Spielman v. Herskovitz

134 N.E. 909, 78 Ind. App. 131, 1922 Ind. App. LEXIS 83
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 31, 1922
DocketNo. 11,218
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 134 N.E. 909 (Spielman v. Herskovitz) 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
Spielman v. Herskovitz, 134 N.E. 909, 78 Ind. App. 131, 1922 Ind. App. LEXIS 83 (Ind. Ct. App. 1922).

Opinion

Nichols, J.

— This was an action by appellee against appellants on a promissory note upon which appellee claimed there was a balance due of $3,000, and as ancillary thereto, there were proceedings in attachment and garnishment, alleging the nonresidence of appellants. On motion of appellant the garnishment proceedings were quashed, and there is therefore no question thereon for our consideration. Appellants each filed [134]*134separate answers. Appellant Sophia Spielman answered in four paragraphs, the first a general denial, the second, want of consideration, the third, suretyship during coverture, and the fourth that appellee procured the execution of the note sued on by fraudulently representing that she would use the same as security for the purchase of a stock of drugs in the city of Chicago, Illinois, which representation was fraudulent and that said note was never used for such purpose. Demurrer was sustained to the third paragraph, and appellee replied to the second and fourth paragraphs. Appellant J. Hamilton Spielman answered in four paragraphs, the first, a denial, the second, want of consideration, the third, that the note was given to indemnify appellee against certain alleged gambling transactions, and the fourth, that the note was given under promise not to negotiate it or to enforce it, and for the purpose of indemnifying appellee in certain money speculations. Appellee’s replies were in general denial. The cause was tried by a jury which gave its verdict in favor of appellee in the sum of $3,173, upon which, after appellants’ separate and several motion for a new trial was overruled judgment was rendered against both appellants, with an order of sale of the real estate attached.

1-3. Appellee has filed her motion to dismiss the appeal under which she contends that the appeal bond is joint, not several, and hence not available for appellants respectively; that the parties appellant named therein are not the same as the parties defendant to the action; that the bond was filed and approved in open court at a subsequent term and not with the clerk, and that the amount of the judgment was $3,173 while the amount named in the appeal bond was $3,183. As to the first contention, the bond shows clearly on its face that it is joint and several. As to the second, appellee has named the parties defendant as J. Hamilton [135]*135Spielman and Sophia Spielman, while in the bond they are J. Hampton Spielman and Mrs. Sophie Spielman. We note that these appellations are used indiscriminately throughout the proceedings, and there can be no question as to identity. Further, we hold that the names are idem sonans. Pinney v. State (1901), 156 Ind. 167, 59 N. E. 383; Knickerbocker Ice Co. v. Surprise (1912), 53 Ind. App. 286, 97 N. E. 357, 99 N. E. 58. As to the third, the amount of the bond was fixed, the time within which it must be filed and the names of two sureties either of whom was approved by the court, all at the term in which the judgment was rendered and motion for a new trial overruled. This was sufficient. The fact that the bond was afterward marked approved by the court and filed in open court could not make it ineffective. Filing in open court necessarily files with the clerk. As to the fourth, though the amount of the. judgment is given as $3,183, instead of $3,173 it is otherwise sufficiently identified, and the bond is not vitiated by such a minor error. 4 C. J. 1254. The motion to dismiss the appeal is overruled.

4. 5. Appellant Sophia Spielman assigns as error the court’s action in sustaining appellee’s demurrer to her third paragraph of answer. While there is some contention that this paragraph is good on the theory that it shows that the note in suit arose out of a gambling transaction, it is apparent by an examination of the answer that the pleader adopted the theory of suretyship during coverture which was followed by the trial court, and upon this theory it must now be tested. Any other theory must be disregarded. Anderson, etc., Mach. Works v. Myers (1896), 15 Ind. App. 385, 44 N. E. 193. At the time of the execution of the note in suit, suretyship, while under coverture, was not a defense in Indiana. Acts 1919 p. 90. And, in the absence of averment to [136]*136the contrary, the law is presumed to be the same in the State of Illinois where the note was executed. Baltimore, etc., R. Co. v. Freeze (1907), 169 Ind. 370, 82 N. E. 761. There was no error in sustaining the demurrer to the said third paragraph of answer.

6-8. Appellants have attempted to present error in the court’s action in overruling their motion to quash the writ in attachment, but there is no assignment of such an alleged error, and it is therefore waived. Under their motion for a new trial, appellants contend that there was error in the court’s action in admitting in evidence the note sued on which was signed by the initials of the makers, and appellants say that there was no proof of identity. It was averred in the complaint that appellants executed the note by their initials, and there was no denial of execution under oath. They also say that the payee was not identified: Appellee testified that after the execution of the note and after the commencement of the action appellee, who was a widow, married and that at the time of the trial her married name was Diamond though she continued to transact her business in the name of Herskovitz. This evidence sufficiently identified her as the payee. The note was admissible in evidence. West v. Hayes (1885), 104 Ind. 30, 3 N. E. 610; Rightsell v. Kellum (1874), 48 Ind. 252.

9. Appellants next say that the court erred in overruling their motion to strike out the affidavit in attachment which had been read in evidence, and in admitting in evidence the undertakings in attachment and garnishment. There were no objections to the admissibility of these papers, hence there was no error in admitting them in evidence, and none in refusing to strike out the affidavit in attachment.

[137]*13710. [136]*136Appellants next contend that “the court erred in refusing to permit the witness, J. H. Spielman, to explain [137]*137the meaning of ‘dealing in margins’ and whether that was .the manner of transacting the business carried on by these parties.” The alleged error should have .been presented by setting out the question propounded, and appellants’ offer to prove in answer thereto. In the absence of such offer, there is nothing for our consideration. Miller v. Coulter (1901), 156 Ind. 290, 59 N. E. 853; Brinkman v. Pacholke (1908), 41 Ind. App. 662, 84 N. E. 762.

11. It is next complained that the court erred in refusing to admit in evidence a statement identified by appellant J. H. Spielman as a correct statement of all transactions had. We do not find this statement in appellants’ brief. Appellee says that it was not a memorandum made by the witness who sought to identify it; that on its face it appeared to be a statement of account taken from some other books or memorandum,- that it is not shown that it was ever seen by appellant and that it was not shown who made it, or from whence it came. This statement unrefuted, and in the absence of the paper is enough to justify the court in. its ruling. There is strong contention between the parties as to whether the instructions are in the record.

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Bluebook (online)
134 N.E. 909, 78 Ind. App. 131, 1922 Ind. App. LEXIS 83, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/spielman-v-herskovitz-indctapp-1922.