judgment or order in the matter wherein Un-verzagt appealed to the Circuit Court of Appeals. Unverzagt v. United States, 5 F. (2d) 494.

It is not to be disputed that ordinarily, if appeal is not permissible, action cannot be maintained on an appeal bond. Should an appeal on a bail bond be dismissed by the Circuit Court of Appeals before it takes jurisdiction, action cannot properly be had on the appeal bond because of lack of consideration for the bond; but where an appeal is taken, even though improperly taken and improperly allowed, and the court takes jurisdiction, the bond on appeal is valid, and action upon the same will lie for the reason that there is a consideration for the bond, and the principal has been released in consideration of the execution of the bail bond. In Unverzagt’s Case, the Circuit Court of Appeals took jurisdiction of the appeal; therefore action will lie on the appeal bond because of the failure of Unverzagt to obey the orders of the District Court. In other words, an estoppel arises against those who obtained the contemplated advantages pending the disposition of the appeal, and they are estopped from denying their liability when the bond has served the purpose for which it was given. That rule seems wholly just where all the parties considered the order of the court discharging the writ and order requiring defendant’s removal as a final order. 4 C. J. 1269.

It can be fairly gathered that a defense is stated in the first affirmative answer. While the averments thereof are lacking in definiteness, yet it is deducible that the second arrest of Unverzagt was upon the same charge upon which he had first been arrested. If we are right in so construing the averments, the surety could plead that a rearrest of the defendant on the same charge on which he was originally arrested released the bail and discharged the surety on the first bond. 3 R. C. L. § 63; 6 C. J. 1027; United States v. Atwill, 24 Fed. Cas. No. 14,475, page 887.

The second affirmative defense, alleging that the writ against this surety was issued by mistake, is without merit. Plaintiff has stated a cause of action against this defendant^ and must stand or fall on its asserted rights in respect thereto, regardless *98 of' defendant's conception that plaintiff intended to sue upon a different contract.

Referring to the third affirmative defense, to the effect that no order of removal was issued, we reiterate that the court, in order to proceed in an orderly manner, should have before it the record showing that there was an order of removal.

The fourth affirmative defense, alleging that the principal did not fail to abide by any order of the court previously entered, merely states a conclusion, and, in the absence of fact pleaded in support of. the averment, is no ground for defense.

The judgment is reversed, and the cause is remanded, with directions to overrule the demurrer, and proceed in accordance with the views herein expressed.

Reversed and remanded.

No. 5497.

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Bluebook (online)
29 F.2d 92, 1928 U.S. App. LEXIS 2624, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/national-surety-co-v-united-states-ca9-1928.