Zollman v. Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern Railroad

121 N.E. 135, 70 Ind. App. 395, 1918 Ind. App. LEXIS 12
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 11, 1918
DocketNo. 9,269
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 121 N.E. 135 (Zollman v. Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern Railroad) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Zollman v. Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern Railroad, 121 N.E. 135, 70 Ind. App. 395, 1918 Ind. App. LEXIS 12 (Ind. Ct. App. 1918).

Opinion

Caldwell, J.

Appellant is the owner of a 284-acre farm situate immediately east of the town of Medora, in Jackson county, through which, on an embankment, appellee’s railroad extends in a general direction of southwest and northeast, and so that the major portion of the farm is south of the railroad. South of the railroad and roughly paralleling it-flows White river in a southwesterly direction. At the time of the flood of 1913 appellee’s embankment broke, and as a consequence large quantities of water impounded on the north side thereof were suddenly discharged upon appellant’s lands south of the railroad. As a result his lands were damaged, and certain personal property injured and destroyed. Averring that appellee had negligently and unlawfully obstructed the flood waters of White river to .his injury as alleged, he brought this action to recover the consequent damages. A trial resulted in a verdict in favor of appellee, on which judgment was rendered.

1. 2. Before considering the cause on its merits, there are certain preliminary questions that must be determined. Thus, no exception was reserved to the judgment. -The verdict was in general terms in favor of appellee. On the verdict judgment was rendered that appellant take nothing, and that appellee recover costs. Such judgment follows such a verdict as matter of course. Strictly speaking it involves no ruling, and consequently requires no exception in order that the losing party may be protected in his rights. Where the judgment is proper in form and in substance, as measured by the verdict or finding, the question of its correctness, as measured by the cause and the procedure, is tested by exceptions reserved to rulings pre[400]*400ceding the rendering of judgment and properly presented. Elliott, App. Proc. §796; Eckhart v. Marion, etc., Traction Co. (1915), 59 Ind. App. 217, 109 N. E. 224; State v. Swarts (1857), 9 Ind. 221; Duzan, Admx., v. Myers (1903), 30 Ind. App. 227, 65 N. E. 1046, 96 Am. St. 341; Smith v. Tate (1903), 30 Ind. App. 367, 66 N. E. 88.

The validity of §661 Burns 1914, Acts 1911 p. 193, is challenged. That question has in effect been determined. Appellee concedes as much in its.brief. Cleveland, etc., R. Co. v. Smith (1912), 177 Ind. 524, 97 N. E. 164; Tarnowski v. Lake Shore, etc., R. Co. (1914), 181 Ind. 202, 104 N. E. 16.

Under that section appellant obtained an extension of time within which to file his bill of exceptions containing the evidence, beyond the time limited by the court for that purpose when the appeal was prayed and granted. It is urged that such extension was unauthorized by reason of defective notice to appellee, and that as a consequence the bill was not filed within the time properly fixed for that purpose, and that as a result it is not a part of the record. The facts are as follows: The motion for a new trial was overruled and judgment rendered November 9, 1914, at the October term of the trial court, and ninety days given within which to file the bill of’ exceptions containing the evidence. February 2, 1915, at a succeeding term of the court, appellant, proceeding under §661, supra, applied for and was granted an extension of such time to April 1, 1915. That section contains a provision to the effect that the party asking such an extension of time shall give the opposite party, or his attorney of record, at least three days ’ notice of the time when, and the place where, the application will be heard. [401]*401Filed -with the verified application there was a copy of notice sufficient in form and substance and directed to appellee’s attorneys of record, and attached to which there was an affidavit to .the effect that six days prior to February 2,1915, the day fixed for presenting the application, one of appellant’s attorneys inclosed the original of such notice in an envelope properly stamped and addressed to appellee’s said attorneys at Aurora, Indiana, and deposited it so stamped and addressed in the United States, mail. Appellee presents the question of the sufficiency of a notice under such statute where there is no service of it otherwise than as indicated. For reasons hereinafter appearing we do not find it necessary to determine such question, but by reason of its importance we suggest the insufficiency of a notice so served, where the service is not accepted as such. See the following: §§504, 505 Burns 1914, §§481, 482 R. S. 1881; Chicago, etc., R. Co. v. Sanders (1917), 63 Ind. App. 586, 114 N. E. 986; Haj v. American Bottle Co. (1914), 261 Ill. 362, 103 N. E. 1000; Scanlon v. Scanlon (1912), 154 Iowa 748, 135 N. W. 634; North Coast Fire Ins. Co. v. Lincoln County (1914), 81 Wash. 311, 142 Pac. 661; Matter of Blumberg (1912), 149 App. Div. 303, 133 N. Y. Supp. 774; Ensley v. State (1910), 4 Okla. Cr. 49, 109 Pac. 250; Rathbun v. Acher (1854), 18 Barb. (N. Y.) 393; Wilson v. Trenton (1891), 53 N. J. Law 645, 23 Atl. 278, 16 L. R. A. 200; 29 Cyc 1117, 1119.

3-4. As we have said, we are not required to determine the sufficiency of the notice or its service here. The bill itself discloses that it was presented to the judge on February 5, 1915, within the time originally granted. This is sufficient, although [402]*402the bill was not filed until March 17. §660 Burns 1914, §629 R. S. 1881; Malott v. Central Trust Co. (1907), 168 Ind. 428, 79 N. E. 369, 11 Ann. Cas. 879.

5. There is a vacation entry to the effect that the bill was presented to the judge on March 5, instead of February 5, but the bill controls in this respect. Malott v. Central Trust Co., supra. It maybe-said also that there are some indications outside the bill that the date of presentation stated in the bill is, erroneous. If so, no steps have been taken to ■ correct the bill, and it must therefore govern as to the date of presentation. It results that, as recourse was not had to the extended time, irregularities orinsufficiencies attending the procedure to procure the extension are immaterial.

6. We proceed to consider the various arguments advanced by appellee in support of its contention that the instructions are not in the record. The instructions were brought into the record by a bill of exceptions. An inspection of the bill discloses that it is proper in form and substance, and that it contains all the instructions that were given and all. that were tendered and refused, and that appellant reserved an exception to each instruction given by the court on its own motion and at appellee’s request, and a like exception to the refusal of each instruction tendered by appellant and not given. It appears from an order-book entry that the bill was filed on the day that the trial closed and consequently within the term at which the trial was had. The filing of the bill was a sufficient filing of the instructions. Ohio, etc., R. Co. v. Dunn (1894), 138 Ind. 18, 36 N. E. 702, 37 N. E. 546.

[403]*4037. [402]*402It appears also that the bill was signed on the day [403]*403that it was filed, it not appearing expressly whether the signing preceded the filing. It is true that it is essential to the validity of a bill of exceptions that it be filed after rather than before it has been signed.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
121 N.E. 135, 70 Ind. App. 395, 1918 Ind. App. LEXIS 12, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/zollman-v-baltimore-ohio-southwestern-railroad-indctapp-1918.