Stephens v. Kaga

41 N.E. 930, 142 Ind. 523, 1895 Ind. LEXIS 204
Indiana Supreme Court·Decided November 8, 1895·No. No. 17,683·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

Hackney, J.

This appeal is from an order hy the judge of the circuit court, entered in vacation, appointing a receiver to take charge of, harvest and sell the crops growing upon certain lands in the possession of the appellants.

The petition upon which such appointment was made, alleged that the appellee, the petitioner, had theretofore become the purchaser of, and had received a deed for, said lands, upon a sale under a decree of foreclosure of mortgage; that he had instituted, and prosecuted to judgment, an action against the appellants in ejectment; [524] that the appellants had, in said ejectment action, obtained a new trial as a matter of right; that said crops had been sown and had matured after the appellee had become the purchaser of said lands; that the appellants were insolvent, and had no defense to said ejectment action, but were delaying a trial thereof to enable them to gather and convert to their own use said crops, which they were then about to. do, to the appellee’s damage, in the sum of three hundred dollars.

On the 13th day of June, 1895, the appellants were personally served with notice that the appellee would, “on the 20th day of June, 1895, at 10 o’clock A. M., or as soon thereafter as counsel could be heard, ” apply to the judge of said court, in chambers, for the appointment of a receiver, the notice being accompanied by a copy of the petition. On the 21st day of June, 1895, the application not having been heard on the 20th, because of the absence of the judge the said petition was presented to, and heard by, said judge, over the written objection of the appellants, that no jurisdiction existed to entertain such petition on that day, without further notice to the appellants.

On such hearing the facts alleged in the petition were established by affidavits, and by the proceedings and papers in said ejectment action, which included a bond executed by appellants with surety, for the payment of all costs and damages to be recovered against them in said action.

The appellants claim error in the rulings of the lower court, in two respects: (1) In assuming jurisdiction to appoint a receiver upon á day subsequent to the day of which notice was given, of the application in vacation, for such appointment; and (2) that it appeared, inferentially from the petition, and directly from the evidence, that the appellee had an adequate remedy at law, [525] for any losses to he sustained in the conversion of crops, upon the bond of appellants so executed in the ejectment suit.

(1) Notice in proceedings of the character here involved cannot be given, with reference to the time of the proposed hearing, with that certainty that is possible with reference to stated terms of court, prescribed by law and continuing through definite periods, and which litigants are presumed to attend, and to observe the course of proceeding throughout such periods. Here, the return time of the notice must involve uncertainty, and admit of reasonable variation to meet the varying demands upon the time of the judge who is to hear the application. Of course, there should be no rule enabling a litigant to give notice to his adversary, of a hearing at a particular time, and then to so delay his application and to so present it, as to require the adversary to stand guard constantly at the place of hearing, to avoid an advantage being taken of his interests. The correct rule, we think, is that which requires the moving party to proceed within such reasonable time after the time fixed in the notice, and within the convenience of the judge, as will enable his adversary to be present and be heard, without the unreasonable burden of attending through protracted periods of delays and uncertainty. If he so delays in presenting his application, as to cast such burden upon his adversary, he should be deemed to have waived his right to proceed under the notice given, and to have assumed the duty of giving another notice. Here, the delay was but for a day, and that from no fault of the moving party, but because of the engagements'of the judge, which prevented him from being present at the time specified in the notice. This delay was not unreasonable, and did not deprive the appellants of an opportunity to be present, nor require of [526] them a burdensome attention to the movements of the appellee in seeking the judge and presenting the application. In this conclusion we have left out of view the fact that on the 20th day of June telegrams passed between appellee’s counsel and the judge, from which it was learned that the proceeding would be heard the next day, and that counsel, who represented the appellants in the ejectment action, to which said application was auxiliary, were shown the telegrams, and thereby received a knowledge of the course of the proceeding, which enabled them, on the next day, to be present, as they were, and to have been heard with every preparation made for a hearing on the day previous. We conclude, therefore, that the appellee acted upon his notice with reasonable promptness, and with the utmost fairness to the appellants and their legitimate interests.

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Stephens v. Kaga, 41 N.E. 930, 142 Ind. 523, 1895 Ind. LEXIS 204 (Ind. 1895).

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