Thompson v. Pershing

86 Ind. 303
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 15, 1882
DocketNo. 7342
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 86 Ind. 303 (Thompson v. Pershing) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Thompson v. Pershing, 86 Ind. 303 (Ind. 1882).

Opinion

Morris, C.

Alexander C. Thompson, Lawrence Shakes, David K. Harris, James V. Bailey, Samuel Wise, George W. Carlisle and Hiram C. Burlingame filed their complaint in the Marshall Circuit Court, on the 4th day of May, 1877, against Hezekiah R. Pershing, James F. Vanvalkenburgh, William C. Edwards, Hugh Jackman, Philip S. Alleman, Napoleon B. Alleman and Lewis C. Fink, for the purpose of obtaining, as the appellants insist, a new trial in a cause in which a judgment was rendered in said court on the 3d day of April, 1877, in favor of the appellee Pershing, as trustee of Center township, Marshall county, Indiana, against the appellants and the appellees, except Pershing and William C. Edwards, on the official bond of said Edwards, as the former trustee of said township.

It appears that a demurrer was sustained to the appellants’ first complaint. They amended, and a demurrer was sustained to the amended complaint. On the 8th day of March, 1878, the appellants filed a second amended complaint. The appellees filed a motion to dismiss the second amended complaint, for the reasons, as stated in the motion, that, on- the fourth day of May, 1878, the plaintiffs filed a complaint in this action upon the same grounds, and asking the same relief [305]*305as now asked in this proceeding ;• that a demurrer was filed to said complaint, and, on hearing of the same, this court sustained said demurrer; that an amended complaint was filed by the plaintiffs on the 7th day of September, 1877; that a demurrer was filed by the defendants to said amended complaint, and on the 5th day of the present term sustained; that on the 8th day of the present term a second amended complaint was filed, which the defendants now move to dismiss, the facts having been twice adjudicated by the court. Second. Because said petition does not state facts sufficient to grant the relief prayed for.”

The appellants Shakes and Bailey, on behalf of all the appellants, upon affidavit in due form, applied for a change of venue from the judge of said court. The court overruled the •motion for a change of venue, on the ground that the application was made after the expiration of the time limited by the rules of the court for making such motions. And thereupon the court sustained the appellees’ motion to dismiss the appellants’ complaint, and rendered final judgment for the appellees.

The errors assigned-question the rulings of the court upon the motion for a change of venue and upon the appellees’ motion to dismiss the complaint.

Did the court err in overruling the motion for a change of venue? The rule of the'court regulating applications for changes of venue is as follows:

Fourth. All applications for continuance, change of venue or any other delay of a case, must be made by the second Tuesday of the term, or showing good cause in writing for the delay if made thereafter, which must accompany the ap=plication.”

The application was made on the forty-second day of the term, after the second Tuesday of the term, and no showing for the delay accompanied the application.

The appellants insist that the circuit courts of the State have [306]*306no authority to adopt rules regulating the disposition of business in said coui’ts upon any subject upon which the Supreme Court has not adopted rules. They rest this conclusion on sec. 14, p. 9, 2 R. S. 1876, which provides that “the rules of such court shall be in conformity with those prescribed by the Supreme Court on the same subject;” that, as the Supreme Court has adopted no rule upon the subject of the change of venue, the circuit courts have no power to adopt rules upon that subject.

We think the appellants’ construction of the statute untenable. The statute confers the power upon circuit courts to-adopt rules in relation to the business of such courts generally. The only limitation upon this general power is that they shall not be repugnant to the laws of the State, and that they shall be in conformity with the rules of the Supreme Court upon the same subject. Obviously, the statute only requires the rules of the circuit court to conform to those of the Supreme Court upon subjects upon which the latter court has adopted rules. If, as the appellants say, the Supreme Court has adopted no rule in relation to changes of venue, the circuit courts may adopt rules upon that subject without regard to the rules of the Supreme Court.

The appellants also insist that the rule adopted by the court, below is not broad enough to embrace the application made by them for a change from the judge; that the rule only applies to applications for changes of venue from the county. Counsel for the appellants say that the word “venue,” in its-technical, legal sense, means “ neighborhood ”; and that it must be understood to have been used in the rule adopted by the court below in its technical sense; and that the rule, therefore, had no application to changes from the judge. In this-we think the counsel are mistaken. They have stated correctly enough the meaning of the word venue, at common law, but the phrase “ change of venue ” means, as used in the statute, a change from the judge as well as from the county. [307]*3072 R. S. 1876, p. 116, sec. 207. And, in this sense, the phrase-must be understood to have been used in the rule in question.

As the application for a change of venue was made after-the time limited by the rules of the court below, and accompanied by no showing accounting for or explaining the delay,, there was no error, we think, in overruling the motion. Redman v. State, 28 Ind. 205; Galloway v. State, 29 Ind. 442; Reitz v. State, ex rel., 33 Ind. 187, Bennett v. Ford, 47 Ind. 264.

Did the court err in dismissing the appellants’ second amended complaint?

It appears from the record of the original suit in which a. new trial is sought, that all the defendants to that suit except. Edwards appeared by attorney and jointly answered the complaint of Pershing, admitting the execution of the bond sued on, but denying every other allegation of the complaint, and, asking that the question of suretyship be determined. Edwards also answered the complaint. A denial of the several answers by Pershing put the case at issue. It was, by agreement of the parties, submitted to the court for trial. The record states that “ after hearing the evidence adduced, the-arguments of counsel, and being fully advised, the court finds for the plaintiff, and that all the material allegations of the-complaint are true. The court further finds that the defendant William C. Edwards is the principal, and all the other defendants are his sureties, upon the bond sued on, and that there is now due, of principal and interest, on said bond, the. sum of $7,148.66.”

The evidence upon which this finding was made by the-court is not contained in the complaint for a new trial, nor is. there anything in the complaint for a new trial which tends-to impeach or in any way question the correctness of the above-finding of the coui't. If the complaint is to be regarded as; an application for a new trial under section 356 of the code> of 1852, 2 R. S. 1876, p. 183, there could hardly beany error-in dismissing it. It neither presents nor pretends to present any reason for setting aside this finding of the court.

[308]

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Bluebook (online)
86 Ind. 303, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/thompson-v-pershing-ind-1882.