Peerson v. Mitchell

1950 OK 329, 239 P.2d 1028, 205 Okla. 530, 26 A.L.R. 2d 1362, 1950 Okla. LEXIS 600
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedDecember 19, 1950
Docket34007
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 1950 OK 329 (Peerson v. Mitchell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Peerson v. Mitchell, 1950 OK 329, 239 P.2d 1028, 205 Okla. 530, 26 A.L.R. 2d 1362, 1950 Okla. LEXIS 600 (Okla. 1950).

Opinion

ARNOLD, V.C.J.

This is an appeal by J. V. Peerson from an order of the district court of Tulsa county denying his motion to release of record a judg *531 ment against him in favor of Viola Mitchell rendered and entered in that court March 22, 1935. The motion was denied on the ground and for the reason, as determined by the trial court, that the judgment constitutes a debt for a “wilful and malicious” injury. His motion was filed November 28, 1947, and disclosed that on November 25, 1938, he received a final discharge in bankruptcy “from all debts and claims which are made provable by said acts against his estate . . . excepting such debts as are by law excepted from the operation of a discharge in bankruptcy.” Under the terms of the act one may not be discharged from obligations arising out of wilful and malicious acts. This is conceded.

The action was commenced in the district court of Tulsa county November 17, 1933. Plaintiff alleged in her petition as amended that R. F., Grace, J. V., and Hal Peerson were the owners or keepers of a brown and white spotted bird dog which was ill-tempered, mean, vicious, dangerous, and accustomed to attacking people, all of which was known to defendants; that during extremely hot weather, and on June 24, 1933, said dog was vaccinated for rabies or hydrophobia by a veterinarian in the town of Bixby and that knowing all these facts defendants permitted said dog to run at large at all hours of the day and night upon the public streets and alleys in that town; that on June 26, 1933, at about the hour of 11:00 p.m., the plaintiff was returning to her home along a path trodden by pedestrians which constituted a side-walk and at a distance of about 25 feet from her home she was attacked from the rear by said dog, which knocked her down and clawed and bit her about the back and spine, her right breast and side, her left foot and leg, and that her skin was broken, her flesh cut, her muscles lacerated and torn, and that as a result of such injuries so inflicted she suffered constantly from an internal hemorrhage and that the injuries aforesaid and her present physical and nervous condition were entirely due to the attack of said dog; that plaintiff had a perfect legal right to be at the place and at the time the said dog attacked her and that it was the imperative duty of defendants, knowing the vicious nature of the dog and knowing that he had just been vaccinated, to confine said dog or restrain him and thus protect plaintiff from attack by said dog. She alleged special damages for the cost of medical attendance in the sum of $250 and prayed for actual damages in the sum of $20,000.

Grace, J. V., and Hal Peerson answered by general denial. R. F. Peer-son answered by general denial, admitted that he was the owner of the dog in question but denied that the dog was ill-tempered, mean and vicious; admitted that he had the dog vaccinated as a preventive to rabies or hydrophobia and specifically denied that plaintiff received the injuries alleged from any attack upon said plaintiff by said dog.

At the conclusion of the evidence the court directed a verdict for Hal Peer-son. The court, in defining the issues to the jury, told it that the plaintiff alleged that the defendants were the owners and keepers of a brown and white spotted bird dog which was known by them to be vicious and dangerous. In instructing the jury as to the law of the case pertinent to the issues here presented, the court told the jury that a person who owns and harbors or keeps or one who harbors and keeps a vicious or dangerous dog, with knowledge of its vicious propensities, is liable for injury that such dog may commit upon the person of another; that a wife, though not the owner of a dog, will be liable as a keeper if her husband owner keeps a vicious dog at their home unless she remonstrates and protests the keeping of such a dog by her husband; that if Grace and J. V. Peerson, or either of them, allowed the dog to be kept by the family as household dogs are usually kept, then *532 they should be regarded as keepers; that if J. V. Peerson was the owner of the household occupied by himself, his parents, and other members of the family and permitted said white and brown spotted bird dog to be kept and harbored at his home knowing that it was vicious and dangerous, he should be regarded as a keeper and held liable if it attacked and injured plaintiff.

The jury returned a general verdict against all defendants for $5,000 compensatory damages. A judgment was entered in accordance therewith.

Several years after the judgment became final, J. V. Peerson was discharged in bankruptcy and released from the payment of said judgment.

It is correctly conceded that the burden of showing that the judgment was not discharged in bankruptcy was upon plaintiff below, defendant in error here. Hill v. Smith, 260 U.S. 592, 43 Sup. Ct. 219, 67 L. Ed. 419; Greenfield v. Tuccillo (C.C.A. 2) 129 F. 2d 854; Money Corporation v. Draggoo, 274 Mich. 527, 265 N.W. 452; Jaco v. Baker, 174 Ore. 191, 148 P. 2d 938.

Plaintiff in error, defendant below, asserts:

“The court will search the entire record to determine if there has been a ‘wilful and malicious’ injury within the meaning of the Bankruptcy Act and the court is not limited in its search to the mere allegations of the petition but will search the entire record, including the evidence;”

and cites in support of this proposition: Bank of Williamsville v. Amherst Motor Sales, Inc., 254 N.Y.S. 825; Humphreys et al. v. Heller, 283 N.Y.S. 915; Yackel v. Nys, 258 App. Div. 318, 321, 16 N.Y.S. 2d 545; Beam v. Karaim et al., 47 N.Y.S. 2d 193; Wyka v. Benedicks, 41 N.Y.S. 2d 127; Globe Indemnity v. Granskov, 246 Wis. 87, 16 N.W. 2d 437; Woelfle v. Giles, 182 Tenn. 88, 184 S.W. 2d 177.

The harboring of a vicious dog with knowledge of its vicious propensities constitutes a nuisance. Tubbs v. Shears, 55 Okla. 610, 155 P. 549, L.R.A. 1916-D 1032; Tidal Oil Co. v. Forcum, 189 Okla. 268, 116 P. 2d 268; Ayers v. Macoughtry, 29 Okla. 399, 117 P. 1088, 37 L.R.A. (N.S.) 865; Harris v. Williams, 160 Okla. 103, 15 P. 2d 580. Such conduct is wilful and malicious. Where an action is founded entirely on knowingly harboring a vicious dog and submitted to the jury on this theory only, the judgment is necessarily based on wilful and malicious conduct. As disclosed by the discussion of the pleadings and instructions of the court, this cause of action was predicated entirely upon the harboring of a vicious dog and submitted to the jury on that theory only. By the plain terms of the Bankruptcy Act a judgment based upon wilful and malicious injury cannot be discharged.

Where the record proper (12 O. S. 1941 §704), which is synonymous with the judgment roll at common law (Dime Savings & Trust Co. et al. v. Able et al., 185 Okla. 461, 94 P. 2d 834), that is, the petition, answer, reply, findings by the court, its instructions to the jury, the verdict of the jury, and the judgment entered upon the verdict, shows the judgment is based upon knowingly harboring a vicious dog, wilful and malicious conduct inheres or is implicit in said judgment and resort to the evidence may not be had to establish that the judgment was based on negligence. Jaco v. Baker, supra; Bank of Williamsville v. Amherst Motor Sales, Inc., supra; Humphreys et al. v. Heller, supra; Beam v. Karaim, supre; Yackel v.

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Bluebook (online)
1950 OK 329, 239 P.2d 1028, 205 Okla. 530, 26 A.L.R. 2d 1362, 1950 Okla. LEXIS 600, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/peerson-v-mitchell-okla-1950.