44 P. 760 (Colo.App. 1896), Jansen v. Hyde

• Date: 10 February 1896
• Citation: 44 P. 760,8 Colo.App. 38
• Docket Number: .
• Parties: JANSEN v. HYDE et al. [1]
• Court: Colorado Court of Appeals

Page 760

44 P. 760 (Colo.App. 1896)

8 Colo.App. 38

JANSEN

v.

HYDE et al. ¹

Court of Appeals of Colorado

February 10, 1896

Error to district court, Arapahoe county.

Action by A.W. Jansen against D.G. Hyde and another on a foreign judgment. Judgment for defendants, and plaintiff brings error. Affirmed.

Tolles & Cobbey, for plaintiff in error.

John H. Reddin, for defendants in error.

THOMSON, J.

This action was brought upon the record of a judgment rendered in the state of Nebraska. The answer was a general denial. The trial resulted in judgment for the defendants, from which the plaintiff has prosecuted error to this court. The record presents but one question, and that is whether the plaintiff was entitled to a recovery upon the judgment introduced in evidence. [8 Colo.App. 39] The complaint alleges the commencement by the plaintiff, A.W. Jansen, of his action against the defendants, Hyde & Vedder, in the county court of Lancaster county, Neb.; and the recovery by him of judgment against them for $459.11 and costs. At the trial a record was produced, properly authenticated in conformity with the act of congress, and given in evidence against the objection of the defendants as the record described in the complaint. The defendants have assigned cross error upon the ruling of the court in admitting the record. It appears from this record that the action in Nebraska was commenced by a co-partnership under the firm name of Albert W. Jansen & Co. The petition was entitled "Albert W. Jansen & Co. v. Dana G. Hyde and N.M. Vedder." It described the plaintiffs as a firm doing business in the city of Lincoln, Neb., and averred the execution by the defendants to the plaintiffs of four promissory notes, which were due and unpaid. The petition was verified by Albert W. Jansen, who stated in his affidavit of verification that he was one of the plaintiffs. The summons commanded the sheriff to notify the defendants that they had been sued by Albert W. Jansen & Co., and, unless they answered the petition by a day named, it would be taken as true, and judgment rendered accordingly. The return upon the summons was that it was served upon each of the defendants personally. The defendants failed to appear or plead, and their default was entered, which was followed by judgment against them for the amount claimed. The judgment as it was entered was entitled "Albert W. Jansen v. Dana G. Hyde and N.M. Vedder," and was in the following words: "It is therefore by me considered, ordered, and adjudged that the plaintiff have and recover of and from the defendants the sum of $459.11 principal, and the interest on above notes, and for costs of this suit." This judgment, detached from the record of which it is a part, would appear to be a judgment in favor of Albert W. Jansen alone, and such would be its effect if it might be regarded as something complete within itself. But it cannot be so [8 Colo.App. 40] considered. A judgment entry is not an independent record. A judgment is the conclusion reached upon the case as it has been presented. Except where a judgment is entered by confession, or by agreement of the parties, to authorize the court to proceed to an adjudication, it must be in possession of a statement of the plaintiff's cause of action. Such statement is called in this state a complaint, and in Nebraska, as would seem from this record, a petition. If judgment is rendered in favor of the plaintiff, it must accord with, and be warranted by, the...