Crenshaw Bros. v. Southern Pacific Co.
Crenshaw Bros. v. Southern Pacific Co.
Opinion of the Court
This is an application for an order recalling the remittitur, and, also, to correct the judgment of this court in the action made on the eighth day of April, 1919.
The judgment of the lower court from which the appeal was taken was for the principal sum of $3,163.50, with interest thereon at the rate of seven per cent per annum, as follows: ... In reviewing the case, this court reached the conclusion that the amount of recovery should be the sum of $1,528.06, with interest thereon at the rate of seven per cent per annum, as follows: . . . thus modifying the judgment and reducing the principal in the sum of $1.635.44. The plaintiff in the action petitioned the supreme court for a hearing in that court, which was on June 5, 1919, denied. No petition for rehearing in this court was filed and no motion made to correct the judgment of this court, either as to the amount found to be due plaintiff from defendant or as to the matter of costs on the appeal. The matter stood thus until June 13, 1919, when the present application was filed.
It appears from the application that after the remittitur was received and filed by the clerk of the lower court appellant served its cost bill upon respondents’ attorney, who thereupon came to this court for the relief asked.
Section 1027 of the Code of Civil Procedure provides as follows: “The prevailing party on appeal shall be entitled to his costs excepting when judgment is modified, and in that event the matter of costs is within the discretion of the appellate court ...” Rule XXIII, 177 Cal. liii, [176 Pac. xi], provides that: “In all cases in which the judgment or order appealed from is reversed or modified, and the order of reversal or modification contains no directions as to the *46 costs of appeal, the clerk will enter upon the record, and insert in the remittitur, a judgment that the appellant recover the costs of appeal. In all cases in which the judgment or order appealed from is affirmed, the clerk will enter upon the record, and insert in the remittitur, a judgment that the respondent recover the costs of appeal.”
In Martin v. Wagner, 124 Cal. 204, [56 Pac. 1023], cited in Granger v. Sheriff, 140 Cal. 190, 195, [73 Pac. 816, 818], the court said: “Wliere fraud or imposition has been practiced upon this court in procuring its judgment, the remittitur will be recalled and jurisdiction will be reasserted upon *47 the ground that the judgment so procured is a nullity. But in this case no charge of fraud is made. In its legal aspect it stands in no different position from that of any other case in which an erroneous decision may chance to have been made by this court. Under the constitution, by the lapse óf time and the issuance of the remittitur, the judgment has become a finality, beyond the power of this court to modify or amend.”
Obviously, we cannot amend the
remittitur
should we recall it without first amending the judgment and, as we have seen, this we cannot do. It is not claimed that there was fraud, or that the court was imposed upon or that, by its judgment, it inadvertently failed to state which party should pay the costs of the appeal.
The application is denied.
Burnett, J., and Hart, J., concurred.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- CRENSHAW BROS. and SAFFOLD (A Partnership), Respondents, v. SOUTHERN PACIFIC COMPANY (A Corporation), Appellant
- Cited By
- 5 cases
- Status
- Published