Continental Life Ins. Co. v. Mahoney

• Decision Date: 02 May 1932
• Docket Number: No. 281.,281.
• Citation: 49 S.W.2d 371
• Parties: CONTINENTAL LIFE INS. CO. v. MAHONEY.
• Court: Arkansas Supreme Court

49 S.W.2d 371

CONTINENTAL LIFE INS. CO. v. MAHONEY.

No. 281.

Supreme Court of Arkansas.

May 2, 1932.

Rehearing Denied May 30, 1932.

Appeal from Pulaski Chancery Court; Frank H. Dodge, Chancellor.

Suit by the Continental Life Insurance Company against W. H. Mahoney. From an adverse decree, complainant appeals.

Reversed and remanded, with directions.

Pace & Davis, of Little Rock, for appellant.

Chas W. Mehaffy, of Little Rock, for appellee.

BUTLER, J.

The appellee was appointed by the Pulaski chancery court as commissioner to sell certain real property under foreclosure proceedings, and was directed by the court to publish the time, terms, and place of sale in some newspaper published in Pulaski county, Ark., having a bona fide circulation therein. The appellee selected a publication in Little Rock known as the Daily Legal News in which to publish the notice, and this suit was instituted to restrain him from publishing the notice in that paper, on the ground that the Daily Legal News was not a newspaper having a bona fide circulation within the meaning of section 6807 of Crawford & Moses' Digest, providing that all advertisements and orders of publication required by law or order of any court, etc, "shall be published in some newspaper published and having a bona fide circulation in the county in which the proceedings are had."

In the court below, it was stipulated that the Daily Legal News is printed and published in the city of Little Rock, Pulaski county, is a member of the Associated Court & Commercial Newspapers of the United States, and has been classified in the post office at Little Rock as second-class mail matter since December 15, 1931. It is not a subscriber to the Associated Press News, and has no correspondents and reporters outside of the city of Little Rock. It only occasionally publishes news of a general nature, but specializes in news relating to the courts, real estate, statistical news, and that concerning business transactions in Pulaski county. It carries notice of incorporation matters filed in the county clerk's office and the office of the Secretary of State, and publishes a list of marriages and births in Pulaski county, the daily market report, local weather forecast, a list of automobile licenses issued, building permits, and notices of fires occurring in the city of Little Rock. It is published daily excepting holidays and Sundays, and its subscription rate is $20 per year. It is a four-page publication, 14×11 inches in size, with four columns to each page. It has three hundred and four subscribers confined to business and professional men and associations of that character. It is mailed to twenty cities other than Little Rock and North Little Rock, and to eleven other states, and is carried for sale at Peckham's news stand on Main street in the city of Little Rock. It is estimated by the publishers that around a thousand persons have access to, and read, the paper each day, but it is not shown how many of the papers are sold from the news stand.

The above is a summary of the stipulation, which contains sufficient facts to show the character of the publication. Upon these facts the court found that the Daily Legal News was a newspaper within the meaning of the statute and the order of the court, and denied the relief prayed.

After an examination of the authorities called to our attention by the appellant and the appellee, we are of the opinion that the contention of the appellant ought to have been sustained, and that the trial court erred in holding otherwise. The primary purpose for the printing of legal advertisements and notices of sale of property under orders of a court is to give to the notice the widest publicity practicable. Therefore,...