Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Co. v. Johnson

99 N.E. 508, 52 Ind. App. 457, 1912 Ind. App. LEXIS 254
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedOctober 18, 1912
DocketNo. 7,671
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 99 N.E. 508 (Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Co. v. Johnson) 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
Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Co. v. Johnson, 99 N.E. 508, 52 Ind. App. 457, 1912 Ind. App. LEXIS 254 (Ind. Ct. App. 1912).

Opinion

Hottel, C. J.

This is a suit begun by appellant to enjoin the enforcement of an execution in favor of appellee, Johnson, in the hands of appellee, Sanders, sheriff. Appellee, Johnson, will be referred to as appellee.

The issues of fact in the case were presented by. a complaint in two paragraphs, the first of which was' dismissed after trial; neither paragraph was denied, but each was specially answered. A demurrer to each answer was overruled. A reply in denial and special replies were filed. After the case had proceeded to trial appellee, over appellant’s objection, filed a cross-complajnt in two paragraphs. After a motion to strike out each of these paragraphs had been overruled, a general denial was filed, and the trial of the cause concluded. To set out the substance of these various pleadings would extend this opinion to an unreasonable length. We think it sufficient to say that the issue tendered by the complaint was, as expressed by appellant in its brief, “whether any judgment had ever been rendered” in the original action in which the execution was issued. [460]*460The issue on the first paragraph of the cross-complaint was whether the trial court in s¿ud original action had, in fact, announced and rendered the judgment in said action appearing in the record entry of October 8, 1908, prepared by the clerk of said court, and whether the same should be read in open court and signed by the court nunc pro tunc. The second paragraph of the complaint differed from the first, in that it proceeded on the theory that the judgment on which the execution had issued was announced and rendered in open court on October 8, 14908, and had been entered by the clerk under the order of court, and that the court in term, to wit, on October 9, 1908, intending to sign the record of the entire proceedings had on October 8, by inadvertence and mistake, signed the same before the close of the day’s proceedings and immediately before the entry containing said judgment here involved. At the request of the parties the court made a special, finding of facts with conclusions of law thereon, and entered judgment enjoining appellees "from levying said execution on the property of the plaintiff”, and ordered that the judgment rendered on October 8, 1908 (being the judgment in said original action upon which the execution was issued), "be and the same is a valid and subsisting judgment and that the same be read in open court and signed by the judge which is now done and said proceedings on the 8th day of October, 1908, are now read in open court by the judge nunc pro tunc which reading and signing are now done in open court.”

This appeal is prosecuted from that part of said judgment rendered on the cross-complaint. The errors relied on are : (1) In overruling appellant’s motion to strike out the cross-complaint of appellee; (2) in permitting the paper called a cross-complaint to be filed by appellee; (3) in ovei’ruling appellant’s demurrer to the second paragraph of the answer of appellee to the second paragraph of appellant’s complaint; (4) in its second conclusion of law on the facts specially found; (5) in its third conclusion of law on [461]*461the facts specially found; (6) in overruling appellant’s motion for a new trial; (7), (8), (9), (10) in the rulings of the court on the several specifications of appellant’s motion to modify the judgment; (11) in that the cross-complaint does not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action.

The facts controlling on the questions involved in the appeal are presented by the court’s finding of facts, and are, in substance, as follows: (2) On October 8, 1908, appellant filed in the original action its bills of exceptions Nos. 1 and 2, and its written motion and causes for a new trial, and “on the same day, while this motion was pending and undisposed of, the appellee, by his attorney, moved the court for judgment upon the verdict of the jury”, which motion the court at the time sustained, and announced from the bench and rendered judgment on such verdict in favor of appellee for $6,000 and costs; that on October 10, the court overruled the motion for a new trial, and granted appellant ninety days in which to file a bill of exceptions, and appellant then prayed an appeal to the Appellate Court, which was granted on the filing within 90 days of an appeal bond in the sum of $8,000, with the American Surety Company of New York as surety. (3) At the time of the filing of said amended complaint, and subsequent thereto, the court used a bench docket, on which he personally noted in writing minutes or memoranda of the court’s proceedings in said cause: that the minutes or memoranda made by the trial court itself upon said bench docket, relative to^ the proceedings had in said case, and set out in the last preceding finding are in the words and figures following; “Oct. 4. Jury return answer to interrogatories and general verdict in the sum of $6,000. Oct. 8. Dft. files bills of except. No. 1 and No. 2. Deft, also files written causes and motion for new trial. Oct. 10. Motion for new trial overruled and exception and 90 days to file bills of exceptions. Dft. prays an appeal to Appellate Court which is granted upon filing [462]*462bond in sum of $8,000 with the American Surety Company as surety within 90 days.” (4) The trial court failed to make minutes on its bench docket of the motion for judgment on the verdict, the sustaining of such motion, and the rendition of such judgment, all of which were done by the trial court on October 8, 1908, as shown in finding No. 3; that on that day, after such proceedings were had and judgment rendered, M. M. Hathaway, as one of the attorneys for Johnson, prepared a formal record entry of all the proceedings had in said cause on October 8, “including in such entry the proceedings of which the trial court made minutes on its bench docket as well as those proceedings of which the trial court failed to make- such minutes * * * and presented to the judge such formal record entry which was thereupon examined and * * * approved by Judge Nye, the trial court; that such entry so prepared, was placed with the other papers filed in the ease, but was not, itself marked filed; ’ ’ that this entry so prepared was after-wards duly entered of record by the deputy clerk of said court, and now appears of record in order-book No. 34, page 402, of the records of Pulaski Circuit Court, and filed at the clerk’s office at Pulaski County, Indiana; the record of such proceedings, as so prepared and recorded, is as follows: “Carl Johnson vs. P., C., C. & St. L. Railway Company, No. 7180. Comes now the defendant by counsel and files Bills of Exceptions No. 1 and No. 2 in words following, to-wit; (Insert). Defendant also files written cause and motion for new trial in words and figures following, to-wit: (Insert). Plaintiff now moves the court for judgment on the verdict which motion is by the court sustained. It is therefore ordered, adjudged and decreed by the court that plaintiff recover of and from the defendant the sum of Six Thousand Dollars as and for his damages, together with his costs made and taxed in this cause at $-.” (5) The record of the day’s proceedings had by the Pulaski Circuit Court on. October 8,1908, appears of record in order-book No. 34, pages [463]*463399-403; that such record was never read or signed in open court; that the trial judge, Judge Nye, signed said record in the clerk’s office- during vacation; that said judge did not sign the record of said day’s proceedings at the close thereof, but signed the same on the bottom of page 401, the record of the case of appellee v.

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Bluebook (online)
99 N.E. 508, 52 Ind. App. 457, 1912 Ind. App. LEXIS 254, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pittsburgh-cincinnati-chicago-st-louis-railway-co-v-johnson-indctapp-1912.