Dodd v. Bonds

• Court: Arkansas Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: MILLWEE
• Citation: Dodd v. Bonds, 251 S.W.2d 587, 220 Ark. 951 (Ark. 1952)
• Decision Date: 13 October 1952
• Docket Number: No. 4-9853,4-9853
• Parties: DOOD v. BONDS et al.

Page 587

251 S.W.2d 587

220 Ark. 951

DOOD v. BONDS et al.

No. 4-9853.

Supreme Court of Arkansas.

Oct. 13, 1952.

Ben B. Williamson, Mountain View, for appellant.

Chas. F. Cole, Batesville, for appellees.

MILLWEE, Justice.

By this appeal the appellant, John K. Dodd, seeks to question the action of the chancery court in vacating a default decree during the term in which it was rendered. A collateral issue is whether appellee, Harvey Bonds, is a missing person within the meaning of Act 71 of 1943, Ark.Stats. §§ 58-201 to 203. We do not determine these issues for the reason that the appeal was prematurely taken and must be dismissed.

In his suit to quiet title, appellant obtained a default decree against appellee, Harvey Bonds, before a special chancellor on September 27, 1951, after the regular chancellor had previously sustained appellant's motion to strike appellee's answer and cross-complaint. On October 18, 1951 and during the term in which the default decree was rendered, Andrew Bonds, father of Harvey Bonds, having been appointed trustee of his son's estate pursuant to Act 71, supra, filed a motion to set aside the default decree. This appeal is from the order of the regular chancellor sustaining the motion to vacate and setting the cause for trial upon its merits.

The order setting aside the default decree rendered during the same term is not final or appealable. Judge Humphreys clearly stated the applicable rule in Hawkeye Tire & Rubber Co. v. McFarlin, 146 Ark. 491, 225 S.W. 632, 633, as follows: 'A motion to set aside a default judgment at the judgment term is not an independent action, and, when set aside, does not determine the rights of the parties. It leaves the case in the condition it was before the default judgment was rendered, with an opportunity to try the case upon its merits. This rule would not obtain had the court refused to set the judgment aside, because such an order would have precluded the rights of the judgment debtor to try the case upon its merits. In that event, the judgment would have been final, and the judgment debtor could have appealed from it. Neither would the rule obtain had the court adjourned before a motion was filed to set the default judgment aside, for, in that event, the setting aside of the judgment would have been a determination of the vested right of the judgment creditor in the judgment, and, in that sense, final and appealable.'

The rule was reaffirmed in Democrat Printing & Lithographing Co....