State ex rel. Hicklin ex rel. McDaniel v. Fidelity & Casualty Co. of New York

274 S.W.2d 596, 1955 Mo. App. LEXIS 33
Missouri Court of Appeals·Decided January 10, 1955·No. No. 22108·Published·Cited by 3 cases

Opinion

DEW, Judge.

This action was brought to recover actual and punitive damages for an alleged false arrest and imprisonment of the plaintiff. The cause was submitted to/the ju'ry as to defendants Lambert Schlueter, Lillian Hamilton (Davenport) and The Fidelity and Casualty Company of New York, and a verdict rendered against them in the sum of $3000 for actual, and $500 for punitive damages. Judgment was entered accordingly.

Because of the disposition which must be made of this appeal it is not necessary to state the facts in evidence pertaining to the merits of the cause. Suffice it to say that the gist of the evidence of the plaintiff tended to show that through the instigation of the defendant Lillian Hamilton (Davenport) and with the aid of defendant Lambert. Schlueter, sheriff of Lafayette County, Missouri, plaintiff was a'rrested and confined in jail, and. that such proceedings were claimed to have been false and unlawful. Defendant The Fidelity and Casualty Company of New York is the surety on the official bond of the defendant Schlueter, sheriff. Defendants’ evidence and pleadings tended to controvert much of the plaintiff’s proof and allegations. Defendant The Fidelity and Casualty Company of New York, hereinafter referred to as the appellant, filed a cross-claim against defendant Schlueter which, on plaintiff’s motion, was dismissed by the court. Among other points made he're the appellant complains that in the course of the trial appellant was not allowed to explain to the jury the legal effect of the bond sued on nor the relationship between it as surety, and defendant Schlueter, as principal. It also objected to Instructions 1, 2, 3, and 4, given by the court at the request of the plaintiff. All the foregoing objections were set out, with others, in the appellant’s motion for a new trial, which we shall presently discuss.

The verdict and judgment were rende'red on October 13, 1953. In due time, to-wit, on October 20, 1953, appellant filed its separate motion for new trial. On October 21 and 22, the mother defendants, respectively, filed their separate motions for new trial. On October 22, the following entry was made of record: “Now, on this day by leave of Court defendant The Fidelity and Casualty Company of New York amends its Separate [598] Motion for New Trial by interlineation by inserting the words ‘and judgment’ between the words ‘verdict’ and ‘herein’ ”. By the' amendment aforesaid appellant’s motion for • new trial was amended by interlining between the words “verdict” and “herein” the words “and judgment”, in the first paragraph, making it read “to set aside the verdict and judgment herein, to grant it a new trial,” etc.

On October 30, the court entered an order to the effect that appellant’s motion for a new trial had been “taken up, heard and taken under advisement”. ' On January 19, 1954, the record shows the court again took up and heard the motion and that it sustained the motions of all the defendants for a new trial, assigning as error the giving of plaintiff’s Instructions 1, 2, 3 and 4. On January 25, 1954,'appellant filed-a separate notice of appeal from “the judgment entered in this action-'on the 13th day of October, 1953”. No other defendant appealed.

Appellant explains in its brief that a doubt arose in the minds -of the court and appellants counsel as to whether the trial, cou’rt, as to appellant, had lost jurisdiction of the cause prior to granting it a new trial, and, in order to determine that question and to preserve other assignments of error made at the trial, this, appeal was taken. In the conclusion of its brief, the.appellant states: “For the errors hereinabove noted appellant, The Fidelity and Casualty Company of New York, urges the Court to reverse the judgment entered below in favor of the respondent, and remand the cause with instructions to re-try the issues and upon new trial to permit appellant to file its cross-claim against defendant Schluete’r, to make known to the jury the legal effect of the official bond sued upon in the opening statement and closing argument, and to properly instruct the jury as to the principal-suretyship relation existing between defendant, Lambert Sc-hlueter, and appellant, The Fidelity and Casualty Company of New York”.

The respondent takes the position that since January 19, 1954, was 91 days after the filing of the appellant’s motion for new trial on October 20, 1953, the court had lost its jurisdiction over said cause, so far as appellant is concerned, and that its order of January 19, 1954, sustaining appellant’s motion for a new trial, is void. It is not claimed that the order sustaining the motions of the other defendants is void. Upon such premises, the respondent contends that she now has a final judgment in the cause as against the appellant, notwithstanding the other defendants have been granted a new trial.

The appellant argues that since its only ■ amendment to its motion for a new trial was timely made, that is, on the 9th day after date of judgment, the time for consideration of the motion, when taken under advisement, began to run from the date when the motion was so finally amended and completed. If so considered,'the order sustaining it was made one day before the time allowed had expired.

It is the policy of the Jaw, and so required by Section 512.160 RSMo 1949, V.A.M.S., that all allegations of error be first presented to the trial court, except jurisdiction over the subject-matter and sufficiency of the pleadings to state a claim or defense. 42 V.A.M.S. Supreme Court Rules 3.23 and 3.24. Section 510.340 requires a motion for new trial to be-filed not later than ten days after the entry of the judgment, and requires the judgment to be entered as of the date of the verdict. If such motion be filed timely, the finality of the judgment is thereby suspended until disposition of the motion. According to Section 510.360, a motion for new trial is deemed denied for all purposes if not disposed of by the court within 90 days -after “the motion is filed”. See, also, Supreme Court Rule 3.24. It is true that January 19, 1954, the date on which the court sustained appellant’s motion for new trial, was the 91st day after the appellant’s motion was filed in its original form, to-wit, October 20, 1953.

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State ex rel. Hicklin ex rel. McDaniel v. Fidelity & Casualty Co. of New York, 274 S.W.2d 596, 1955 Mo. App. LEXIS 33 (Mo. Ct. App. 1955).

274 S.W.2d 596 (State ex rel. Hicklin ex rel. McDaniel v. Fidelity & Casualty Co. of New York) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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