Ayrshire Coal Company v. Thurman
Decision Date | 25 June 1920 |
Docket Number | 10,401 |
Citation | 127 N.E. 810,73 Ind.App. 578 |
Parties | AYRSHIRE COAL COMPANY v. THURMAN |
Court | Indiana Appellate Court |
From Pike Circuit Court; John L. Bretz, Judge.
Application by the Ayrshire Coal Company for relief from judgment by default in favor of James E. Thurman. From a judgment denying the application, the applicant appeals.
Reversed.
Lucius C. Embree and Morton C. Embree, for appellant.
Harry W. Carpenter and R. W. Armstrong, for appellee.
OPINION
The action out of which this controversy arose was instituted by the appellee against the appellant to recover damages for personal injury due to negligence. A summons was served on the defendant commanding it to appear on February 27, 1918. On March 5, 1918, the defendant was defaulted. Thereupon the court heard evidence as to the amount of damages to be assessed, and rendered judgment for $ 5,000 and costs. On the next morning the defendant filed its verified motion to be relieved from the judgment, and with its motion also filed the affidavit of Lucius C. Embree.
The material facts stated in the motion and affidavit are as follows: The motion discloses a meritorious defense to the action; and with the motion the defendant tendered and offered to file an answer in denial.
Harry W. Carpenter, counsel for the plaintiff, filed his affidavit in which he sets forth his version of the matter, the material averments thereof being as follows: "That Lucius C. Embree was in the Pike Circuit Court on Feb. 25, 1918; that Embree then knew that said cause was pending in said court and knew that the return day was only two days in the future; but that Embree then refused to appear for the defendant until the day stated in the summons should arrive. That it was on Feb. 27, 1918, the return day, when Embree requested the court to enter the appearance of his firm for the defendant; and that thereupon the court wrote on the docket the following words, viz.: 'Embree & Embree appear, and ruled to answer by 25th day'; that by said rule the defendant was required to answer the complaint on March 4, 1918, that being the 25th day of said term; that Embree was in said court on March 4, 1918, and did not answer the complaint or give any reason for not doing so, but refused and failed to file an answer in said cause; that the plaintiff waited until March 5, 1918, for defendant to answer, and because of his failure so to do, the defendant was then defaulted. That rule No. 14 of said court was then in force and in the following words:
"That Embree knew on March 4, 1918, while then in said court, that said rule was pending against the defendant; and that the default was taken in compliance with Sec. 410 Burns Ann. St. 1914."
The record discloses that the motion was set for trial on April 22, 1918, at which time the matter was submitted for determination. The foregoing affidavits constituted the only evidence adduced. The motion was overruled and the court gave an exception to the appellant. An appeal was prayed, granted, and duly perfected as a term-time appeal. The following errors are assigned: (1) That the complaint does not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action; (2) that the Pike Circuit Court did not have jurisdiction of the subject of the action; (3) that the court erred in overruling the motion for relief from the judgment; and (4) that the court erred in overruling the motion for a new trial.
The appellee has moved to dismiss the appeal on the ground that the action of the court in overruling the motion for relief from the judgment rendered on default does not constitute a final judgment from which an appeal may be taken.
DAUSMAN, J.--This proceeding comes within § 405 Burns 1914, § 396 R. S. 1881. That section of the Code does not prescribe the details of the procedure. The task of formulating specific rules of procedure under that section was left to the courts. Frazier v. Williams (1862), 18 Ind. 416. It must be confessed that in the procedure thus created there is much confusion. No definite plan has been outlined and consistently followed. There is no continuity or consistency in the decisions relating to the various phases of this subject. This vexatious condition is due to the attempt to maintain an artificial distinction between a proceeding for relief commenced within the term and a proceeding commenced after the term at which the judgment on default was rendered. However, we will not now enter upon a general discussion of the subject or attempt to rectify the entire procedure relating thereto, but will confine ourselves to the questions here presented.
We realize that the entry made by the court to express its decision on the motion is not a formal judgment. It is not the amplified language of a formal judgment. It is not stated in the usual form which has been crystallized by long usage. See Neyens v. Flesher (1907), 39 Ind.App. 399, 79 N.E. 1087. The court might have made a finding and rendered a formal judgment, if a fit terminology could be found for that purpose.
While the courts have held that the application, where made at the same term at which the judgment on default is rendered, should be in the form of a motion, nevertheless in the very nature of things it cannot be an interlocutory motion. Notwithstanding the incongruities of the procedure, the Supreme Court and this court for many years have recognized such rulings as final judgments. The decision thus rendered is the sentence of the law pronounced upon the facts, and effectually puts an end to the entire controversy. It can be nothing less, therefore, than a final judgment. Moore v. Horner (1896), 146 Ind. 287, 45 N.E. 341; Frazier v. Williams, supra; Covey v. Neff (1878), 63 Ind. 391; Hill v. Shannon (1879), 68 Ind. 470; Beatty v. O'Connor (1886), 106 Ind. 81, 5 N.E. 880; Hord v. Bradbury (1901), 156 Ind. 30, 59 N.E. 31; State, ex rel. v. Lung (1907), 168 Ind. 553, 80 N.E. 541; Wells v. Bradley, etc., Co. (1891), 3 Ind.App. 278, 29 N.E. 572; Devenbaugh v. Nifer (1891), 3 Ind.App. 379, 29 N.E. 923; City of Laporte v. Organ (1892), 5 Ind.App. 369, 32 N.E. 342; Ziegler v. Funkhouser (1908), 42 Ind.App. 428, 85 N.E. 984; Indiana, etc., Assn. v. Doherty (1919), 70 Ind.App. 214, 123 N.E. 242; Bernhard v. Idaho, etc., Trust Co. (1912), 21 Idaho 598, 123 P. 481, Ann. Cas. 1913E 120; McNamara v. Henkel (1913), 226 U.S. 520, 33 S.Ct. 146, 57 L.Ed. 330; Collins v. Miller (1920), 252 U.S. 364, 40 S.Ct. 347, 64 L.Ed. 616.
The motion to dismiss the appeal is overruled.
We will dispose of the assignments of error in their numerical order.
(1) The only effect of the special rule made by the trial court at the request of counsel for appellant was to extend the time within which to file an answer or demurrer to the complaint and the effect of the default for failure to comply with that rule was precisely the same as if the default had been taken for a failure to appear in response to the summons. § 410 Burns 1914, § 401 R. S. 1881. Therefore, appellant's right, if any, to present the first assignment of error is no different than it would be if the case were one in which a default had been entered for failure to respond to the...
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