Neil v. Chrisman

229 P. 92, 26 Ariz. 566, 1924 Ariz. LEXIS 192
CourtArizona Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 29, 1924
DocketCivil No. 2048
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 229 P. 92 (Neil v. Chrisman) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Arizona Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Neil v. Chrisman, 229 P. 92, 26 Ariz. 566, 1924 Ariz. LEXIS 192 (Ark. 1924).

Opinion

DARNELL, Superior Judge.

— This action was brought in the court below by M. G. Chrisman, plaintiff, as receiver, against J. M. Neil, William Mc-Cluskey, and The Commercial National Bank of Phoenix, a corporation, based upon a lease contract entered into between the said Chrisman and the said Neil and McCluskey; it being alleged that some right or interest of Neil in the lease had been assigned or transferred by him to the defendant bank. The case was tried upon issues formed by the plaintiff’s complaint and the separate answers of the three defendants, and resulted in judgment in favor of plaintiff and defendant McCluskey against the defendants Neil and the Commercial National Bank.

The appellant Neil and one McCluskey entered into a written lease contract with M. G. Chrisman, appellee, wherein Neil and McCluskey leased from the said Chrisman, as receiver, approximately 300 acres of land upon which was growing a volunteer crop of cotton, and for which they agreed to pay as rental therefor $7.50 an acre, and covenanted, among other [569]*569thing’s, to pay for all electrical energy furnished for the pumping of water for the crop.

The lease was formally executed August 24, 1921, and on or about that same date McCluskey sold to Neil his entire interest in said lease; Neil thereafter cultivating* and irrigating the crop alone. The land was irrigated by means of pumps operated by electrical power furnished by a private electric power company; the contract for such power being made directly by Neil and McCluskey with such company. Neil thereafter became delinquent in his payment for electrical energy furnished, and the current was shut off by the company.

On or about October 11,1921, Chrisman, as receiver, brought suit against Neil for breach of the lease, asking, among other things, for the sum of $2,250, rent due, and the costs of the action. The action was subsequently dismissed by Chrisman upon the payment to him by Neil of the rent and costs of suit. On the 19th of October, 1921, the present suit was instituted, alleging a breach of the conditions and covenants of the lease, praying, among other things, for rent on 50 additional acres of land leased to defendant Neil under a verbal agreement, and that the plaintiff have a lien on the crops for the amount of the unpaid power bill owed by Neil to the power company, under the covenant of Neil with the plaintiff to pay such power bill, and that the lien be foreclosed.

The court below gave plaintiff judgment for $337.50, rent found due and unpaid, against Neil, and declared that sum a subsisting lien upon all the cotton, and found that there was due and unpaid by Neil to the power company the sum of $1,446.60 for electrical power, which was also declared to be a lien upon the crop of cotton. The court further found for the defendant McCluskey upon all his claims, and ordered [570]*570that he have a lien secondary to the lien of the plaintiff upon all the cotton to secure the sums owing to him by the defendant Neil. The court ordered a foreclosure of the appellee’s lien upon the cotton, with the usual provision as to the sale of the same and the application of the proceeds.

This appeal is prosecuted by Neil alone against so much of the judgment as adjudicates the rights and liabilities of himself and the plaintiff in the court below, Chrisman.

The first question to be settled is whether appellant may prosecute this appeal without having made 'William McCluskey, a defendant in the court below, a party thereto. It appears from the record that McCluskey had sold his interest in the undertaking to his partner, J. M. Neil, the appellant herein, and by the judgment of the lower court was given a lien against the cotton crop of appellant for the unpaid purchase price of his interest, and further to secure to him “the payment of said rent and charges and expenses of electrical energy out of the said cotton or proceeds thereof.”

Paragraph 1234, Civil Code of 1913, provides:

“An appeal shall be taken by the party taking the same giving notice of appeal in open court, which shall be entered in the minutes of the court, or by a written notice which shall be served upon the adverse party or his attorney, and filed with the clerk of the superior court.”

Whether or not McCluskey is an adverse party determines the necessity for making him a party to this appeal. Will he be affected one way or another by the action of this court in this case? He was a partner of the appellant. With appellant he was liable for the payment of the rent to appellee. The lower court gave appellee a lien for the payment of the rent money against the crop of appellant; McCluskey [571]*571having sold his interest in this crop to appellant. The lower court gave McOluskey a lien against this crop for the purchase price due to him from appellant and for the unpaid charges of the power company for electrical energy furnished, with which to pump water to irrigate the crop. How could McOluskey he affected one way or another by action of this court, favorable or unfavorable to appellant? He is secured by his lien for his purchase price, for rent money due appellee, and for payment of the electrical energy charges.

“Adverse party” has been defined by a great many courts. In the case of Senter v. De Bernal, 38 Cal. 640, “adverse party” is defined as:

“Every party whose interest in the subject matter of the appeal is adverse to or will be affected by the reversal or modification of the judgment or order from which the appeal has been taken.”

In Williams v. Association, 66 Cal. 195, 5 Pac. 85, it was held that the court did not have jurisdiction to hear an appeal from a judgment, unless the appellant had served the notice of appeal upon the adverse parties; that is to say, upon all whose rights might be affected by a reversal of the judgment, or, where the appeal was from part of the judgment, by a reversal of the part appealed from. In Power v. Murphy, 26 Mont. 387, 68 Pac. 411, it was said:

“A party is adverse who has an interest in opposing the object sought to be accomplished by the appeal. ’ ’

McOluskey certainly has no interest in opposing the object sought to be accomplished by this appeal. Appellant is attempting to reverse the lower court’s judgment against him. If the judgment is reversed, McOluskey’s lien will be sole and exclusive. If the judgment is affirmed McOluskey’s lien will still have all the force and efficacy it possessed prior to the [572]*572appeal. He cannot be injured by either action of this court. This test has been applied also in the following- cases: Davidson v. Jennings, 27 Colo. 187, 83 Am. St. Rep. 49, 48 L. R. A. 340, 60 Pac. 354; Seattle Trust Co. v. Pitner, 17 Wash. 365, 49 Pac. 505; Anderson v. Red Metal Mining Co., 36 Mont. 312, 93 Pac. 44; Watson v. Noonday Mining Co., 37 Or. 287, 55 Pac. 867, 58 Pac. 36, 60 Pac. 994; Brewster v. Wakefield, 22 How. 118, 16 L. Ed. 301 (see, also, Rose’s U. S. Notes).

Appellant contends that the court erred in entering-judgment declaring a lien in favor of appellee for the amount of the power bill owed by appellant to the Central Arizona Light & Power Co., and asserts that the pleadings and evidence concerning same were insufficient to warrant the judgment based thereon.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
229 P. 92, 26 Ariz. 566, 1924 Ariz. LEXIS 192, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/neil-v-chrisman-ariz-1924.