Poole v. Caulfield

California Supreme Court
Poole v. Caulfield, 45 Cal. 107 (Cal. 1872)

Poole v. Caulfield

Opinion of the Court

By the Court:

The appeal is taken from an order entered April 3d, 1872, reciting that the action had been shortly theretofore dismissed upon ex parte motion of defendants, and under a misapprehension of the facts by the Court, and directing the restoration of the cause.

1. No statement is annexed to the order in accordance with section three hundred and thirty-eight of the Practice Act, and for that reason the alleged error in entering the order cannot be inquired into.

2. But if the question argued at the bar had been properly presented the order would not have been disturbed. The decision as made below was one based wholly upon the construction which the Court below placed upon its rules of practice, and even if open to examination here, on the ground that it mistook the meaning of its own rules, we think that the continuance of the cause on April 14th, 1871, upon consent of parties, took away for the period of two years thereafter the right of the defendant to move its dismissal under the thirty-first rule of the Court below.

It is argued here, however, that the cause should have been dismissed, irrespective of the rule itself, and upon the ground of lack of diligence in its prosecution.

If the question of diligence in fact, and under the actual circumstances of the case as they may be ascertained to exist, is to be made, it ought to be presented to the Court below in the first instance, upon notice given, so that the plaintiff may have an opportunity to present the facts upon which he relies to establish the proper degree of diligence upon his part. No such proceeding appears to have been as yet attempted upon the part of the defendant in the Court below.

Order affirmed.

Reference

Full Case Name
E. A. POOLE v. H. A. CAULFIELD
Cited By
3 cases
Status
Published
Syllabus
Appeal from Order.—Alleged error in entering an order cannot be inquired into on appeal, unless there is a statement annexed to the order. Construction of Bule of Court.—If a rule of Court provides, that when a cause has heen at issue for two years upon a question of either law or fact, and the plaintiff has not brought it on for a hearing, that the defendant shall be entitled to an order of dismissal without notice, the continuance of the time for the argument of a demurrer by consent takes away for two years thereafter the right of the defendant to move for a dismissal. Diligence in Prosecuting Suit.—On an appeal from an order which involves the question of the dismissal of an action for want of diligence in prosecuting it, the question of diligence must first he presented to the Court below on notice given, or it will not be considered by the appellate Court.