Taber v. Wayne Circuit Judge

121 N.W. 481, 156 Mich. 652, 1909 Mich. LEXIS 642
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedMay 26, 1909
DocketCalendar Nos. 23,116, 23,133
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 121 N.W. 481 (Taber v. Wayne Circuit Judge) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Taber v. Wayne Circuit Judge, 121 N.W. 481, 156 Mich. 652, 1909 Mich. LEXIS 642 (Mich. 1909).

Opinion

McAlvay, J.

These two applications for writs of mandamus may be considered together. The history of the litigation involved in this suit, and a companion suit of like character, begun at the same time, and in which exactly the same proceedings were supposed to have been had, will be found in Starr v. Whitcomb, 150 Mich. 491. To avoid unnecessary length in the decision of these motions, the opinion in that case may very properly be included as a part of this opinion. By so doing the exact situation at the time the case was sent back to the circuit court for the trial of the issue to be joined will be understood.

The garnishee defendant made disclosure in both cases, and an issue was joined, and the cases were ready to be [654]*654tried. It was then discovered that the plaintiff in the case which was before this court, Mary B. L. Starr, hadrecently died. All the parties and their attorneys, in order to avoid the delay necessary to procure the appointment of an administrator, stipulated in writing that the companion case, wherein petitioner is plaintiff and the same parties principal defendant and garnishee defendant, might be substituted for the other case. Pursuant to these stipulations, the trial of the equity case referred to in the opinion, supra, and the garnishment case, came on to be heard together before the court without a jury, Hon. Byron R. Erskine, circuit judge presiding, and had proceeded until complainant had rested in the equity case and this petitioner as plaintiff had introduced all her evidence in the garnishment case except certain records, when it was discovered that the clerk of the court had failed to enter of record in the principal case the judgment rendered in her favor and against the principal defendant, upon the cognovit which had been duly filed and entered, having on August 22, 1905, duly entered the judgment in the other case and in petitioner’s case a memorandum in the blotter or “short book ” kept by him: “ Judgment for plaintiff entered. Fee paid $2.00.” The clerk, instead of* the judgment entry, had later, on August 26, 1905, copied at length in the journal the cognovit, followed by the words “ Entered nunc pro tunc as of August 22, 1905.” Plaintiff at once moved the court for an order to correct the court journal and to enter a judgment upon such cognovit, nunc pro tunc, as of August 22, 1905, and also a stay of execution as agreed upon. The garnishee defendant alone objected. The presiding judge directed the motion to be heard before respondent, who had presided at the time the judgments were rendered. This motion was at once made; the garnishee again objecting, upon the grounds that he •had received no notice when the judgment was rendered against the principal defendant, and that the principal defendant had been adjudicated a bankrupt. Respondent denied the motion on the ground that the garnishee had [655]*655not been heard. A motion was then made by petitioner before presiding Judge Erskine to adjourn the trial of the garnishment case to give an opportunity to correct the journal and procure a judgment entry against the principal defendant. The garnishee defendant then moved for a judgment in his favor for want of such judgment. This motion was denied, and the court announced that the case had proceeded upon the theory that a judgment existed against the principal defendant, and that knowledge of the fact that no judgment had been entered came as a surprise to counsel for both parties, and granted plaintiff’s motion and continued the case to give opportunity to apply for a correction of the record.

Thereupon the first application was made to this court for a writ of mandamus to require the respondent to enter a judgment nunc pro tunc, according to the facts, and also a stay according to the terms of the cognovit. The circuit court, Judge Erskine presiding, was notified of this application. Afterwards, while this application was pending in this court, to the knowledge of counsel for garnishee defendant, said counsel secured from the principal defendant a petition which sets up at length all of the facts in this suit relating to the cognovit and the entry in the clerk’s blotter called the “short book,’’which states: “Judgment for plaintiff entered. Eee paid $3.00.” Said petition also sets up at length the bankruptcy proceedings, the proof of plaintiff’s claim, and the discharge. He also appoints garnishee defendant’s attorney his attorney to take all steps necessary for him to set aside said cognovit, short-book entry, and all orders or judgments based thereon, averring that the proceedings in said suit are wholly void for the reason that the same debt proved in bankruptcy is the basis of said suit, and not exempted from a discharge, and by reason of said discharge the debt, cognovit, and entry were vacated and annulled. This petition prayed for an order directing that said cognovit and entry for the reasons stated be set aside, vacated, and annulled, and a perpetual stay of all [656]*656proceedings in said court in relation thereto be granted. Plaintiff answered at length, alleging, among other things: That defendant Vaughan, at the time he executed and delivered the cognovit, knew that the proof of claim of plaintiff had been filed in the bankruptcy proceedings in his case; that he understood and agreed to the terms of the cognovit, and it was agreed that plaintiff would make no objection to a belated application of discharge by him; that all these agreements were carried out; and that Vaughan has at no time since it was made ever objected to the cognovit or questioned its binding force and effect. On November 2, 1908, respondent, upon the petition and answer, without further showing, entered an order granting the prayer of the petition and setting aside the cognovit and entry and perpetually staying all proceedings in said court and cause based thereon. On the same day petitioner made a motion to vacate this order, which was denied, and the application for a writ of mandamus requiring the circuit judge to set aside and vacate said order is the second application for consideration. The answers of respondent are necessarily very much alike. Practically the same arguments and reasons are advanced in behalf of the garnishee defendant in both motions.

There is practically no dispute upon or denial of the material facts set up in the petitions before us. There is no question but that in both of the suits against the principal defendant cognovits were filed by his attorneys of record, containing the requirement that executions upon the judgments to be entered for plaintiffs should be perpetually stayed. It clearly appears that in both cases on August 22, 1905, judgments were rendered by and before respondent in favor of plaintiffs. In one of these cases judgment was duly entered. In the other case, by some mistake or oversight of the clerk of the court, the judgment was not entered in the journal. There was, however, entered in the blotter of the clerk, called the “ short book,” on that date the following: “No. 45,573, Lydia Starr Taber v. James Vaughan. Judgment for plaintiff [657]*657entered. Fee paid $2.00.” How and when this error was discovered has already been stated. At once the parties suspended the trial of the cases before Judge Erskine and appeared before respondent with a motion to correct the record and enter a judgment nunc pro tunc. The reason given for refusing this motion was that the garnishee defendant had no notice of the judgment and was not represented.

This garnishment proceeding was begun after judgment recovered and is founded upon it.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
121 N.W. 481, 156 Mich. 652, 1909 Mich. LEXIS 642, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/taber-v-wayne-circuit-judge-mich-1909.