Rochester v. Seattle, Renton & Southern Railway Co.

135 P. 209, 75 Wash. 559, 1913 Wash. LEXIS 2247
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 2, 1913
DocketNo. 10872
StatusPublished
Cited by34 cases

This text of 135 P. 209 (Rochester v. Seattle, Renton & Southern Railway Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Washington Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rochester v. Seattle, Renton & Southern Railway Co., 135 P. 209, 75 Wash. 559, 1913 Wash. LEXIS 2247 (Wash. 1913).

Opinion

Main, J.

This action was brought by G. A. C. Rochester, as administrator of the estate of W. C. Bell, deceased, for the purpose of recovering damages for the death of the deceased caused by the wrongful act of the defendant.

On April 30, 1910, W. C. Bell was killed in a collision which occurred on the street railway line owned by the defendant. Thereafter the plaintiff brought this action to recover damages for the benefit of the wife of the deceased, and also for a minor son, W. Con Bell. Before the time of the trial, the wife died, and the action was prosecuted for the benefit of the son only. Upon the trial, the negligence of the defendant was admitted. The only question submitted to the jury was the amount of damages which should be awarded. The jury returned a verdict in the sum of $17,500. The defendant thereafter made and filed its motion for a new trial based upon all the statutory grounds. The trial court, upon consideration of the motion, concluded that error had been committed in not limiting the amount of recovery to such damages as the surviving son would suffer prior to his majority, and thereupon granted the motion. The order granting the new trial shows that the court considered all of the grounds stated in the motion, and overruled and denied all of them except the one above stated. From this order, the plaintiff appealed, and this court held that the instruction which the trial court believed to be erroneous and on account of which it granted the motion was correct, and reversed the order granting a new trial and directed the superior court to enter a judgment upon the verdict. That decision is reported in 67 Wash. 545, 122 Pac. 23, 39 L. R. A. (N. S.) 1156. On April 29, 1912, the trial court, in conformity with the direction of this court, entered a judgment on the verdict in favor of the plaintiff [561]*561for $17,500. From that judgment, the present appeal is prosecuted.

The respondent moves the court to dismiss this appeal for the reason that the judgment appealed from was entered by the superior court in obedience to the judgment or order of this court.

The general rule is that no appeal will lie from a judgment entered' by the trial or subordinate court in accordance with a mandate or direction from the appellate or reviewing court. 2 Cyc. 608; Krantz v. Rio Grande W. R. Co., 13 Utah 1, 43 Pac. 623, 32 L. R. A. 828; Heinlen v. Beans, 73 Cal. 240, 14 Pac. 855; Albin v. Seattle Elec. Co., 46 Wash. 420, 90 Pac. 435; State v. Boyce, 25 Wash. 422, 65 Pac. 763; Apex Transp. Co. v. Garbade, 32 Ore. 582, 52 Pac. 573, 54 Pac. 367, 882, 62 L. R. A. 513; Ex parte Dubuque & P. R., 1 Wall. 69; Gaines v. Rugg, 148 U. S. 228; Kimpton v. Jubilee Placer Min. Co., 22 Mont. 107, 55 Pac. 918.

In Krantz v. Rio Grande W. R. Co., supra, it is said:

“All the alleged errors now complained of occurred during the proceedings of the trial court before the motion for a new trial was heard, and there is no question made as to any errors having been committed in the proceedings subsequent to the mandate. Nor are we asked to review such proceedings. It is evident that this is an attempt to have another review of the rights of the parties on the same record which was reviewed on the former appeal, when it was held that the plaintiff had the right to recover. Under such circumstances, an appeal from a judgment entered by an inferior court in pursuance of a mandate of the appellate court cannot be sustained; and this rule is not only in accordance with authority, but is founded on reason and justice, for if successive appeals were allowed on the same state of the record, there would be no end to litigation and appeals, and the courts themselves could be turned into instruments of injustice by an obstinate litigant.”

In cases where the subordinate or trial court upon motion has entered an order granting a new trial upon a specific ground and an appeal follows, the great weight of authority [562]*562is that the party in whose favor the order was entered may, upon appeal therefrom by the adverse party, urge any ground in support of the order which was covered by the motion, and that the appellate or reviewing court, even though it be of the opinion that the order cannot be sustained upon the specific ground stated or reason given by the trial court, will not reverse the order if it can be sustained upon any legal ground. 2 Ency. Plead. & Prac., 373; Nally v. McDonald, 77 Cal. 284, 19 Pac. 418; Sherwood v. Kyle, 125 Cal. 652, 58 Pac. 270; Kauffman v. Maier, 94 Cal. 269, 29 Pac. 481, 18 L. R. A. 124; Hewitt v. Steele, 118 Mo. 463, 24 S. W. 440; Shanklin v. Hall, 100 Cal. 26, 34 Pac. 636; Morrow v. St. Paul City R. Co., 65 Minn. 382, 67 N. W. 1002; Lovell v. Davis, 52 Mo. App. 342; Ittner v. Hughes, 133 Mo. 679, 34 S. W. 1110. The principle which runs through all of these cases is that, where the trial court grants a motion for a new trial upon a specific ground, and there is an appeal therefrom, the reviewing court may consider all the grounds of the motion in determining the correctness of the ruling. This principle appears to us to be not only sound in reason but just in its practical operation. If the appellate court is limited in passing upon an appeal from an order granting a new trial to the ground stated in the order, and it should believe that ground untenable, then the order must be reversed, and after the trial court has entered a judgment of reversal, a second appeal may follow to determine whether the other grounds of the motion may not be well taken. This entails upon litigants unnecessary expense and delay, and in some cases would work serious injustice. The cause upon the second appeal would be before the appellate court upon identically the same record as upon the first. From no just point of view can a rule of practice which unnecessarily prolongs the litigation and increases the expense thereof be upheld. So far as we are informed, there are.no authorities out of harmony with the rule above stated, except the previous holdings of this court. In the [563]*563cases of Gray v. Washington Water Power Co., 27 Wash. 713, 68 Pac. 360; Id., 30 Wash. 154, 70 Pac. 255; Lawrence v. Pederson, 34 Wash. 1, 74 Pac. 1011; Allen v. Northern Pac. R. Co., 35 Wash. 221, 77 Pac. 204, 66 L. R. A. 804; and Armstrong v. Musser Lumber & Mfg. Co., 43 Wash. 584, 86 Pac. 944, it has been held that where the motion for new trial was granted upon a specific ground, that this court upon an appeal would consider only the ground stated by the trial court for its ruling, and would not consider the other grounds covered by the motion. These decisions are, in our opinion, supported neither by good reason nor authority, and are therefore expressly overruled. The correct rule of practice is now announced to be that, where, upon the consideration of a motion for new trial, the trial court enters an order granting the motion upon a specific ground or for a specific reason stated, and the adverse party appeals, the party seeking to sustain the order may urge in this court all the grounds which were covered by his motion, and is not limited to the specific ground or reason upon which the trial court based the order. A second appeal will not be entertained. However, to apply this rule to the present case would be unjust, since the practice here followed is in accordance with the previous holdings of this court.

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Bluebook (online)
135 P. 209, 75 Wash. 559, 1913 Wash. LEXIS 2247, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rochester-v-seattle-renton-southern-railway-co-wash-1913.