Uhe v. Chicago, M. & St. P. Ry. Co.

57 N.W. 484, 4 S.D. 505, 1894 S.D. LEXIS 9
CourtSouth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 6, 1894
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 57 N.W. 484 (Uhe v. Chicago, M. & St. P. Ry. Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering South Dakota Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Uhe v. Chicago, M. & St. P. Ry. Co., 57 N.W. 484, 4 S.D. 505, 1894 S.D. LEXIS 9 (S.D. 1894).

Opinion

Kellam, J.

This cause is now before us on reargument,and we are asked to modify our former opinion, reported in 3 S. D. 563, 54 N.W. 601, in three respects, which will be noticed seriatim, reference being bad to the former opinion for the facts. In that opinion we held that an order of the court,made and entered after verdict, and before entry of judgment, “that all proceedings be stayed” for a definite time, operated to prohibit entry of judgment while such order was in force. Counsel for respondent [507]*507contend that the term ‘‘all proceedings,” as used in such order, means all proceedings subsequent to judgment, so that the order did not interfere with, or make irregular, the entry of judgment during its pendency. We are satisfied, that from answers to direct inquiries, that the effect of such an order is understood differently in different circuits, and that the order in one circuit would be held to, permit the entry of judgment, while in another it would be held otherwise; and that, if intended to allow it, the order itself should be so qualified. If convinced that the former view was general, and the practice well established under it, we should be reluctant to disturb it, although we should still think it incorrect. It cannot be questioned but that the order, in terms, prohibited any further proceeding in the case. The entry of judgment is a proceeding&wkey;taking another step forward. This is what is forbidden. Uncontrolled by local construction, we think the order would plainly suggest the thought that the court intended that the status of the case and the record should remain unchanged by any act of the parties for the time designated. If a defendant in default procured such an order against the plaintiff, it would not be claimed that the plaintiff might still enter judgment. It not infrequently happens that the very object sought by a defendant is the staying of the entry of judgment against him, and in such a case it would be difficult for a court or judge, if such effect were intended, to make an order more absolutely prohibiting it. We are referred to no reported case where the effect of such an order is considered, and we find very few. In Hempstead v. Hempstead, 7 How. Pr. 8, the court held that an “order staying proceedings for twenty days” prohibited the entry of judgment during that time. In that case there had been no trial and verdict, as in the case now before us, and the opinion is relevant only so far as it indicates the general scope of such an order. In Danner v. Capehart, 41 Minn. 294, 42 N. W. 1062, the court recognized the force of “an order staying all proceedings” to prevent the entry of judgment on a referee’s report [508]*508finding the facts and directing judgment, and the irregularity of a judgment so entered. In Ackerman v. Manufacturing Co., 16 Wis. 155, the court set aside a judgment as irregular, because entered while an order staying proceedings was in force. The defendant was in default, and plaintiff was entitled to judgment before and when the stay was obtained. Judge Payne says the effect of the stay was to stop the proceedings in exactly the condition they then were. These cases are not cited as necessarily decisive of the particular question before us, because upon dissimilar facts, but as bearing with considerable directness upon the general force of such an order. We are unable to see any good reason why such an order, general in its terms, and expressly staying all proceedings, should be held to mean less than it plainly says. A construction so re suiting would be exceptional, and would hardly be tolerated with respect to any other order. Under such construction, if the court intend to stay the entry of judgment, as it sometimes will, it must superadd that prohibition to an order already staying all proceedings, and thus, in words, at least, stay more than all. We can see no reason for, or compensation in, such a construction or practice. It would be just as easy, and certainly more in harmony with the precision and accuracy with which courts are supposed to formulate their decisions, to except from the general stay such proceedings, if any, as are to be permitted. All would then understand the order alike, and no doubt or con fusion could arise as to its meaning or effect. Entertaining these views, with great confidence in their correctness, we ad here to our opinion, — that the fair and legal effect of the stay was to forbid the entry of judgment during its continuance in force.

It is next urged that this court was wrong in holding it error in the court below to instruct the jury, if they should find for the plaintiff, that, after determining the fair and reasonable value of the property destroyed at the time of its destruction, ‘ ‘in addition to that it will be your duty to compute [509]*509the interest upon such sum, at the rate of seven per cent per annum, from the day at which the loss occurred.” Our conclusion that this instruction was erroneous was, as stated in the original opinion, based upon Section 4578, Comp. Laws, which, omitting portions irrelevant to this case, is: “In an action for the breach of an obligation not arisingfrom contract, * * * interest may be given in the discretion of the jury.” Counsel for respondent cite several authorities to show that, in a case like this, the plaintiff is entitled to interest; but we are not allowed to discuss and decide this question upon common-law principles and adjudications, if the above recited statutory provision is applicable to this case. Recognizing this fact, they call our attention to Section 4600, and urge that the two sections should be construed together, and that, thus construed, the plaintiff’s measure of damages is fixed as instructed by the court. That section reads as as follows: ‘‘For the breach of an obligation not arising from contract, the measure of damages, except where otherwise expressly provided by this code, is the amount which will compensate for all the detriment proximately caused thereby, whether it could have been anticipated or not.” It will be noticed that this latter section fixes a general measure of damages for the class of cases named, ‘‘except where otherwise expressly provided by this code.” But the former section does expressly provide that interest may or may not be given, in the discretion of the jury; thus bringing this case within the very terms of the exception. Suppose, under this instruction, the jury had declined to give interest; would it have been error? It certainly would, if the instruction is correct; and, being error to the prejudice of the plaintiff, the court must have set aside the verdict, or, upon the theory of the instruction, — that the court, and not the jury, should determine that interest be allowed, — it might have added interest to the jury’s verdict. This the trial court attempted to do in Garrett v. Railroad Co., 36 Iowa, 121, and it was held error.

Counsel for respondent further contend that the two sec[510]*510tions quoted were intended to apply to entirely different classes of actions, — the latter to cases like the one at bar, the former to cases like those for personal injury. But there is nothing in the statute to suggest such distinction, and we are inclined to think the reason for making or attempting to make it would be more seeming than real. ■ It is argued that, where the action is for the destruction of property occurring a year before the trial a recovery for the value of the property simply at the time of the destruction would be an inadequate compensation to the plaintiff. But the same thing is true with respect to a recovery for personal injury.

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Bluebook (online)
57 N.W. 484, 4 S.D. 505, 1894 S.D. LEXIS 9, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/uhe-v-chicago-m-st-p-ry-co-sd-1894.