Fairbank v. Newton

Decision Date31 January 1879
Citation46 Wis. 644,1 N.W. 335
PartiesDAVID C. FAIRBANK ET AL., RESPONDENTS, v. GEORGE S. NEWTON, APPELLANT.
CourtWisconsin Supreme Court

OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE

Appeal from circuit court, Dodge County.

H. E. Connit, for appellant.

Eli Hooker, for respondents.

RYAN, C. J.

--When the report of a referee, to whom a cause has been sent for trial, comes in, the report of itself entitles neither party to judgment. But either or both parties may move to set it aside or confirm it. Either or both parties may move for judgment upon it, as upon a special verdict. But a party objecting to the referee's findings of fact, must file his written exceptions to the findings. It is the duty of the circuit court thereupon, before judgment, to hear the parties, and to make an order sustaining or overruling the exceptions, and confirming, setting aside or modifying the report. Dinsmore v. Smith, 17 Wis. 20;Jenkins v. Esterly, 22 Wis. 128;Gilbank v. Stevenson, 30 Wis. 155;Riley v. Mitchell, 37 Wis. 612;Yates v. Shepardson, 39 Wis. 173;Cairns v. O'Bleuess, 40 Wis. 469;M. I. Works Co. v. Ketchum, 44 Wis. 126;McDonnell v. Schricker, id. 327; Thornton v. Eaton, 4 N. W. REPT. 142.

In this case, the appellant filed several exceptions to the report of the referee; and the respondent moved to confirm the report and for judgment. But it does not appear by the record that the court below passed upon the exceptions, or upon the motion to confirm. There is a recital in the judgment of the motion to confirm, but not of the exceptions. The judgment does not overrule the exceptions, or confirm the report. After the recital, it is in form a judgment for the amount reported by the referee, without reference to the report.

As the record stands, this court is powerless to consider the appellant's exceptions to the report. The judgment appears to have been premature, to say the least. Judgment could not properly be rendered on the report, before the exceptions had been overruled and the report confirmed.

The judgment is reversed, and the cause remanded to the court below for further proceedings on the report of the referee.

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6 cases
  • State ex rel. Universal Processing Servs. of Wis., LLC v. Circuit Court of Milwaukee Cnty.
    • United States
    • Wisconsin Supreme Court
    • March 29, 2017
    ...party, is the exception....").See also Ehlinger v. Hauser , 2010 WI 54, ¶89, 325 Wis.2d 287, 785 N.W.2d 328.32 Fairbank v. Newton , 46 Wis. 644, 645, 1 N.W. 335 (1879) ( "[T]he report of itself entitles neither party to judgment.... It is the duty of the circuit court thereupon, before judg......
  • Tupper v. Huson
    • United States
    • Wisconsin Supreme Court
    • May 24, 1879
  • Lemke v. Daegling
    • United States
    • Wisconsin Supreme Court
    • June 4, 1881
    ...The record fails to show that the court passed specificially upon any of these exceptions. It is claimed, on the authority of Fairbank v. Newton, 46 Wis. 644, that this omission is fatal to the judgment. The real point decided in that case is that a judgment entered pursuant to a report of ......
  • Tupper v. Huson
    • United States
    • Wisconsin Supreme Court
    • May 24, 1879
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