The Stockmen's Bank of Seneca v. Madison

• Decision Date: 07 December 1929
• Docket Number: 28,913
• Citation: 129 Kan. 253,282 P. 570
• Parties: THE STOCKMEN'S BANK OF SENECA, NEBRASKA, Appellant, v. LEO MADISON, Appellee
• Court: Kansas Supreme Court

282 P. 570

129 Kan. 253

THE STOCKMEN'S BANK OF SENECA, NEBRASKA, Appellant, v. LEO MADISON, Appellee

No. 28,913

Supreme Court of Kansas

December 7, 1929

Decided July, 1929.

Appeal from Jewell district court; WILLIAM R. MITCHELL, judge.

Judgment reversed and cause remanded.

SYLLABUS

SYLLABUS BY THE COURT.

LIMITATIONS OF ACTIONS--What Law Governs. An action is barred by section 60-310 of the Revised Statutes of this state where the cause therefor arose in another state, and at the time the action is commenced in this state it would be barred by the statute of limitations of the state in which it arose if it had been there commenced.

R. W. Turner, Donald Stanley, both of Mankato, and Ivan D. Evans, of Thedford, Neb., for the appellant.

R. C. Postlethwaite and D. H. Postlethwaite, both of Mankato, for the appellee.

OPINION

MARSHALL, J.:

The action is one to recover on a promissory note. Judgment was rendered in favor of the defendant, and the plaintiff appeals.

The defendant pleaded that there had been a settlement of the indebtedness evidenced by the promissory note which had been secured by a mortgage on personal property, the settlement having been effected by turning the mortgaged property over to a party named by the plaintiff and kept by the defendant for that party for a period of time after the property had been turned over. The defendant also pleaded that in August, 1922, the plaintiff had maliciously caused the arrest of the defendant on a charge of having disposed of a part of the mortgaged property and had caused the defendant to be placed in jail and to be put to the expense of defending the criminal action, which was afterward on April 18, 1923, dismissed without trial, and that the plaintiff had thereby caused damage to the defendant in an amount in excess of plaintiff's claim. The plaintiff in reply denied the allegations of the answer and alleged that the cause of action in favor of the defendant for the malicious prosecution was barred by the statute of limitations of the state of Nebraska, where the note and mortgage had been given, where the property was situated, where the prosecution was commenced, where the arrest had been made, and where the parties, plaintiff and defendant, had resided from the time the note had been given until the statute of limitations of that state had run on any cause of action that might have existed in favor of the defendant on account of the malicious prosecution.

Testimony to prove the settlement was admitted in evidence. The statutes of the state of Nebraska were excluded. The court instructed the jury that it could find in favor of the defendant on the theory that a settlement had been effected, or on the theory that the defendant had sustained damages in excess of the amount due on the note by reason of the malicious prosecution. The court instructed the jury that--

"The claim of plaintiff that any of the matters set up by the defendant in defense of the claims of plaintiff are barred by the statute of limitations cannot be urged in so far as such matters are set up as a defense to the claims of plaintiff made in this action."

Section 60-310 of the Revised Statutes of Kansas reads:

"Where the cause of action has arisen in another state or country, between nonresidents of this state, and by the laws of the state or country where the cause of action arose an action cannot be maintained thereon by reason of lapse of time, no action can be maintained thereon in this state."

Statutes of Nebraska were introduced on the motion for a new trial, as follows:

"Civil actions can only be commenced within the time prescribed in this chapter, after the cause of action shall have accrued." (Compiled Statutes of Nebraska, 1922, § 8506.)

"Within one year an action for libel, slander, assault and battery, malicious prosecution, or false imprisonment; an action upon a statute for a penalty or forfeiture, but where the statute giving such action prescribes a different limitation, the action may be brought within the period so limited." (Compiled Statutes of Nebraska, 1922, § 8513.)

"The answer shall contain: First, a general or specific denial of each material allegation of the petition controverted by the defendant; second, a statement of any new matter constituting a defense, counterclaim or set-off, in ordinary and concise language, and without repetition." (Compiled Statutes of Nebraska, 1922, § 8615.)

"The defendant may set forth in his answer as many grounds of defense, counterclaim, and set-off as he may have. Each must be separately stated and numbered,...