Wind Rock Coal & Coke Co. v. Robbins

1 Tenn. App. 734, 1926 Tenn. App. LEXIS 14
CourtCourt of Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedFebruary 13, 1926
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 1 Tenn. App. 734 (Wind Rock Coal & Coke Co. v. Robbins) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wind Rock Coal & Coke Co. v. Robbins, 1 Tenn. App. 734, 1926 Tenn. App. LEXIS 14 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1926).

Opinion

*735 THOMPSON, J.

The parties will be spoken of as in the court below.

The plaintiff recovered a judgment against defendant for $5,-000, damages, on account of personal injuries received by him while working in the defendant’s coal mine. The defendant has appealed and has assigned errors. A preliminary question arises on the entry of the judgment nunc-pro-tunc, as follows:

The case was' tried in the circuit court before Judge Morison and a jury at the May, 1923 term. At the conclusion .of plaintiff’s testimony the defendant moved the court to direct the jury to return a verdict in its favor. The court overruled this motion and the defendant not introducing any evidence in its behalf, the court submitted the case to the jury, who returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff for $5,000.

The verdict was entered on the minutes of the court but by oversight no judgment was entered. The minute entry containing the verdict was under date of May 24, 1923, and was as follows:

“This day came the parties by their attorneys; also came the following jury of good and lawful men, to-wit: Chas. Miller, W. L. Roberts, J. H. Crawford, R. C. Williams, L. W. Webber, Steve Yerkes, Jake Portwood, G. E. Johnson, T. J. Kidwell, Geo. Radford, J. E. Weaver and J. A. Hobbs.

“Who were duly elected, empannelled and sworn to try the issues joined between the parties.

“All the evidence being heard, the defendant moved the court to instruct the jury to return a verdict in its favor. And the court having considered said motion is pleased to and does overrule the same.

“And said jury having heard argument of Counsel, received the charge of the court, who upon their oaths say they find the issues' in favor of the plaintiff, and fix the amount of his recovery at five thousand ($5,000) dollars.

“Thereupon comes the defendant and moves the court to show cause why a new trial should be granted it in this cause.”

Also under date of May 24, 1923,. the defendant’s motion for a mew trial was spread upon the minutes.

Under date of July 19, 1923, an order was entered upon the minutes overruling defendant’s motion for a new trial and allowing the defendant to appeal, and allowing additional time for the filing of a bill of exceptions. This order or minute entry is as follows:

“This cause came on to be heard on this the 19th day of July, 1923, before the Hon. J. H. S. Morison, Circuit Judge, etc., upon the motion for a new .trial heretofore filed on May 24, 1923, by the defendant, Wind Rock Coal & Coke Co., and upon consideration of *736 said motion, tlie court is pleased to and doth overrule same, to which action, the defendant excepted and now excepts from the action of the court in overruling the motion for a new trial. The defendant prayed an appeal to the next term of the court of civil appeals, at Knoxville, and having given bond as security for the- costs; the said appeal is granted and defendant is given thirty days within which to prepare and file its bill of exceptions. It is so ordered and decreed.”

On July 19, 1923, the defendant filed an appeal bond conditioned that it should: “successfully prosecute an appeal in the nature of a writ of error to the- next term of the court of civil appeals of Tennessee, at Knoxville, by it prayed from a judgment rendered against it in favor of the said James G-. Robbins, in the circuit court of Anderson county, on the 19th day of July, 1923, for the sum of five thousand dollars,” etc.

On August 16, 1923, the defendant filed a bill of exceptions reciting, among other things, that a judgment had been rendered in favor of plaintiff and against defendant for $5,000.

On July 19,1924-, the court of civil appeals filed an opinion holding that because the judgment had not been entered in the circuit court, the appeal was premature. That court also said in its opinion: “Moreover, it does not appear from the transcript in the present case that the bill of exceptions was filed in the court below.” The opinion ended as follows: “An order will be entered dismissing the appeal and remanding the case to the circuit court of Anderson county. The defendant Wind Rock Coal & Coke Co., having attempted to bring up the cause, will pay the costs of the transcript and the costs accrued in the court, as provided in Shannon’s Code, section 4957.”

The material portion of the order or decree which was entered in* the court of civil appeals on the same day the opinion was filed, i. e. July 19, 1924, was as follows:

“From all of which it appearing to the court for the reasons stated in its opinion filed herein and made a part of the record in this case that the bill of exceptions was not filed in the court below;

“It is therefore ordered add adjudged by the court that the appeal in this case be and the same is dismissed, and this cause is remanded to the circuit court of Anderson county for further proceedings. A copy of the written opinion of the court will accompany the procedendo on the remand of the case to the court below.”

Upon a petition to rehear, filed on July 22, 1924, and upon diminution of the record, it was demonstrated to the court of civil appeals that the bill of exceptions had been properly filed in the circuit' court on August 16, 1923, and the court of civil appeals, on August 2, 1924, entered an order or decree vacating its previous order or *737 decree as to the bill of exceptions not having been filed, etc. This order adjudged that the bill of exceptions had been properly filed, but reaffirmed that part of its previous order or decree which dismissed the appeal as premature because no judgment had been entered, and also that part which remanded the case to the circuit court. In other words, the final decree or order of the court of civil appeals simply dismissed the appeal as premature because no judgment had been rendered in the circuit court, and remanded the case for further proceedings.

On August 27, 1924, the matter of entering a judgment nunc-protunc in the circuit court was presented to Judge Morison in open court, but he declined to enter the judgment. The plaintiff claims, and introduced parol evidence to that effect, that this was because the procedendo from the court of civil appeals had not then been received and filed in the circuit court. The defendant claims that Judge Morison refused to enter the judgment nunc-pro-tunc because he was of the opinion that there was,nothing on the record to show that the judgment had'been rendered; and the defendant introduced in evidence a memorandum which Judge Morrison had made at the time; as follows:

“Nunc-pro-tunc order at subsequent Term:

“To justify a nunc-pro-tunc order or entry, at a subsequent term, there must be some matter in the nature of a record to pass it upon, such as, (1) a decree actually drawn at the time, but by mistake not entered.; or (2) the entry on the court’s docket, or (3) a memorandum or opinion in writing by the court. McGarock v. Puryear, 6 Cald., 34; Farris v. Kilpatrick, 1 Humph., 379; Newman v. Garner, 1 Heisk., 720; R. R. Co. v. Dodd, 9 Heisk., 179.”

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1 Tenn. App. 734, 1926 Tenn. App. LEXIS 14, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wind-rock-coal-coke-co-v-robbins-tennctapp-1926.