The W.H. Taggart Mercantile Co. v. Clack

• Decision Date: 20 March 1903
• Docket Number: Civil 800
• Citation: 8 Ariz. 295,71 P. 925
• Parties: THE W.H. TAGGART MERCANTILE COMPANY, a Corporation, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. W. W. CLACK, Defendant and Appellee
• Court: Arizona Supreme Court

71 P. 925

8 Ariz. 295

THE W.H. TAGGART MERCANTILE COMPANY, a Corporation, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. W. W. CLACK, Defendant and Appellee

Civil No. 800

Supreme Court of Arizona

March 20, 1903

APPEAL from a judgment of the District Court of the Fourth Judicial District in and for the County of Mohave. R. E. Sloan, Judge. Affirmed.

The facts are stated in the opinion.

E. E Ellinwood, for Appellant.

E. M Sanford, for Appellee.

OPINION

DAVIS, J.

-- The appellant corporation commenced an action in the court below against W. W. Clack to quiet its title to a certain mining claim in the Wallapai Mining District, Mohave County, known as the "Silver King." The defendant filed an answer and cross-complaint to the suit, in which he denied that the plaintiff was the owner or entitled to the possession of said mining claim, but alleged that the same had become forfeited by reason of the failure of the plaintiff to make the annual expenditure thereon required by law, and that on January 9 1901, when the Silver King ground was open to relocation, the defendant had entered upon and located the same, in his own name, as the "Unit Mining Claim." The defendant prayed that his title be determined and quieted as against the claims of the plaintiff. Upon the trial of the case, the only question in contest was as to whether there had been a failure by the plaintiff to perform one hundred dollars of assessment-work on the Silver King for the year 1900, so as to make the claim open to relocation on January 9, 1901. The record shows that the court called to its aid a jury of twelve men, and submitted to them certain issues, in the form of interrogatories, directed to the ascertainment of the extent and value of the labor done and improvements made upon the Silver King mining claim for the year 1900, and that upon the issues thus submitted the jury found against the plaintiff. The court followed the findings of the jury, and entered a decree in favor of the defendant on his cross-complaint, quieting his title to the Unit mining claim against all claims, demands, or pretensions of the plaintiff thereto. From this judgment and decree the plaintiff appeals.

Error is sought to be predicated upon the form of the interrogatories which were submitted to the jury, it being claimed that the same were not plain, terse, direct, and simple, nor confined to a single question of fact, nor such as could be answered by yes or no. Our statute provides that "in all cases, whether law or chancery, where more than one material issue of fact is joined, interrogatories may under proper instructions, be submitted to the jury by the court in writing, and they shall be answered by the jury; provided, that such interrogatories shall be plain, terse, direct and simple, shall each be confined to a single question of fact, and shall be so framed as to be answered by yes or no, and shall be so answered." Rev. Stats., 1901, par. 1427. This statute is directory only, and the matter of the submission of...