In re Bullock

• Decision Date: 25 November 1925
• Citation: 149 N.E. 604,254 Mass. 14
• Parties: Petition of BULLOCK.
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court

254 Mass. 14

149 N.E. 604

Petition of BULLOCK.

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Middlesex.

Nov. 25, 1925.

Petition to establish truth of exceptions by Harry F. Bullock against Mary A. J. Harrington and others. On motion to dismiss petition. Petition dismissed.W. L. Scoville, of Boston, for petitioner.

J. E. Crowley, of Boston, for respondents.

RUGG, C. J.

This is a petition to establish the truth of exceptions. The petitioner has filed a motion for the correction of the petition by substituting April 6, 1925, for May 6, 1925, as the date when the bill of exceptions was filed. It was agreed at the hearing that the fact was that the exceptions were filed on April 6, 1925. This motion relates to a mere clerical error and is allowed, although no amendment to a petition to establish the truth of exceptions is permissible. Freedman, Petitioner, 222 Mass. 179, 181, 110 N. E. 161;Barnett, Petitioner, 240 Mass. 228, 133 N. E. 111;Reynolds, Petitioner, 251 Mass. --, 149 N. E. 154.

The defendants have filed a motion to dismiss the petition, based on several grounds.

1. It is alleged in the petition that after the exceptions were filed but before they were considered by the presiding judge, the defendants made a motion under G. L. c. 231, § 116, to dismiss the exceptions because they were immaterial, frivolous, and intended for delay and without ground in law. That motion was ‘allowed’ on May 29, 1925. From this the petitioner appealed. Later the exceptions were presented by the petitioner to the judge for action under G. L. c. 231, § 113. The matter came on for hearing on June 20, 1925; whereupon the judge wrote and signed on the exceptions, ‘Disallowed as of May 29, 1925, by reason of allowance of motion on said date.’ The adjudication under G. L. c. 231, § 116, that the exceptions were frivolous, might have been made before the bill as filed was considered as to its conformability to the truth under section 113, or even before the bill was filed. Commonwealth v. Clifford, 145 Mass. 97, 13 N. E. 345. The bill of exceptions related to an interlocutory matter, and no judgment was entered. But we are of opinion that under section 116 such exceptions may be found and adjudged to be immaterial, frivolous and intended for delay. No appeal lies from such a finding or adjudication. Williams v. Clarke, 182 Mass. 316, 65 N. E. 419;Keith v. Marcus, 182 Mass. 320, 65 N. E. 421. Nevertheless,it was the duty of the judge to consider the exceptions and allow them if found conformable to the truth. The mere fact that the exceptions had been found and adjudged by him to be immaterial, frivolous and intended for delay was no reason why the exceptions should not be allowed if otherwise proper in form and conformable to the truth. Commonwealth v. Fleckner, 167 Mass. 13, 44 N. E. 1053.

2. The order of the judge on June 20, 1925, that the disallowance of the exceptions should be entered nunc pro tunc as of May 29, 1925, did not operate under the circumstances here disclosed to deprive the petitioner of his right to file a petition to establish the truth of his exceptions under G. L. c. 231, § 117, and rule 6 of the full court. The entry of such an order would deprive the plaintiff, without his fault, of a right secured to him by statute to obtain review of the rulings of law made by the judge; an intention we should be loath to attribute to the Legislature without unequivocal statutory words. The authority to enter nunc pro tunc orders does not go to this extent. Perkins v. Perkins, 225 Mass. 392, 114 N. E. 713;G. L. c. 235, § 4.

3. The present petition was seasonably filed after June 20, 1925, when the order of disallowance of the exceptions was in fact entered.

[6] 4. The exceptions as set forth in the petition relate solely to divers orders respecting the attachment of the property of the defendants on the plaintiff's writ. It is provided by G. L. c. 223, § 114, that upon application in writing a judge of the court to which the writ is returnable may, ‘upon a summary hearing of the parties,’ after a finding ‘that the attachment is excessive or unreasonable,’ reduce or dissolve the attachment. After due proceedings in accordance with the statute the attachment was reduced from $15,000 to $3,500. While proceedings on the motion to reduce the attachment were pending, but before the order reducing the attachment, the plaintiff gave a partial release of the attachment in return for a bond in...