Wyoming Central Irr. Co. v. LaPorte

188 P. 360, 26 Wyo. 522, 1920 Wyo. LEXIS 12
CourtWyoming Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 29, 1920
DocketNo. 943
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 188 P. 360 (Wyoming Central Irr. Co. v. LaPorte) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wyoming Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wyoming Central Irr. Co. v. LaPorte, 188 P. 360, 26 Wyo. 522, 1920 Wyo. LEXIS 12 (Wyo. 1920).

Opinion

BlydRNburgh, Justice.

This case was brought on an undertaking given to secure costs on a change of venue in the case of Wyoming Central Irrigation Company, a corporation, plaintiff, v. Nina A. • LaPorte, William M. Mooney, C. P. Twitchell and Riverton State Bank, a corporation, in accordance with the provisions of section 5144 of the Wyoming Compiled Statutes of 1910. A change of venue was' had in said original action to Natrona County and the trial there resulted in a judgment for the defendant, Nina A. LaPorte, the plaintiff in this case, against the plaintiff in that case, The Wyoming 'Central Irrigation Company, one of the defendants in this case, and for the costs taxed at $131.60. A transcript of this judgment was filed in the office of the Clerk of the District Court of Fremont County under the provisions of Chapter 22 of the Session Laws of 1911 and Nina A. LaPorte caused an execution to be issued by the Clerk of the District Court of said Fremont county upon said transcript and placed in the hands of the sheriff of Fremont county for service. That said sheriff levied upon certain interests of the Wyoming Central Irrigation Company in a certain ditch and water right, advertised it for sale in the usual manner and sold the same for $6,668 to Nina A. LaPorte, the judgment and execution creditor, and filed the return of the execution with the Clerk of Court of Fremont County, showing his costs to be: To the Riverton Review, for publishing notice of sale, $319.58; sheriff’s costs and commissions, $93.93; a total of $413.51. This suit on the cost bond is brought to recover the $131.60 costs taxed in the original judgment in [526]*526Natrona county and interest thereon from Oct. 30, 1914, the date of said judgment, at 8% per annum, and for the balance of the $500 penalty of the undertaking, to-wit: $369.40, being a part of the costs incurred on the execution in Fremont county with 8 per cent, per annum from April 28, 1916, the date of the sale of the ditch under the execution. The case was tried by the court without a jury and judgment rendered in favor of the plaintiff and against the defendants for the sum of $585.10, and $6.40 costs, to which the defendants excepted, filed a motion for a new trial, which was overruled, an exception taken, and the case is brought here on error.

The petition in error contains eleven different specifications of error, which as argued in the brief may be stated as follows:

1st. ■ That a judgment for costs does not draw interest and interest should not have been allowed on the $131.60 costs taxed in the original judgment.

2nd. „That interest is not recoverable on a bond such as the one sued on in excess of the penalty of $500.

3rd. The sheriff is not entitled to commissions on an execution sale of property where the property is bid in by the judgment creditor.

4th. The item of $319.58 to the Riverton Review for publishing notice of sale was excessive and not allowable as costs to any amount by which the same exceeded $1.50.

5th. The $431.51 costs alleged to have been incurred in connection with the execution have never been taxed and are not recoverable against the judgment debtor or its surety until taxed and approved in some manner by the court.

6th. The item of $413.51 as costs on the execution is an improper charge because the execution not being issued out of the court in which judgment was obtained is void and all proceedings thereunder are void.

7th. If the execution and sale were valid the $6,668 realized therefrom must be credited first on the expense of the execution wiping out the $413.51 and 2nd on the costs [527]*527taxed in the original judgment and 3rd on the net amount of the damages in the original judgment.

8th. The bond sued on did not coyer any judgment for costs in favor of defendant on her cross-action.

9th. That William M. Mooney, C. P. Twitchell and Riverton State Bank should have been joined with Nina A. LaPorte as plaintiffs as they are all obligees in the bond, and therefore the demurrer on the ground that there is a defect of parties plaintiff interposed by defendants in the court below should have been sustained.

10th. That the suit was prematurely brought as the original case was in the Supreme 'Court undetermined at the time this suit was tried in the District Court.

From the view we take of the case, it will not be necessary to consider in detail each of these alleged errors nor will we consider them in the order presented by counsel in the brief, but will take up those we consider necessary for a full decision of the case in what seems to us the logical order.

The 9th error claiming that there is “a defect of parties plaintiff” while it might have been good at common law, is answered by the provisions of the Code, sections 4311 and 4312, of Wyoming Compiled Statutes, 1910, providing that an action must be prosecuted in the name of the real party in interest and that “anyone entitled by law to the benefit of the security may bring an action thereon in his own name.” The petition in this case alleges that no one except Nina A. DaPorte had any claim upon the security of the bond sued upon and the judgment of the Natrona County District Court adjudged costs to her alone. Under these circumstances it would have been useless to have brought the other named obligees of the bond into the case. The case of Curry v. Homer et al., 62 O. St. 233, 56 N. E. 870, was upon a supersedeas bond given to defendants in error for value of use and occupation of the premises “and pay all costs that have accrued or may accrue in the Supreme Court” and it was held although the plaintiff Curry was not one of the obligees of the bond, he being the owner by assignment of all the costs, he was entitled to sue and re[528]*528cover on the bond notwithstanding the surety and principal had made settlement of the bond with the defendants in error. This case is particularly applicable as our statutes 4311 and 4312, supra, were taken from Ohio.

In regard to the 8th claim of error that the bond sued on did not cover any judgment for costs in favor of the defendant on her'cross-petition, this is answered by the language of the bond and the statute under which it is given. The condition of the bond reads: “Now, Therefore, If the above bounden Wyoming Central Irrigation Company, the plaintiff in the above entitled cause, shall pay all costs that may be adjudged against it in said cause, then this obligation to be voidand the language of the statute as to the condition of the undertaking is “that he will pay all costs that may be adjudged against him in such cases.” There can be no doubt that the costs to the amount of $131.60 was adjudged against the plaintiff in the cause in the Natrona county court and is within the letter of the bond. If there was any error in the adjudication or taxation of costs that should have been corrected in that court by a motion to retax costs but cannot be thus collaterally attacked in this case.

The first error claimed is that a judgment for costs does not draw interest. This is a question which has not been before or decided by this court and one upon which attorneys practicing before our courts have differed, and upon which, at first blush, there would appear to be conflict of authority. The question of costs is a. purely statutory one and costs were not allowed as a rule at common law (7 R, C. L. 781); so also no interest was allowed on judgments and that matter therefore is strictly statutory.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Hashimoto v. Marathon Pipe Line Co.
767 P.2d 158 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 1989)
Kaess v. State
748 P.2d 698 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 1987)
Weaver v. Mitchell
715 P.2d 1361 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 1986)
Roberts Construction Company v. Vondriska
547 P.2d 1171 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 1976)
Pure Gas & Chemical Company v. Cook
526 P.2d 986 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 1974)
Mader v. Stephenson
481 P.2d 664 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 1971)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
188 P. 360, 26 Wyo. 522, 1920 Wyo. LEXIS 12, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wyoming-central-irr-co-v-laporte-wyo-1920.