Cross v. Zellerbach
Cross v. Zellerbach
Opinion of the Court
This cause has been before this court twice on appeal, and the judgment on the first appeal will be found reported in 55 Cal., at page 433 et seq. (under the title of Sigourney v. Zellerbach), and on the second appeal in 63 Cal., at page 635 [under the title of Cross v. Zellerbach] . On the appeal last referred to the case bears the same title as the one before us; Sigourney having since the commencement of the action departed this life, and Cross having been afterward appointed his administrator and been substituted in place of Sigourney.
The action was originally brought to foreclose a mortgage executed to the plaintiff Sigourney by a corporation called the Eureka Lake Company. The parties to the cause were the present plaintiff’s intestate, the defendants Eureka Lake & Yuba Canal Company, and Zellerbach. It was heard on the pleadings and findings and decree of the court below: See statement, 63 Cal. 636. The judgment in that ease was reversed for reasons stated in the opinion above referred to. On the return of the cause to the court a quo, the plaintiff filed in that court a supplemental complaint, which was answered by Zellerbach and the Eureka Lake & Yuba Canal Company. This company filed also a cross-complaint, -to which a demurrer was interposed by Zellerbach. This demurrer was sustained, and from the judgment in the case, which was in favor of the plaintiff and against the company, an appeal was prosecuted by the defendant company, on which appeal the main question presented was the ruling of the court a quo on this demurrer. On this appeal the ruling of the court upon this demurrer was held erroneous and the judgment reversed. The facts before the court for consideration on this last appeal are also before us on the present one. We refer to the facts on which the ease of the plaintiff and the defendant corporation rests. In the opinion filed in this last appeal in 63 Cal. this court, after fully stating the facts, remarked: “If the facts be as stated, we see no reason why a decree should not be entered substantially as prayed
It would needlessly prolong this opinion to state the facts of the case on which plaintiff and the defendant company claim the favorable judgment of this court. They are fully stated on pages 637 to 642 in 63 California Reports, and reference is made to that statement. The facts alleged in the cross-complaint, which were assumed to be true in the judgment in 63 Cal., are found now to be true in the case under consideration. We will only state here, as to the twelve hundred and fifty shares of stock mentioned in the passage quoted above from the opinion of the court in 63 Cal., that these shares were deposited with Parrott by Zellerbaeh as collateral security for a note of forty thousand dollars executed by Zellerbach to Sigourney under an agreement between them executed on the 23d of August, 1865, and which were sold under the judgment of the district court, which was reversed, as reported in 55 Cal. On the reversal of the judgment as stated above, the cause was remanded, with directions to the court below to overrule the demurrer to the cross-complaint, and for proceedings not inconsistent with the opinion on such reversal. The cause was sent back to the court a quo, who heard-the same, and found on the testimony and the admissions in the pleadings the facts above referred to to be true; and, finding them to be true, entered a judgment as indicated by the opinion above referred to. The findings of the court were adverse to certain defenses set up by Zellerbaeh and held not to be in the way of the judgment which was rendered.
Some of the findings are attacked as not being sustained by the evidence. We have examined the testimony in the cause, and find that they are, as to everything material, sustained.
The court then proceeds to say, if the facts be as stated, it sees no reason why a decree should not be entered substantially as prayed for in both the supplemental and cross-complaints, etc. (See these latter remarks quoted in full above.)
It is a noticeable fact that on the former trial the judgment of the court below, as regards plaintiff, was substantially the same as in this ease; and, as we construe the opinion, the court discovered no error in that part of the judgment appealed from. The error for which it was reversed was that in relation to the company defendant. This view sustains the decree in favor of plaintiff rendered herein.
Several errors of law are assigned as having occurred at the trial, to which exceptions were reserved. We find no error in any of them. The evidence of Hupp was clearly admissible as to the intent with which Zellerbaeh appended his signature and the words and figures “Nevada City, May 2, 1878,” to a writing waiving the benefit of the statute of limitations as to the forty thousand dollar and ten thousand dollar notes above mentioned. Hupp, in his testimony, details the circumstances under which the signature and the words and figures were written by Zellerbaeh. These facts were pertinent on the issue of the bar of the statute of limitations as to the aforesaid notes, and were parts of the transaction or res gestae. The court committed no error in allowing this testimony.
We find no error in the record and the judgment and order must be affirmed. Ordered accordingly.
We concur: Morrison, C. J.; Myrick, J.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- CROSS v. ZELLERBACH and Another
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Statute of Limitations—Parol Evidence of Waiver.—In an action on promissory notes, where the bar of the statute of limitations is set up and issue is joined thereon, the plaintiff relying upon a writing signed by the defendant waiving the benefit of the statute of limitations, parol evidence is admissible of the circumstances under which such writing was executed as part of the res gestae. Findings.—Findings Held Supported by the evidence.