Taylor v. Taylor

103 P. 524, 54 Or. 560, 1909 Ore. LEXIS 87
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 17, 1909
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 103 P. 524 (Taylor v. Taylor) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Taylor v. Taylor, 103 P. 524, 54 Or. 560, 1909 Ore. LEXIS 87 (Or. 1909).

Opinion

Mr. Justice King

delivered the opinion of the court.

The questions here involved will, so far as practicable, be examined in their logical order, without reference to the numerical order assigned by appellant.

1. Assignments of error Nos. 1, 2, 3, 6, 10, and 11, respectively, all bear upon the same general subject presented for consideration, and will be considered together. They include the rulings of the trial court upon the demurrer to the answer, upon a motion for nonsuit, and the exclusion of certain evidence offered by defendant. In this connection the position of defendant, briefly stated, is: (1) That the decree in the divorce suit, so far as it relates to the Athena lots, is void; (2) that, if not void, the matters here involved were fully determined therein and are not subject to investigation here.

It appears from the averments in the answer, to which a demurrer was sustained, that in her petition for alimony, as well as in her answer subsequently interposed in the divorce suit, the plaintiff herein assumes to give in detail the property owned by Moses Taylor, and included therein the Athena realty with other property there described, as to which Taylor made no denial. After setting up an affirmative defense therein, she concluded her answer by demanding: (1) Dissolution of the bonds of matrimony; (2) that a decree be granted giving her a divorce, together with the custody of certain children there named; (3) that she be decreed the ownership of 160 acres there described in section 21; (4) an undivided one-third interest in all her husband’s real estate; (5) $14,960 as alimony; and (6) $50 a month for the support and maintenance of herself and minor children. It is argued in this connection that the decree of the trial court, and also that of the Supreme Court affirming it, in so far as they relate to the Athena property, were outside of the issues, and therefore void. This contention presents [566]*566for solution a unique as well as difficult question. Mr. Justice Clarke, of the North Carolina Supreme Court, in volume 3, Cyc., at page 489, states the rule upon the subject thus: “An appellate judgment which is clearly void for want of jurisdiction may be disregarded in the court below, but not for fraud or mere irregularities.” If, therefore, in the trial of the proceeding in which plaintiff was decreed the realty out of which she claims the moneys here sought to be collected, the pleadings presented no issue showing that she claimed the property in her own right, and the trial court was for that reason without jurisdiction in the first instance, to make any decree concerning the property, the decree would be void, and subject to a collateral attack in the manner here presented; otherwise it is not subject to attack and must stand as the law of the case. 23 Cyc. 1055.

2. There may have been some question in the first instance whether a cause of suit, having for its purpose the determination, or quieting of the title to the individual property of either of the parties, was properly united with a cause of suit involving marriage rights, except the property rights for which provision is made in sections 511, 512, 513, B. & C. Comp. Wetmore v. Wetmore, 40 Or. 332 (67 Pac. 98). But, whatever may be the rule on the subject, no objection thereto having been made by either of the parties, they impliedly consented to a determination of their respective rights concerning the realty mentioned in the pleadings, which determination was subsequently ratified and acquiesced in by Taylor in executing the deed and his wife accepting the same, according to the tenor of the decree. It is true that it appears that in the divorce suit this plaintiff alleged that her husband, the plaintiff therein, was the owner of the lots in Athena, being the “certain property” alluded to in the complaint herein, to which allegation her then husband made no denial; but, notwithstanding this averment and the implied admission, the trial court, in its [567]*567findings of fact and decree, held Mrs. Taylor to be the owner of the legal title thereof from the time it was given to her by her then husband, and the owner of the equitable title at all times after the date of the sale and mortgage. It thus appears that the realty concerning which it is maintained the decree was void was specifically mentioned in the pleadings in the former controversy, thereby becoming a part of the subject-matter of that suit, and accordingly within the jurisdiction of both the trial and the appellate courts. Both courts were therefore fully authorized to enter a decree of some kind in reference thereto.

3. A decree was entered, and the question as to whether it was erroneous becomes unimportant, for the only question with which we can now be concerned goes to the jurisdiction, or the right to consider their interests with respect to the realty as a part of the subject-matter of that suit. This must be tested by inquiry relative to the right to enter any decree, and not as to whether a decree was improperly entered. Considered thus, it is obvious that the court acted within its jurisdiction, and that, if it acted .erroneously, the error was such as could have been brought to the court’s attention while pending on appeal, and before the cause was finally closed. No question in that suit, however, was raised or presented here concerning this alleged irregularity. It was not suggested in any manner that the holding was in conflict or inconsistent with any of the issues, from which it follows that, when the time for rehearing elapsed, the decree of this court became final, and consequently the lav/ of the case, and not subject to review on any other appeal, or in any other proceeding in any court in which the question might arise. Among the authorities recognizing and applying this rule are: Trust Co. v. Coulter, 23 Or. 131 (31 Pac. 280) ; Stager v. Troy Laundry Co., 41 Or. 141 (68 Pac. 405) ; Baker Co. v. Huntington, 48 Or. 593 (87 Pac. 1036: 89 Pac. 144). And more directly in point: [568]*568Scottish American Co. v. Reeve, 7 N. D. 552 (75 N. W. 910) ; Pollock v. Cohen, 32 Ohio St. 514; Damon v. DeBar, 94 Mich. 594 (54 N. W. 300).

4. Coming now to a consideration of the sufficiency of evidence adduced, and of points urged relative to the admission thereof, it appears: That the proof on the part of the plaintiff tends to show that the defendant, as plaintiff’s agent, rented the property and received the rent therefor in the sum claimed; that he made a sale of the realty and received not less than $1,000 as a part payment thereon, none of which has been paid to plaintiff. In support of plaintiff’s title, there was offered, and, over objection, admitted in evidence, the judgment roll in the divorce proceeding. In offering the judgment roll in evidence, plaintiff’s counsel stated that it was introduced for the sole purpose of establishing title to lots 11 and 12 in block 1 in Kirk’s addition to the town of Athena, referred to in the latter part of the trial court’s finding of fact No. 13, contained in the judgment roll offered. This was followed by admission for the same purpose, and without objection, of the mandate of the Supreme Court in the same cause. A motion for non-suit was interposed and denied, the ruling on which is included among the errors assigned. An order overruling a motion for nonsuit will not be disturbed when the omission, if any, is afterwards supplied by either of the parties to the proceeding.

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Bluebook (online)
103 P. 524, 54 Or. 560, 1909 Ore. LEXIS 87, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/taylor-v-taylor-or-1909.