Reish v. Thompson

55 Ind. 34
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 15, 1876
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 55 Ind. 34 (Reish v. Thompson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Reish v. Thompson, 55 Ind. 34 (Ind. 1876).

Opinion

Howk, J.

The appellee, as plaintiff, sued the appellant and one George Cunningham, as defendants, in the court below. In her complaint, the appellee alleged, in substance, that on August 5th, 1873, the State of Indiana, on the relation of the appellee, obtained a j udgment, in the court below, against the defendant, Ceorge Cunningham, for three hundred dollars, and costs of suit, in a certain proceeding in bastardy, then pending in said court, in which judgment it was ordered that it should he paid in the following instalments, to wit, fifty dollars in four months, one hundred and twenty-five dollars in sixteen months, and one hundred and twenty-five dollars in twenty-eight months, from said August 5th, 1873; which said sums of money, it was adjudged, were to be -paid to appellee, as the mother of the bastard child, or to its legal guardian; and appellee averred, that said order and judgment were so made for the use and benefit of the person, who might, up to the date of said judgment, have the care and custody of said child: and appellee averred, that she took care of said child, from the date of said judgment, until the death of said child in the fall of 1873, and thereby became and was, at the death of said child, entitled to said judgment; that on said August 5th, 1873, one [35]*35Alfred W. Reynolds filed alien on said judgment for fifty dollars, for attorney’s fees in obtaining said judgment; that after said judgment was rendered, and on the same day, the appellant became replevin bail for the stay of execution on said judgment, his undertaking, in that behalf, being entered in writing on the order book of the court below, in the words and figures following, to wit:

“I, Emanuel Reish, acknowledge myself replevin bail, for the payment of this judgment, at or before the expiration of the time allowed by law for the stay of execution upon such judgment, the same to be levied of my goods and chattels, lands and tenements; signed, August 5th, 1873.

“ Emanuel Reish.”

That afterwards, on November 18th, 1873, the defendant, George Cunningham, and the appellant came to the appellee at Monticello, in White county, Indiana, where appellee was working, and said George Cunningham falsely and fraudulently represented to* appellee, that he was ready and willing to marry her, and he and the appellant hoth solicited the appellee to sign an entry of satisfaction of said judgment, and the appellant falsely and fraudulently represented to appellee, that it was necessary that appellee should receipt said judgment, before she could be married to said defendant, Cunningham ; and the appellee, relying on said false representations of the defendant, Cunningham, and the appellant, on said November 18th, 1873, entered satisfaction of said judgment, in the order book of said court, in- writing, as follows:

“ Received, of the defendant, satisfaction, in full, of the principal and interest of the above and foregoing judgment, November 18th, 1873. Jeanette Thompson.”

And appellee averred, that neither the defendant, Cunningham, nor the appellant, nor any other person, had paid anything on said judgment, and that said release was executed without any money being paid, and solely because of said false representations, and further that the [36]*36defendant, Cunningham, immediately after procuring said release, left, and neither he nor the appellant said anything or did anything further, in pursuance of said agreement of marriage, although both professed to he anxious to have said marriage take place, before said entry of satisfaction of said judgment was obtained; that at the date of said entry of satisfaction, the appellee was a minor, under the age of twenty-one years; that appellee had since arrived at full age; and the appellee averred, that both the defendant, Cunningham, and the appellant well knew that their said representations were false, and that said George Cunningham never intended to perform his said contract of marriage, and that said agreement of marriage was made with the sole purpose of obtaining said entry of satisfaction of said judgment. Wherefore appellee demanded judgment, that said entry of satisfaction he set aside and held for naught, and that she have execution on said judgment, according to its terms; and she said that she had been damaged three hundred dollars, because of the said fraudulent l’epresentations, for which she demanded judgment, in addition to her prayer for specific relief, and also for general relief.

And the appellant demurred to appellee’s complaint, for the following grounds of objection:

1. Because the complaint did not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action; and,

2. Because there was a defect of parties-plaintiffs,in this, that this action should have been brought in the name of the State of Indiana, on the relation of the appellee.

This demurrer was overruled by the court below, and to this decision appellant excepted.

This action was dismissed as to the defendant, George Cunningham, process not having been served on, him. And the appellant then answered, in three paragraphs, the appellee’s complaint, as follows:

1. A general denial.

[37]*372. That, at the time said agreement and promise were made by the defendant, Cunningham, to the appellee, as stated in the complaint, she was over the age of eighteen years; wherefore appellant said that appellee ought not to recover in this action; and,

3. That, after the judgment, mentioned in appellee’s complaint, was rendered in favor of the appellee, and against the defendant, Cunningham, the child of the appellee, for whose use and benefit said judgment was rendered, died; wherefore appellant prayed judgment for costs, and other proper relief.

Appellee demurred to the second and third paragraphs' of appellant’s answer, for the want of sufficient facts therein to constitute a defence to this' action; which demurrer was sustained by the court below, and the appellant excepted.

And the action, being at issue, was tried by the court below, without a jury ; and the finding of the court was for the appellee, and that the allegations of her complaint were true; and, over appellant’s motion for a new trial, overruled and exception saved, the court rendered judgment, that the entry of satisfaction, in appellee’s complaint mentioned, be vacated, set aside and held for naught, that appellee have execution on the judgment, described in her complaint, and recover of appellant her costs in this action expended.

In this court, the appellant has assigned the following alleged errors:

1. Error of the court below,.in overruling appellant’s demurrer to appellee’s complaint; and,

2. Error of the court below, in sustaining appellee’s demurrer to the second and third paragraphs of appellant’s answer.

With all proper respect for the appellant’s learned attorney, who has argued his client’s cause with much tzeal and ingenuity, we are bound to say, that, in our opinion, there is no error in the record of this cause, of which the ap[38]*38pellant can be allowed or ought to complain. It is earnestly insisted, under the errors alleged, that the complaint, in this cause, does not contain or state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action. The case made by appellee’s complaint is, briefly, this : The appellee, a young girl, and not of lawful age, became the mother of a bastard child.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
55 Ind. 34, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/reish-v-thompson-ind-1876.