Summers v. Gates

1916 OK 104, 154 P. 1159, 55 Okla. 96, 1916 Okla. LEXIS 116
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedJanuary 25, 1916
Docket6352
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 1916 OK 104 (Summers v. Gates) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Summers v. Gates, 1916 OK 104, 154 P. 1159, 55 Okla. 96, 1916 Okla. LEXIS 116 (Okla. 1916).

Opinion

Opinion by

BRETT, C;

This action was commenced in a justice court of Bryan county by W. W. Gates, the defendant in error, as plaintiff, against Dave Summers and J. A. Alderson, as defendants, to recover damages alleged to have been sustained by the plaintiff, by reason of the defendants having sold to plaintiff a certain hog, alleged to have' been infected with cholera) at the time of the sale. It is also alleged that this hog communicated the disease to two hogs the plaintiff owned ■at the time he purchased the hog from defendants, and that they, as well as the hog purchased, died from this disease. The plaintiff relies in his petition upon two separate causes of action, pleaded in separate counts. In the first count he pleads an express warranty, alleging that the defendants expressly warranted the hog purchased to be free from cholera. In the second count he pleads a tort, alleging that the hog was infected -with cholera at the time he purchased it, and that the defendants knew this fact, and claims as damages the price paid for the hog purchased of the defendants, and the value ®f the two hogs he owned at the time of the purchase, and *98 the value of time and money expended in doctoring these hogs. Summons was issued out of the justice court and served on defendhnt Summers in Bryan county, and on defendant Alderson in Grant county, the county of his residence. The service of Alderson was defective, in that he was not allowed the statutory time in which to answer. Neither of the defendants appeared in the justice court, and judgment was taken against them by default. Within the statutory time the defendants perfected their appeal to the county court of Bryan county, by filing an appeal bond, which was approved by the justice of the peace, and the cause was duly certified to the county court. In that court the defendant Alderson made a special appearance, and objected to further proceedings against him on the ground that he was a resident ,of Grant county, and that his codefendant, Summers, in the sale of the hog only acted as his agent, and was in no way liable to the plaintiff by reason of the transaction; that the fact of his agency was known to the plaintiff; and that Summers was only made a party defendant in said action to give colorable jurisdiction to the court of the defendant Alderson. Upon motion of plaintiff, this special plea was stricken, and the defendant Alderson saved his exceptions. The defendants moved the court to require the plaintiff to elect upon which cause of action he would rely, which motion was overruled, and exceptions saved. The cause then proceeded to trial to the court and a jury, which trial resulted in a joint judgment against the defendants in the sum of $55, from which the defendants appeal to this court.

1. We will notice the assignment of error first which challenges the jurisdiction of the court. It is insisted that the joinder of the defendant Dave Summers *99 in the action was a subterfuge, since he only acted as agent for Alderson in the sale of the hog; and that he was joined in the action solely for the purpose of placing venue of the action in Bryan county; and that therefore the court should have sustained Alderson’s plea to the jurisdiction of the county court.

Under the record in this case, it is unnecessary for us to pass upon the motive, in the first instance, for joining these parties as parties defendant. It is evident, from the return of the summons in the justice court, that the justice had no jurisdiction of the person of Alderson; but it seems equally as well settled by this court that, when he perfected his appeal to the county . court, that court, by his own act, obtained jurisdiction of his person. An appeal to the county court under our statute cannot be taken for the purpose of reviewing errors, but only for the purpose of trying the case anew upon its merits. And it seems to be the established policy of the.law that where the object of an appeal is to try the cause anew, in the appellate court, upon its merits, and not to review errors, the taking of the appeal is equivalent to an appearance, and gives the appellate court jurisdiction over the person of the party appealing. In Gulf Pipe Line Co. v. Vanderberg, 28 Okla. 637, 115 Pac. 782, 34 L. R. A. (N. S.) 661, Ann. Cas. 1912D, 407, Justice Hayes, in a well-considered opinion, says:

“* * * Where on appeal a trial de novo is had, the rule supported by almost all the decided cases is stated in 2 Ency. of Plead. & Prac. p. 614, as' follows: ‘And where the object of an appeal is to try the case anew in the appellate court on its merits, and not to review errors, the taking of an appeal is equivalent to an appearance, and gives the appellate court jurisdiction over *100 the person, whether the service of the process before the inferior court was sufficient for that purpose or not.’
“Deering & Co. v. Venne, 7 N. D. 576, 75 N. W. 926, is in point. Until shortly prior to the appeal from the justice court in that case, there had existed in that state a statute authorizing two methods of appeal from judgments of justices of the peace courts, by one of which errors of law alone could be reviewed and by the other a trial de novo had. This statute, however, had been amended before the institution of the appeal in that action so as to provide that in all such appeals the cause should be tried anew in the district court in the same manner as actions commenced therein. In that case it was held that the defendant by the appeal invoked a trial anew. upon the merits' of the case, and by doing so necessarily submitted to the jurisdiction of the appellate court over his person, and could not be heard to deny such jurisdiction on appeal. Referring to. the criticism that this rule in effect denies the right of appeal to a defendant upon whom an invalid service has been made, the court said: ‘The right of appeal is a statutory right, and, being such, it is competent for the Legislature, not only to regulate the manner of appeals, but to deny the right for some purposes, and confer'it for others. With the expediency of any such legislation the courts have nothing to do. A party is not, however, remediless in a case where no appeal is allowed. A judgment entered without jurisdiction may be attacked in various ways. The most usual mode is to resort to the writ of certiorari. This writ will be available in a case where no appeal is ahowed, and where the law affords no other plain, speedy, and adeauate remedv.’ ”

In the case at bar, the judgment in the justice court against Alderson was rendered without jurisdiction, and might have been set aside in an action for that purpose; but, when he appealed to the county court, he invoked the powers of that court to hear and try this .cause *101 anew, on its merits, and could not thereafter object to the jurisdiction of that court over his person. Turk v. Mayberry, 32 Okla. 66, 121 Pac. 665; Farmers’ National Bank of Vinita v. First National Bank of Pryor Creek, 24 Okla. 140, 103 Pac. 685.

2. It is again insisted that the two causes of action were improperly joined,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1916 OK 104, 154 P. 1159, 55 Okla. 96, 1916 Okla. LEXIS 116, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/summers-v-gates-okla-1916.