Sprigg v. Barber

54 P. 899, 6 Cal. Unrep. 161, 1898 Cal. LEXIS 1075
Procedural entryThis page is a short order in Sprigg v. Barber. Read the opinion of the Court — 122 Cal. 573
California Supreme Court·Decided October 13, 1898·No. L. A. No. 311·Published

Opinion

CHIPMAN, C.

Respondent submits, in limine, “that the record fails to disclose for review, either on the appeal from the judgment or from the order, any question arising out of [162] any proceedings upon the trial, outside of the judgment-roll, for the reason that the statement specifies no ground of alleged insufficiency of evidence, or of alleged errors of law argued before the court for the new trial.” Judgment was entered March 20, 1896, and filed March 21, 1896. On March 28th plaintiff served notice of motion for a new trial. The transcript contains what purport to be minutes of the court, to show that on April 10th, the parties being present, plaintiff by his attorneys, and defendant in person, plaintiff moved the court to set aside the decision rendered March 20th, wherein judgment was given, and to grant plaintiff a new trial upon the grounds stated in the notice. The motion was made upon the minutes of the court, the record in the cause, and evidence taken. Motion was denied, and plaintiff excepted, and served notice of appeal April 17th. This part of the record (except notice of appeal) is not authenticated in any manner except by the clerk’s certificate at the end of the statement, and follows immediately after the judgment-roll in the transcript. Then follows the statement, which was settled by the judge September 11, 1896. In the statement there is no copy of the notice of motion or its specifications, and no copy of the motion itself, and no reference made to them, and no specifications of error in any form. The statement contains only the 'evidence introduced at the trial, and the rulings of the court as they there occurred, the notice of appeal, and the clerk’s certificate. The question is, Can this court look beyond the judgment-roll and the statement, and consider the motion and the grounds stated therein, and the specifications found with the notice of motion! These questions, we think, are answered in the negative in Leonard v. Shaw, 114 Cal. 69, 45 Pac. 1012. There, as here, there was a failure to embody in the statement any specifications whatever of the errors or particular reasons on which the moving party relied, and it was held that the motion could not be considered. The clerk certified, among other things, in the case now here, that certain original documents were of record and on file in his office “in said entitled ease, .... to wit, judgment-roll, notice of motion for new trial, order of court denying said motion, statement on appeal, notice of appeal, and service thereof.” We do not think the clerk can supply by certificate what the law requires should be made to appear in the statement. The [163] judge settles the statement, and in this case he certified to its correctness as it appears in the transcript. The clerk has no power to add to or take from that statement as thus settled. In Leonard v. Shaw it was said that, although the notice contained the required particular errors and objections relied upon, “this did not, however, obviate a specification of the errors and objections in the statement to be made in such cases after a hearing of the motion.” This must necessarily be so, since the notice forms no part of the record. If appellant had made some reference to the notice and motion in the statement as constituting a part of the statement, and located or identified them at some place in the transcript so that it could be reasonably inferred that they formed a part of the statement as settled by the judge, this would, we think, have been sufficient; but without some such reference, or making them a part of the statement, this court cannot consider them.

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Sprigg v. Barber, 54 P. 899, 6 Cal. Unrep. 161, 1898 Cal. LEXIS 1075 (Cal. 1898).

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