Randall v. Fox

108 P. 249, 13 Ariz. 87, 1910 Ariz. LEXIS 67
CourtArizona Supreme Court
DecidedApril 2, 1910
DocketCivil No. 1122
StatusPublished

This text of 108 P. 249 (Randall v. Fox) 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
Randall v. Fox, 108 P. 249, 13 Ariz. 87, 1910 Ariz. LEXIS 67 (Ark. 1910).

Opinion

KENT, C. J.

A statement of the proceedings in the case is necessary. The action was brought by P. R. Fox, the appellee, 'against the El Globo Mining and Milling Company, a corporation, to recover upon a promissory note of the corporation for $15,000, which had been assigned to Fox by Charles P. Romadka, the payee. The note in question was executed by Charles A. Romadka, the president of the corporation, who was the son of Charles P. Romadka, the payee. The note was payable on September 15, 1907. On May 2, 1908, default having been made by the company in the payment of the note, this suit was filed by Fox, assignee of the payee, in the district court, the complaint being the ordinary complaint on a promissory note alleging the making, execution and delivery of the note for a valuable consideration, and its assignment to the plaintiff in the case before maturity for a valuable consideration. On May 4, 1908, the company, by its president, C. A. Romadka, appeared and filed a document confessing judgment, and thereupon on the same day judgment was entered in favor of Fox against the company for the amount of the note and interest. On May 21, 1908, Joshua O. Lee, a stockholder of the company, filed a motion to have the judgment vacated and for leave to intervene and defend. On June 22, 1908, an order was entered vacating the judgment theretofore entered, and allowing any stockholder to enter an appearance and file an answer in defense. Thereafter Lee, as such stockholder, and one Board-man, also a stockholder, each filed separate answers in the action. A general demurrer to the Boardman answer was sustained by the court and leave to amend denied. The case was thereafter set by the court for trial on the issues raised by the complaint and the Lee answer, and thereafter, on motion of the attorneys for Lee, the trial order was vacated, and the case continued to the 18th of November, 1908, for trial. On the 16th of November the plaintiff filed a motion to reinstate the judgment theretofore entered and vacated, which motion was set for hearing on the 18th of November, and the intervener, Lee, was given notice of such hearing. Upon the hearing of [90]*90the motion the court sustained the motion, and rendered judgment as follows: ‘ ‘ This cause having come on for trial before me sitting in the district court of the second judicial district in and for the county of Cochise on the fourth day of May, 1908, and judgment on said day having been rendered by me in favor of the plaintiff, and said judgment having thereafter been set aside by my direction upon the application of Joshua O. Lee for leave to interpose a defense to the complaint therein, and the said cause thereafter having been transferred by consent of the parties from the said district court unto this court, it appearing to this court that the answer of Joshua O. Lee presented with his application for leave to intervene as a defendant, is insufficient in law as a defense to the action of the plaintiff, and it further appearing that the answer of Prank S. Boardman filed herein as a defense to the said complaint does not state facts sufficient to constitute a defense, and no sufficient defense to said complaint having been filed on behalf of any party to this action, plaintiff now moving for reinstatement of the judgment heretofore rendered and for judgment on the record filed and pleadings herein, the court now being fully advised in the premises and having reconsidered the evidence offered on behalf of the plaintiff at the time of the former rendition of judgment herein and having considered all of the pleadings in the record, it is ordered, adjudged, and decreed that the plaintiff, P. R. Pox, do have and recover from the El Globo Mining and Milling Company, a corporation, defendant, the sum of fifteen thousand nine hundred and nineteen dollars,” etc. An appeal from the judgment so entered was ■ taken to this court by Joshua O. Lee, but, he having shortly thereafter died, .the appeal was prosecuted by Laura Lee Randall, heir of said Joshua O. Lee, deceased, the intervener.

The appellant’s contention seems to be twofold: First,that the court had no authority or power to enter the judgment appealed from at the time it was so entered and under the conditions then existing; and, second, that, if such power existed, the court erred in holding that the answer of Lee was insufficient to raise a defense.

As to the first contention, the appellant cites the case of Arizona, etc. Min. Co. v. Benton, 12 Ariz. 373, 100 Pac. 952, as authority. We held there that such an answer as originally [91]*91filed here by this corporation was not in effect an answer, but a confession of judgment, and that such a confession of judgment could not be made by tbe president of tbe corporation in the absence of express authority granted either by the corporation or by statute, except where authority may be implied from the nature of the corporate business or his duties. We therefore held in that case that upon a proper showing by the corporation, a judgment entered on such a confession should be set aside and the corporation allowed to defend, when it was shown that it had a substantial defense upon the merits, and that in refusing the corporation an opportunity so to defend the trial court in that ease was in error; but, in the case at bar, the corporation had evidenced no desire to contest the judgment entered, and the trial court in this case, upon the application of the stockholder here appealing, did set aside the judgment entered and allowed the defense to be interposed. The Benton case is therefore no authority for the position taken by the appellant here, since the appellant has obtained in this case the very relief that we held in the Benton case the corporation was entitled to have.

The stockholder Lee, having obtained the right he sought— the judgment formerly entered having been set aside by the trial court and the stockholder having been allowed to intervene and file his answer, and having filed such answer — is thereafter in precisely the same position as if such intervention had been by the corporation, or as if he had originally appeared and answered as a defendant in the case. If, therefore, the answer interposed by the intervener, Lee was insufficient to constitute a defense to the matters set forth in the complaint of the plaintiff, the plaintiff was entitled upon a motion duly made to have judgment upon the pleadings if such pleadings warranted judgment being entered. Judgment on the pleadings is a practice recognized by this court. Miles v. McCallan, 1 Ariz. 491, 3 Pac. 610; Finley v. City of Tucson, 7 Ariz. 108, 60 Pac. 872. In this case judgment was rendered by the court according to the recital of the judgment as follows: “Plaintiff now moving for reinstatement of the judgment heretofore rendered and for judgment on the record, files, and pleadings herein, the court now being fully advised in the premises, and having reconsidered the evidence offered on behalf of the plaintiff at the time of the former [92]*92rendition of the judgment herein, and having considered all of the pleadings in the record, it is,” etc. Upon the record in the case we think the court was justified in entering the judgment for. the plaintiff and against the intervener, Lee, provided the answer of the intervener, Lee, as held by the trial court, did not set forth facts sufficient to constitute a defense to the cause of action set forth in the complaint.

The complaint was an ordinary one upon a promissory note. The answer admitted the making, execution, and delivery of the note by the corporation to the payee.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Miles v. McCallan
1 Ariz. 491 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1884)
Finley v. City of Tucson
60 P. 872 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1900)
Arizona Mining & Trading Co. v. Benton
100 P. 952 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1909)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
108 P. 249, 13 Ariz. 87, 1910 Ariz. LEXIS 67, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/randall-v-fox-ariz-1910.