NEWTON v. Bd. of Tr. Vincennes University

235 N.E.2d 84, 142 Ind. App. 391, 1968 Ind. App. LEXIS 576
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 26, 1968
Docket20,676
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 235 N.E.2d 84 (NEWTON v. Bd. of Tr. Vincennes University) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
NEWTON v. Bd. of Tr. Vincennes University, 235 N.E.2d 84, 142 Ind. App. 391, 1968 Ind. App. LEXIS 576 (Ind. Ct. App. 1968).

Opinion

Cooper, J.

— The Appellee herein brought this action for specific performance of an option to purchase real property from the Appellants, the defendants below.

It appears that the Appellee’s complaint for specific performance of an option to purchase was filed in July of 1965, and it averred, in substance, that the defendants had executed and delivered to the plaintiff an option for the purchase of certain real property located in Illinois and owned by the *393 defendants. The appellee further averred that they had extended the terms of the option for the purchase of said property, that they had extended the terms of the option and had notified the defendants of their intention to exercise the option. The Appellants refused to execute and deliver the warranty deed and the Appellee sought judgment of specific performance.

The defendants filed an answer in accordance with Supreme Court Rule 1-3, and thereafter they filed a special answer. The special answer alleged that the option had been abandoned and cancelled by the parties, and also asserted a counterclaim alleging fraud on the part of the plaintiff and anticipatory repudiation of the option by the plaintiff. The plaintiff thereafter filed a reply to the special answers and a general answer to the counterclaim.

After the issues were closed, the cause was submitted to the court for trial, and after the conclusion of all the evidence, the court entered its special findings of fact and conclusions of law, which found for the Appellee upon its complaint and against the Appellants upon their counterclaim. The court thereafter entered judgment on its said findings and conclusion.

Within the required statutory time, Appellants filed their motion for a new trial. The trial court granted argument thereon and took the same under advisement. It appears from the record that prior to the trial court’s ruling on the Appellants’ motion for new trial, the Appellee filed a motion to modify the judgment to make it conform to the special findings of fact and conclusions of law. Said motion was granted and thereafter the court modified its judgment. It appears that the court later overruled the Appellants’ motion for a new trial.

The Appellants’ motion for a new trial reads as follows:

“Defendants, and each of them, within thirty (30) days from the time when the decision in this cause was announced *394 now move the court for a new trial herein on each of the following- grounds:
“1. The decision of the Court is not sustained by sufficient evidence.
“2. The decision of the court is contrary to law.
“3. Error of law occurring at the trial, as follows: By failing to sustain the motion of the defendants at the conclusion of the plaintiff’s evidence, which motion was renewed at the conclusion of all the evidence for a finding for the defendants.”

The Appellants’ Assignment of Errors in this Court assigns as error the following:

“1. The court erred in overruling Appellants’ motion for a new trial.
“2. The court erred in sustaining the Appellees’ motion to amend the judgment filed at a term subsequent to the term in which the judgment was rendered, which motion prayed for a substantial change in the judgment.
“3. The court erred in rendering a judgment which was not in conformity with its decision.
“4. The court had no jurisdiction over the subject matter of the action.”

The Appellants in their first assignment of error state that “The Court erred in overruling Appellants’ Motion for a new trial.” However, we are of the opinion that this alleged error presents nothing to this court for our consideration.

It appears from the record now before us that the Appellants’ Motion for New Trial was filed on August 31, 1966, at a time when the trial court was in vacation, and on September 17, 1966, during the September term of the Knox Circuit Court the Appellee filed its motion for the amendment of the judgment and to modify the decree which had been entered on August 8, 1966, during the August term of the court. The trial court later, on October 14, 1966, during the September term of the court, entered an order granting the motion to amend the judgment and later overruled the Appellants’ Motion for a New Trial. The Appellants did not file a subse *395 quent Motion for a New Trial after the judgment was amended.

We find the general rule applicable to such situations in Wiltrout, Indiana Practice, Vol. 2, Sec. 1784, at page 561, stated as follows:

“The Appellate Court has held that where the court, following the filing of a motion for a new trial, opens and amends the judgment, even though the new judgr ment is substantially similar to the original judgment, a second motion for a new trial is properly addressed to the amended judgment. The overruling of the first motion may not be presented as error on appeal.”

Our Court passed on a similar question in the case of Hedworth v . Chapman, et al. (1963), 135 Ind. App. 129, 131, 192 N. E. 2d 649. In that case we find the following:

“Following the appellants’ motion for a new trial, the court on its own motion opened and entered an amended judgment, substantially similar to the original judgment. The appellants’ motion for a new trial addressed to this last decision is the determining factor as to the questions presented to us in this appeal. We will consider the assignment of errors based upon the second motion for a new trial. . . .” (Emphasis ours).

Therefore, we are of the opinion that the proper procedure to have saved the errors advanced in the first motion for a new trial would have been for the Appellants to have filed a second motion for a new trial after the original judgment had been opened and amended, or modified, and to have renewed the averred errors charged in the original motion for new trial.

The second error raised in the Appellants’ assignment of errors was the sustaining of the motion to amend the judgment in a subsequent term of court from that in which the judgment was rendered. The trial court rendered its judgment during the August term of the Knox Circuit Court. The Appellants’ Motion for a New Trial was filed *396 on August 31, 1966, which was during vacation time. However, the ruling on the motion for a new trial was not made until the September term of the Knox Circuit Court. We are of the opinion that the filing of a motion for a new trial kept the cause in fieri, and that the judgment was subject to alteration or amendment until such time as the court ruled on the pending- motion for a new trial. The filing- of a motion for a new trial within the time allowed by the statute automatically extends the court’s jurisdiction until such time as the court rules on the motion.

In the recent case of State ex rel. Rans, etc. v. St.

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Bluebook (online)
235 N.E.2d 84, 142 Ind. App. 391, 1968 Ind. App. LEXIS 576, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/newton-v-bd-of-tr-vincennes-university-indctapp-1968.