Runkle v. Pullin

97 N.E. 956, 49 Ind. App. 619, 1912 Ind. App. LEXIS 209
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 12, 1912
DocketNo. 7,543
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 97 N.E. 956 (Runkle v. Pullin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Runkle v. Pullin, 97 N.E. 956, 49 Ind. App. 619, 1912 Ind. App. LEXIS 209 (Ind. Ct. App. 1912).

Opinion

Felt, C. J.

Appellee brought this action to recover money which he had paid as surety for appellant on a certain promissory note. On the trial, the court made a special finding of facts, and stated as its conclusion thereon that appellee was entitled to recover from appellant the sum of $319.28. ■

Appellant relies for reversal on the following alleged errors: (1) Overruling appellant’s demurrer to the complaint; (2) sustaining appellee’s demurrer to the second paragraph of appellant’s answer; (3) error of the court in its conclusion of law; (4) error of the court in overruling appellant’s motion in arrest of judgment.

These assignments present two questions: (1) Does the [621]*621complaint state a cause of action? (2) Is appellant’s plea of the statute of limitations of Nebraska a bar to appellee’s cause of action? If the court did not err in respect to these questions, it is conceded that the conclusions of law are correct.

1. The complaint avers, in substance, that appellee, on May 30, 1881, became surety for appellant on a promissory note for $200, payable to the Lake City Bank, at Warsaw, Indiana; that appellant made certain payments thereon, and on September 15, 1883, there was due on said note $103.20, which appellee, as such surety, was compelled to pay, and did on said date pay at Columbia City, Indiana; that appellant had previously left the State of Indiana and continuously remained out of the State until a few days previous to the commencement of this action; that there is due to appellee in principal and interest $320, and $100 attorneys’ fees, for which appellee demands judgment and all proper relief. A copy of the note was made an exhibit with the complaint.

2. Fairly construed, we think the complaint states a cause of action for the recovery by the surety from the principal of the amount paid by him as such surety on the default of the principal. The complaint counts oh the implied obligation of the principal to reimburse the surety for money necessarily paid by him 'as such surety, and not upon the note. The theory of a complaint is to be determined by its general scope and tenor, and not by fragmentary statements or detached parts thereof. The note was not a necessary exhibit, but the nature of the action was not changed by the exhibit. Merica v. Fort Wayne, etc., Traction Co. (1912), ante, 288; Monnett v. Turpie (1892), 132 Ind. 482; §1276 Burns 1908, §1219 R. S. 1881. The demurrer was properly overruled. Gieseke v. Johnson (1888), 115 Ind. 308; Kreider v. Isenbice (1890), 123 Ind. 10; note to Vermeule v. York Cliffs Improv. Co. (1909), 134 Am. St. 553, 557.

[622]*6223. Appellant’s second paragraph of answer admits that on September 15, 1883, appellee paid $103.20 as surety for appellant; that appellant was at the time a nonresident of this State, and a resident of the State of Missouri, which he continued so to be until the year 1886, when he removed to and became a resident of Furnas county, Nebraska; that he has continued to be and is now a resident of Nebraska; that the statute of said State relating to the time of commencing civil actions, such as this one, requires the action to be brought within four years from the time the cause of action accrues (a copy of the statute is set out with the pleading); that said statute was enacted in 1867, and has been in force continuously since that date; that appellee’s cause of action did not accrue within four years next preceding the bringing of this action.

The court found the facts substantially as averred in the complaint and in said second paragraph of answer; also that this action was commenced on September 6, 1909; that appellee was a resident of Indiana on May 30, 1881, and has been continuously since that time.

Section 299 Burns 1908, §297 R. S. 1881, provides that “the time during which the defendant is a nonresident of the State or absent on public business shall not be computed in any of the periods of limitation; but when a cause has been fully barred by the laws of the place where the defendant resided, such bar shall be the same defense here as though it had arisen in this State: Provided, that the provisions of this section shall be construed to apply only to causes of action arising without this State.”

The right of appellant to the benefit of the Nebraska statute of limitation depends on the answer to the question, Where did the cause of action arise f If the cause of action arose in this State, he cannot receive any benefit from the Nebraska statute, for our statute clearly limits the benefits of such statute to “causes of action arising without this State.” Where the cause of action arises in this State, the [623]*623nonresidence of the defendant, as shown in this case, deprives him of the benefit of the statute of limitations either of this State or the state of his residence, when the suit is brought in this State. Morrison v. Kendall (1893), 6 Ind. App. 212; Wood v. Bissell (1886), 108 Ind. 229; Mechanics Bldg. Assn. v. Whitacre (1884), 92 Ind. 547; Balph v. Magaw (1904), 33 Ind. App. 399; Watson v. Lecklider (1897), 147 Ind. 395, 401.

But these cases do not settle the question as to where the cause of action arose. The action is based on the implied obligation of the surety to reimburse his principal for money paid as such surety. This .obligation did not arise until payment was made, which in this case was September 15, 1883. The note was both given and made payable in this State. All the parties to the transaction resided in Indiana, but appellant removed from the State and was a nonresident when appellee paid the balance due on the note, has continued to be, and was at the date of the trial, a nonresident. It is insisted that because of these facts the cause of action arose outside of this State, and appellant is entitled to the benefit of the statute of Nebraska. In other words, the place of the residence of the defendant determines where the cause of action arises.

It is not disputed that the payee of the note could have brought an action against the principal and surety in this State, and, if service of process had been obtained on appellant, could have taken a personal judgment. against him, notwithstanding he was a nonresident. True, the action of the surety is not on the note, but appellant was not harmed by the payment by the surety and the consequent action by him on the implied contract, instead of an action by the payee or owner of the note on the original obligation. This reasoning does not settle the question at bar, but it does indicate that the equity of the case is with appellee, and that appellant should not be given the benefit of the foreign statute, unless the law clearly gives him such right.

[624]*624Failing to find any Indiana case directly in point on the question as to where the cause of action arose, we have examined numerous decisions of courts outside this State.

In the case of Durham v. Spence (1870), L. R. 6 Ex. *46, in deciding where a cause of action arose, Justice Cleasby used the following language: ‘ ‘ Now the cause of action must have reference to some time as well as to some place; does then the consideration of the time when the cause of action arises, give us any assistance in determining the place where it arises 1 I think it does.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
97 N.E. 956, 49 Ind. App. 619, 1912 Ind. App. LEXIS 209, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/runkle-v-pullin-indctapp-1912.