Riordan v. Horton

94 P. 448, 16 Wyo. 363, 1908 Wyo. LEXIS 27
CourtWyoming Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 9, 1908
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 94 P. 448 (Riordan v. Horton) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wyoming Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Riordan v. Horton, 94 P. 448, 16 Wyo. 363, 1908 Wyo. LEXIS 27 (Wyo. 1908).

Opinion

Scott, Justice.

This matter arose in the district court of Weston County and involves the validity of an order fixing- and allowing Fred Horton certain amounts for compensation as receiver of the Bank of Newcastle. Plaintiffs in error as stockholders of the bank complain that the amounts so allowed were excessive and unwarranted, and bring the case here on error.

1. The defendants in error move to dismiss the proceedings in error on the following grounds:

First — That they were not brought within one year after the rendition of the judgment.

Second — That the petition in error does not give the date of any judgment, and, therefore, fails to specify or identify the judgment complained of.

Third — That if any judgment at all is complained of in the petition in error, it must be a judgment rendered in November, 1905, and the proceedings in error were not instituted within one year from the rendition of that judgment.

The petition in error is as follows: “Comes now the plaintiffs in error, and say, that at the March term of the district " court of the Fourth Judicial District in and for Weston County, Wyoming-, the defendants in error recovered judgment by consideration of said district court, against the plaintiffs in error, in that certain action pending [369]*369therein, entitled as follows: ‘In the matter of the receivership of the Bank of Newcastle’ and ‘Mike Riordan, plaintiff, and W. H. Kilpatrick, R. J. Kilpatrick and Samuel D. Kilpatrick, co-partners under the name and style of Kilpat-rick Brothers, interventors, vs. The Bank of Newcastle and Bred Horton, as receiver of the Bank of Newcastle, defendants.’

“That there is* manifest error in the record of the proceedings in the trial of said cause.

“That the court erred in overruling the motion of plaintiffs in error in said cause, and in rendering judgment therein in favor of the defendants in error and against the plaintiffs in error, and in its findings of fact and conclusions of law therein. That said findings and judgment are contrary to law and the evidence.

“Plaintiffs in error, therefore, pray that said judgment be reversed and that they be restored to all things they have lost by reason thereof.

“That this court direct the clerk of said district court to forward all original papers and files in said cause and all journal entries made therein, deemed necessary by this court to a full understanding and investigation of said cause and that petitioners have their costs herein.”.

The plaintiffs in error oppose this motion and ask permission to amend the petition by making it more definite and certain as to the term at which the judgment complained of was rendered and also by inserting after the words, “That the court erred in overruling the motion of plaintiffs in error,’ the words, “for a new trial.” The right to so amend is vigorously contested.

We have no statute specially regulating amendments in proceedings in error. Such amendments by analogy, we think, should conform as near as may be to the provisions of the statute with reference to amendments of, pleadings and proceedings in the district courts. Under those provisions no amendment is authorized which will change substantially the cause of action. In such a case it would [370]*370amount virtually to an abandonment of one cause of action for a new or different one. So upon error one would not be permitted to substitute a different judgment for the one originally complained of. In the case before us the petition in error refers to the judgment as having been rendered at the March term of the district court of Weston County, whereas the record discloses that no judgment in the cause was rendered at a March term of that c'Ourt. The record does show that a judgment was rendered in this cause on November 20, 1905, and that a motion to vacate that judgment and grant a new trial was filed in due time and that it was submitted to and decided by the court at the following term on March 5, 1906. No question is made that the record returned in pursuance of the order of this court is other than the record of the case and proceeding here sought to have reviewed, and the cause and the court in which the judgment was rendered having been set out in the petition, and the record disclosing but one judgment in the cause precludes, in our view, the possibility of the parties being misled as to what judgment they were called upon to defend in this proceeding. In Commissioners v. Shaffner, 10 Wyo., 181, 189, this court said: “A petition in error should with reasonable certainty describe the cause wherein it' is claimed that errors have occurred and the judgment sought to be reviewed ought to be indicated by some certain description. A statement of the cause wherein the judgment was rendered and the date of its rendition should be embraced in the petition. We do not hold that a statement of the date of the judgment is indispensable, if it is otherwise clearly identified and described.” We are of the opinion that the judgment of which complaint is here made, though erroneously referred to as having been rendered at the March term, is otherwise sufficiently identified by the petition in error to give this court jurisdiction, and for this reason the proposed amendment is not inhibited and that permission to amend the petition by inserting- the true date of the judgment and term of the district court in place of the words “at the March term” should be granted.

[371]*371The second proposed amendment, viz.: to change the words, “That the court erred in overruling the motion of plaintiffs in error in said cause,” so as to read, “That the court erred in overruling the motion of plaintiffs in error for a new trial in said cause,” ought not, in our judgment, to be permitted. It is not necessary to assign the overruling of a motion for a new trial as error unless it is desired to have reviewed all matters embraced in such motion without further assignment, though it is usual, customary and the better practice to do so (Wolcott v. Bachman, 3 Wyo., 335), and this court will not review errors which are properly grounds for a new trial unless they have been presented by such motion and an adverse ruling- made thereon. A party may assign as error one or more grounds embraced in the motion for a new trial and be entitled to have these matters reviewed even though the overruling of the motion for a new trial is not specifically assigned as error.

In this case, aside from the complaint that there has been an adverse ruling upon some motion, the plaintiffs in error complain that the court erred (1) in rendering judgment in said cause in favor of the defendants in error and against the plaintiffs in error, and (2) in its findings of fact and conclusions of law, and (3) that said findings and judgment are contrary to law and the evidence. These alleged errors were incorporated in and were some of the grounds' of the motion for a new trial, and the record shows that the motion was ruled upon by the court, and to such ruling exception was duly taken. The time has long since elapsed within which an original petition in error could be filed in this cause. The proposed amendment would not in fact be an amendment to a defective assignment, but would in effect bring into the record matters which are not included within the assignments of error. Such a practice could not be permitted after the time allowed by statute for the commencement of proceedings in error had elapsed.

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

Related

Gorrell v. City of Casper
371 P.2d 835 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 1962)
Rafferty v. Northern Utilities Co.
278 P.2d 605 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 1955)
Diamond Cattle Co. v. Clark
74 P.2d 857 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 1937)
Northwestern National Insurance v. Averill
42 P.2d 747 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1935)
International Harvester Co. of America v. Leifer
293 P. 381 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 1930)
Automobile Ins. Co. v. Lloyd
273 P. 681 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 1929)
Jones v. Parker
266 P. 128 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 1928)
Worland v. Davis
223 P. 227 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 1924)
Western Alfalfa Milling Co. v. Worthington
210 P. 280 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 1922)
Hall Oil Co. v. Barquin
201 P. 160 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 1921)
Fitzpatrick v. Rogan
197 P. 565 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 1921)
North Laramie Land Co. v. Hoffman
195 P. 988 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 1921)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
94 P. 448, 16 Wyo. 363, 1908 Wyo. LEXIS 27, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/riordan-v-horton-wyo-1908.