Cockins v. Cook
Cockins v. Cook
Opinion of the Court
The Artesian Land and Water Company, a corporation, issued twenty bonds for $1,000 each, dated June 1, 1888, and secured by a mortgage on its corporate property. The defendant, Cook, became the owner of two hundred and seventy shares of the capital stock of said company on the twentieth day of June, 1888, and he continued to be the owner thereof until the twentieth day of November, 1888. The said mortgage was subsequently foreclosed by plaintiff, and under the decree rendered the mortgaged premises were sold. The sum realized from the sale was not enough to satisfy the amount found due the plaintiff on the bonds, and thereupon a judgment against the said company for the deficiency was docketed in his favor. The plaintiff commenced this action to recover from the defendant his proportionate share of the said deficiency judgment, under section 322 of the Civil Code. The complaint alleges, among other things, that the bonds were “made, executed, and issued” on the first day of June, 1888, and that “at all of said dates
The appellant contends that there was a fatal variance between the allegations of the complaint and the proofs as to the time when the indebtedness was incurred; and this is the only point made for a reversal. We do not think this point can be sustained. The general rule invoked that the allegata and probata should correspond is undoubtedly correct, but it does not apply here. The code provides: “No variance between the allegation in a pleading and the proof is to be deemed material, unless it has actually misled the adverse party to his prejudice in maintaining his action or defense upon the merits”: Code Civ. Proc., sec. 469. The main issue at the trial was as to whether defendant was or was not a stockholder at the time the indebtedness was incurred, and it seems impossible that he could have been misled to his prejudice by the averment in the complaint that the bonds were “made,
We concur: Searls, C.; Yanclief, C.
For the reasons given in the foregoing opinion, the judgment and order are affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- COCKINS v. COOK
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- Published
- Syllabus
- Pleading—Variance.—Under Code of Civil Procedure, section 469, providing that no variance between the allegation in a pleading and the proof is to be deemed material unless it has misled the adverse party, where a complaint by a judgment creditor of a corporation against a stockholder alleges that the debt was contracted on June 1st, proof that it was contracted cm August 20th is not a fatal variance.