Reyburn v. Handlan

147 S.W. 846, 165 Mo. App. 412, 1912 Mo. App. LEXIS 486
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 7, 1912
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 147 S.W. 846 (Reyburn v. Handlan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Reyburn v. Handlan, 147 S.W. 846, 165 Mo. App. 412, 1912 Mo. App. LEXIS 486 (Mo. Ct. App. 1912).

Opinion

REYNOLDS, P. J.

On the 16th of January, 1909, Marceline R. Reyburn and Frederick G. Ziebig, as executors of the estate of the late Judge Valle Reyburn sued out, from the circuit court in which it had been rendered, a scire facias to revive a judgment rendered May 15, 1899, in favor of Judge Reyburn and against Eugene W. Handlan for $2000. It is set out [415]*415in the application, called petition, for the scire facias, that Judge Reyburn died in September, 1907, naming and appointing his wife and Ziebig executrix and exec-tor (hereafter referred to for brevity as his representatives) ; that they had duly qualified and that the judgment was unpaid. They pray that the writ of scire facias issue against the defendant Handlan, to show cause why the judgment should not be revived for its amount and for costs. The defendant appeared and pleaded that the judgment had been paid. Other matters are also pleaded as against the revivor, in substance, that Judge Reyburn was not the real owner of the note on which the judgment was founded, nor of the judgment, but was attorney for one J. B. C. Lucas, deceased, and that he had released certain of the joint makers to the note, suing Handlan alone, and also held certain stock as collateral, for which he and Lucas had not accounted.

The affirmative defenses were all denied in a reply. It appears by the record entries, as set out in the abstract, that on motion of Judge Reyburn’s representatives, W. R. Faribault and John Bull, as executors of the estate of Lucas, deceased, had been joined as parties to the application at the December, 1909, term of the court. The cause came on for trial at the February, 1910, term and was submitted to the court, a jury being waived. The court found for the applicants and judgment was rendered in their favor, reviving the judgment in the names of the representatives of Reyburn and Lucas to the amount of $1610.90', and costs, with interest at the rate of eight per cent per annum, that being the amount of interest which the original judgment bore, and awarded execution accordingly.

Defendant filed a motion for a new trial. This was overruled and exception saved. No motion in arrest of judgment was filed. Defendant, excepting to [416]*416the overruling of the motion for new trial, has duly brought the case here by appeal.

The points made and argued by learned counsel for appellant are these:

(1) A judgment cannot be revived through proceeding's upon a writ of scire facias in the name of the assignees. Such a judgment is void.

(2) .Valle Reyburn in his lifetime had actually assigned the judgment to Lucas, and left nothing to be revived in the name of his executors, hence the proceeding and judgment were void.

. (3) The credits introduced in evidence were proper under the plea of payment.

In their reply brief these same counsel make other contentions which it is well to notice. They are as follows:

(1) Granting that the amendment to section 3748, Revised Statutes 1899, was intended to apply to the revival of a judgment by scire facias — which counsel deny — it is argued that this does not correct the vice in the judgment at bar, because that judgment awards execution in favor of the assignee, contrary to section 2158, Revised Statutes 1909.

(2) The amendment to section 3748, Revised Statutes 1899, made by Act of March 7, 1907, does not authorize revival on scire facias in the name of the assignee, it being argued that “while it is true that scire facias is a proceeding, it is not a -proceeding on a judgment. It is a proceeding continuing the original action and ancillary thereto.”

(3) While objection was interposed to the introduction in evidence of the assignment to the executors of Lucas, even if it is held that the objection did not reach the point, it is immaterial, for the- error is jurisdictional and the judgment entered is a nullity, for it is “beyond the scope of such a proceeding (by scire facias) to enter a judgment reviving a cause in favor [417]*417of the assignee,” and the error in the judgment is in awarding execution in behalf of the assignee.

(4) The evidence showed that Reyburn had parted with his interest in the judgment in his lifetime. “The original judgment bore date May 15,1899. Scire facias proceedings were instituted January 16, 1909. The ten-year statute had expired before the scire facias proceedings came on for hearing.”

It will be observed that the substantial points are that the judgment cannot be revived through proceedings upon a writ of scire facias in the name of the assignees, and that the court should not have ordered execution to issue in the name of the assignees.. It is also argued that the amount found as due on the judgment is excessive.

Counsel cite many authorities in support of the proposition that scire facias to revive a judgment cannot issue in the name of an assignee. The trouble with these authorities is that they relate to cases which arose and were determined prior to the amendment made to section 3748, Revised Statutes 1899, by the Act approved March 7, 1907 (Acts 1907, p. 320), the section as amended now appearing as section 2159, Revised Statutes 1909. That section prior to the amendment made by the Act of-1907 read as follows: “Any action which the plaintiff in such judgment might have thereon may be maintained in the name of the assignee.” As amended in 1907, and as in force when this proceeding was instituted, it reads: “Any action or other proceeding, which the plaintiff in any judgment might have thereon, may be maintained in the name of the assignee.” That is to say, section 3748, Revised Statutes 1899, was amended by adding to it, after the word “action,” the words, “or other proceeding.” It had been decided by our Supreme Court in many cases, particularly in Bick v. Tanzey, 181 Mo. 515, 80 S. W. 902, that neither by the common law nor [418]*418by the statutes of this state could a judgment be revived in the name of the assignee. This decision was rendered by our Supreme Court May 10, 1904. . As the Legislature amended this section shortly after the promulgation of the opinion in Bick v. Tanzey, it may be assumed that the amendment was made for the express purpose of meeting the point covered by that decision. At all events, whatever the moving reason, we hold that the legislative branch of our state government, in the constitutional exercise of its power, overturned that and like decisions of the courts by amending the law on which those decisions rested.

There is no question but that our Supreme Court, as well as the other appellate courts of our state, have always held that the proceeding by scire facias to revive a judgment was not a new or an original action, but a continuance of the former suit. [See Gliddenfelt Manufacturing Co. v. Robinson, 163 Mo. App. 488, 143 S. W. 1111, and authorities there collated.] But all the cases recognize it as a “proceeding,” which, according to Black, Law Dictionary (2 Ed.), in a general sense, is the form and manner of conducting juridical business before a court or judicial officer, including all possible steps in an action from its commencement to the execution of judgment. “In a more particular sense, any application to a court of justice, however made, for aid in the enforcement of rights, for relief, fox redress of injuries, for damages, or for any remedial object,” is a “proceeding.”

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Bluebook (online)
147 S.W. 846, 165 Mo. App. 412, 1912 Mo. App. LEXIS 486, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/reyburn-v-handlan-moctapp-1912.