Holmes v. Oregon Ass'n of Credit Management, Inc.

• Decision Date: 16 July 1981
• Docket Number: No. A7811-18517,A7811-18517
• Citation: 52 Or.App. 551,628 P.2d 1264
• Parties: Clifford L. HOLMES, Plaintiff, C. M. Burmester, Respondent, v. OREGON ASSOCIATION OF CREDIT MANAGEMENT, INC., dba Portland Association of Credit Men, an Oregon Corporation, and Credit Service Company, an Oregon Corporation, Appellants. Clifford L. HOLMES, Appellant, C. M. Burmester, Plaintiff, v. OREGON ASSOCIATION OF CREDIT MANAGEMENT, INC., dba Portland Association of Credit Men, an Oregon Corporation, and Credit Service Company, an Oregon Corporation, Respondents. ; CA 17080.
• Court: Oregon Court of Appeals

Page 1264

628 P.2d 1264

52 Or.App. 551

Clifford L. HOLMES, Plaintiff, C. M. Burmester, Respondent, v. OREGON ASSOCIATION OF CREDIT MANAGEMENT, INC., dba Portland

Association of Credit Men, an Oregon Corporation,

and Credit Service Company, an Oregon

Corporation, Appellants.

Clifford L. HOLMES, Appellant, C. M. Burmester, Plaintiff, v. OREGON ASSOCIATION OF CREDIT MANAGEMENT, INC., dba Portland

Association of Credit Men, an Oregon Corporation,

and Credit Service Company, an Oregon

Corporation, Respondents.

No. A7811-18517; CA 17080.

Court of Appeals of Oregon.

Argued and Submitted February 20, 1981.

Decided May 26, 1981.

Reconsideration Denied July 16, 1981.

Jeffrey B. Wihtol, Portland, argued the cause for Oregon Association of Credit Management, Inc. dba Portland Association of Credit Men, an Oregon corporation, and Credit Service Company, an Oregon corporation. With him on the briefs was Morrison, Dunn, Cohen, Miller & Carney, Portland.

Ruth M. Cinniger, Portland, argued the cause and filed the briefs for Clifford L. Holmes and C. M. Burmester.

Before GILLETTE, P. J., and ROBERTS and YOUNG, JJ.

YOUNG, Judge.

In this action for damages plaintiffs charge defendants with professional negligence and breach of contract for failure to timely renew a judgment. Each plaintiff had assigned separate and individual accounts to defendants for collection. Defendants reduced the accounts to judgment entered in Marion County on May 14, 1962. ¹ The judgment was not renewed within the ten year statutory period and it expired. ORS 18.360. Plaintiffs' first complaint charged defendants with negligence. A second amended complaint alleged an additional count of breach of contract. Plaintiff Holmes claimed damages of $4,704.05. Plaintiff Burmester claimed damages of $623.52.

At the close of plaintiffs' case in chief, defendants moved to "dismiss" the claims of both plaintiffs on the ground they were barred by the statute of limitations and further that the circuit court lacked subject matter jurisdiction of the Burmester claim. ² ORS 46.060. The trial court granted defendants' motion to dismiss the Holmes claim on the basis that it was barred by the statute of limitations. The court rejected the motions directed toward the Burmester claim and submitted that claim to the jury. Defendants rested without putting on any evidence in their case in chief. The jury returned a verdict for plaintiff Burmester in the amount of his prayer.

Defendants appeal from the Burmester judgment, asserting the claim was barred by the statute of limitations and that the trial court lacked subject matter jurisdiction. Plaintiff Holmes appeals from the judgment order dismissing his claim with prejudice on the ground that it was not filed within the statutory time limit. ³

PLAINTIFF BURMESTER'S CLAIM

First, we address the defendants' contention that the circuit court lacked subject matter jurisdiction over plaintiff Burmester's claim. The Burmester prayer was for $623.52, plus interest, the aggregate amount of which was less than $3,000.

The applicable statute, ORS 46.060(1), provides, in part:

"* * * The district court shall have exclusive jurisdiction * * * (a) for the recovery of money or damages only when the amount claimed does not exceed $3,000." (Emphasis added).

Defendants raised the jurisdictional defense at the close of plaintiff's case in chief. The trial court denied the motion. Objections to subject matter jurisdiction may be taken before or after judgment. Salitan et al. v. Dashney et al., 219 Or. 553, 559, 347 P.2d 974 (1959); Comley v. State Bd. of Higher Ed., 35 Or.App. 465, 488, 582 P.2d 443 (1978). The defense is not waived by failing to file a pre-trial motion to dismiss. ORCP 21 G. (4).

Plaintiff Burmester argues that the question is not jurisdiction but rather permissive joinder of parties under ORCP 28. That contention is misplaced. Pursuant to ORS 46.060(1), supra, the district court has exclusive jurisdiction of money or damage claims not exceeding $3,000. Flying Tiger Line v. Portland Trading Co., 45 Or.App. 345, 608 P.2d 577 (1980), reversed on other grounds, 290 Or. 605, 624 P.2d 117 (1981). The Burmester claim is within the exclusive jurisdictional limit. The fact two claims can be permissively joined under ORCP 28 is not, standing alone, a substitute for establishing subject matter jurisdiction. ⁴

The issue is whether the claim can be added to the amount of the Holmes's claim ($4,704.05) and thereby defeat the jurisdiction of the district court over the Burmester claim. We hold that such aggregation to avoid district court jurisdiction is improper. Salitan et al. v. Dashney et al., supra, is distinguishable. There the plaintiffs were partners and suing on a partnership claim. Four causes of action for monies due were alleged with the amount of each claim being within the jurisdictional limit of the district court. When the four claims were added together, they exceeded the jurisdictional limit of the district court. The Supreme Court held the district court did not have jurisdiction because the claims when added together exceed the jurisdictional limit. The case before us involves two plaintiffs, not partners, who have separate and distinct claims against the defendants. The claims of the plaintiffs are not joint or united or mutually dependent. Neither plaintiff had any interest in the claim of the other. The only nexus between the claims is that they arose from the same occurrence, namely, the failure to renew the judgment.

No Oregon case has been cited, and we have found none, permitting the aggregation of unrelated claims to achieve subject matter jurisdiction. The long standing federal rule announced by the United States Supreme Court in Pinel v. Pinel, 240 U.S. 594, 596, 36 S.Ct. 416, 416-17, 60 L.Ed. 817, 818 (1916), is that "* * * when two or more plaintiffs, having separate and distinct demands, unite in a single suit, it is essential that the demand of each be of the requisite jurisdictional amounts * * *." This view has been generally followed in other jurisdictions. See Annotation, 72 ALR 193 (1939). We have found nothing in the legislative history of ORS 46.060, supra, to indicate a contrary intent. We hold that the circuit court did not have jurisdiction of the claim of plaintiff Burmester. The judgment is void and must be vacated. Salitan et al. v. Dashney et al., supra, 219 Or. at 559, 347 P.2d 974; Hughes v. Aetna Casualty Co., 234 Or. 426, 450, 383 P.2d 55 (1963). ⁵

PLAINTIFF HOLMES' CLAIM ⁶

At the close of plaintiff's case in chief the defendant moved to dismiss the Holmes claim on the ground (among others) it was barred by the statute of limitations. Before the trial court ruled on that motion, plaintiff moved to amend the reply to conform to the proof. The reply alleged equitable estoppel as a ground for tolling the statute of limitations. The court denied the motion to amend and granted defendants a directed verdict on the Holmes claim. The court ruled that as a matter of law the evidence did not show "sufficient reliance" on the part of plaintiff to toll the statute. Plaintiff asserts that it was error to deny the motion to amend the reply and that the dismissal of his claim, based on the statute of limitations, was error because there was sufficient evidence to go to the jury on the question of estoppel.

1. Motion to amend the pleadings.

Plaintiff, in his reply, alleged reliance on a form letter from defendants dated December 14, 1962, as the basis for the claimed estoppel. At the close of plaintiff's case he moved to amend the reply, pursuant to ORCP 23.B, to conform to the evidence by adding additional allegations to support his claim of estoppel. Defendants objected to the amendment on the basis that the evidence was not offered to support the issue of estoppel. Plaintiff, in support of his motion, addressed the trial court as follows:

"I am asking this reply be amended to include the allegation that in addition to the statement of December 14, 1962, upon which * * * plaintiffs rely, defendants also reassured them in the conversation of March 26, 1969, and caused them to rely, told them it (the judgment) would be renewed * * *."

The court denied the motion to amend and overruled the objection.

The December 14, 1962, "statement" that counsel refers to was the form letter, mentioned supra, whereby defendants advised plaintiff that his account had been reduced to judgment and that recovery was remote. The letter, in part, said: "* * * (Y)our interests will be followed very closely by your representative * * * we advise that you close your file at this time. We will notify you immediately should any change or chance of recovery develop * * *." The requested amendment went to evidence introduced to the effect that in March, 1969, plaintiff was concerned that the judgment would become, with passage of time, "outlawed." Plaintiff "prodded" plaintiff Burmester to inquire of the defendants' attorney. Plaintiff Burmester learned from the attorney that the judgment, if not renewed, would expire in ten years, namely in 1972, but that it would be renewed by the defendants.

The testimony of plaintiff Holmes on redirect was as follows:

"Q All right, in 1969 Mr. Burmester testified he went, he called Mr. Long (the attorney) and he was told at that time the judgment would be renewed every ten years and not to worry about it. You were aware, you have already testified, you were aware of that telephone conversation.

"A Right. Mr. Burmester then called me to tell me of his conversation with Mr. Long.

"Q You were the prod who prodded him to make that inquiry?

"A Yes.

"Q Did you know the total of that conversation?

"A Well, the total was that Mr. Burmester had told me in his own words that, (the attorney said) 'quit bugging us, we will take care of this matter and it is in our hands and we will take good care of it.' "

ORCP 23 has substantially liberalized the amendment of pleadings. ⁷...