McCordic v. Crawford
McCordic v. Crawford
Opinion of the Court
Venice Pier is leased from the city of Venice by defendant Abbot-Kinney Company and is maintained and repaired by the latter. The carnival attractions on the pier are operated by concessionaires under contract with Abbot-Kinney Company. Defendant Samuel Crawford was authorized to operate a “Loopa” on the pier, under an oral agreement that the company receive 25 per cent of the gross receipts. The Loopa was somewhat like an old-fashioned swing, with a board suspended by steel rods from an axle some fifteen or twenty feet above the ground. It was so constructed that riders standing on the board could cause the swing to make a complete circle around the axle. The feet of the riders were strapped to the board and their shoulders to the steel rods. A sign by the device stated: “They are safe. Riders are securely fastened in the Loopas.” There was evidence that an expert rider would place no strain on the straps, but that an inexperienced rider might place a strain of up to 360 pounds on each strap. The straps were made of leather folded over and stitched at various places. Those in use when plaintiff was injured had been stitched shortly before that time by a shoe repairer. Crawford had tested some of the straps by fastening them to a solid support and jumping on them, but he did not test the straps placed on the swing where the accident occurred.
The necessity of setting limits to the time for granting a new trial is recognized in section 660 of the Code of Civil Procedure, which provides: “Except as otherwise provided in section 12a of this code, the power of the court to pass on motion for a new trial shall expire sixty (60) days from and after service on the moving party of written notice of the entry of the judgment, or if such notice has not theretofore
It is thus left to the prevailing party to take the initiative in insuring the finality of the judgment by serving upon the opposing party written notice of entry of the judgment. When he does so, the time within which a motion for new trial may be made (Labarthe v. McRae, 35 Cal.App.2d 734 [97 P.2d 251]) and granted (Gross v. Hazeltine, 206 Cal. 130 [273 P. 550]) begins to run. A notice of intention to move for new trial must be filed “within ten (10) days after receiving written notice of the entry of judgment.” (Code Civ. Proc. section 659.) Until the date of service there is no restriction on the right to move for a new trial. Thus the date of service of notice of entry of the judgment marks the starting point in this regard as well as for the sixty-day period in which the court retains power to grant a motion for new trial. Since the date of entry of the judgment itself is of no significance in either case, a notice of entry of judgment in which it appears that the judgment was entered earlier than it actually was cannot serve to make the rights of the prevailing party subject indefinitely to litigation. Section 660 does not require that the date of entry of the judgment be even mentioned; it does not in fact prescribe any set form of notice. (See 20 Cal.Jur. 176; Waddingham v. Tubbs, 95 Cal. 249 [30 P. 527]; Santa Ana etc. Co. v. Ernest Rurup Estate, 23 Cal.App.2d 445 [73 P.2d 908].) Thus in Waddingham v. Tubbs, supra, a notice of entry of judgment was held sufficient even though it referred merely to the judgment heretofore entered. An error in the date is not significant when the date itself is not. An error in an unessential detail cannot defeat the very purpose of the notice authorized by section 660. What is essential is that the notice identify the judgment and advise the opposing party that it has been entered. The omission in the code itself of any particularization of the form of notice is in striking contradiction to the insistence upon a meticulous correctness of the unessential that would vitiate the provision for a sixty-day period in which the court can pass on a motion for new trial. When the Legislature has fixed this period at sixty days
The unimportance of such an inaccuracy becomes apparent in the light of the Legislature’s concern to limit the time within which the court has power to grant a new trial. Formerly the requirement that the motion for new trial be made within 10 days after receipt of notice of entry of judgment was not accompanied by any limitation on the time in which the court could dispose of the motion. (Code Civ. Proc. (1901) secs. 659, 660.) In 1915, however, section 659 was amended to provide that the time for making the motion could not be extended by order or stipulation. Section 660 was amended to limit the time in which the motion could be granted to three months. (Stats. 1915, p. 201, 202.) In 1923 this period was reduced to two months (Stats. 1923, p. 234) and in 1929 fixed at 60 days. - (Stats. 1929, p. 824.)
Defendant contends that there is no evidence of negligence on its part and that if any negligence led to the accident it is attributable to Crawford, the concessionaire. The law is well settled in this state, however, “that a proprietor, or one who operates a place of amusement, owes a legal duty to exercise due care to protect from injury individuals who come upon his premises by" his express or implied invitation. He must see that such premises are in a reasonably safe condition. It constitutes a breach of this duty for him to fail to exercise reasonably careful supervision of the appliances or methods of operating concessions under
Defendant attempts to distinguish these eases on the ground that it did not advertise the amusement area. It is sufficient, however, that defendant, as the proprietor of Venice Pier, sharing in the proceeds of the amusement concessions, maintained the pier as a place of amusement open to the public. (Ibid.)
The evidence shows that defendant did not exercise a reasonably careful supervision of the concession in question. It failed to make any inspection of the device, to test its safety or even to question Crawford concerning its safety. The contention cannot be sustained that an inspection of the defective strap would not have revealed the defect, for the jury could reasonably conclude from the evidence that the defect would have been revealed by the very test that Crawford made of the other straps. The evidence shows that the defective strap was not strong enough to withstand a load of 160 pounds, a weakness that would have been revealed even by Crawford’s simple test, which subjected the other straps to a much greater strain. The jury was clearly warranted in concluding that the defendant would have discovered the defect in the strap had it exercised reasonable care to inspect the Loopa and that
Defendant contends that the pleadings do not charge the defendant with failure to exercise reasonable supervision of the device in question. The allegations of the second amended complaint, however, that defendant was the proprietor of the pier and negligently equipped, constructed, and maintained the device on its premises were sufficient to admit proof that defendant maintained the pier, received 25 per cent of the gross proceeds of the concession in question, and failed to inspect the device to test its safety. Moreover, testimony as to all these facts was given during the trial without objection.
The judgment and order appealed from are affirmed.
Gibson, 0. J., Carter, J., and Schauer, J., concurred.
Dissenting Opinion
By the decision of a majority of this court, the appellant is deprived of a remedy peculiarly within the province of the trial judge to grant, which it had sought with1 due diligence in proper form and which the trial judge had decided should be given. In arriving at this conclusion, the majority opinion emphasizes but one of the two dates which start the running of the 60-day jurisdictional period within which the trial court is empowered to grant a motion for a new trial. The filing of the notice of intention to move therefor also starts the running of that period, and in the present case, as in Kahn v. Smith, post, p. 12 [142 P.2d 13], the defendants filed such notice well within ten days from the service of the defective notice of entry of judgment. (See Code Civ. Proc., see. 659.) Certainly where each of the litigants serves and files a notice which limits the authority of the court to act, the court should hold that, as between the two, one incorrect in form is ineffective and the other authorizes judicial action which would be proper except for the conflict between it and the defective notice. Furthermore, the decision of the majority fails to apply well-accepted rules governing the scope of collateral attack upon appeal^ able orders. (See discussion in my dissent in Kahn v. Smith, post, p. 12 [142 P.2d 13].)
The limitations upon the power of the trial court to pass upon a motion for a new trial must be considered in connection with the purpose and policy of that procedure. Although
Under section 660 of the Code of Civil Procedure either of two dates may start the running of the 60-day jurisdictional period within which the trial court has the power to pass upon a motion for a new trial. The party in whose favor the judgment was rendered may fix the time by serving upon his adversary written notice of the entry of judgment. On the other hand, if such notice has not theretofore been served, the jurisdictional period commences upon the filing of the notice of intention to move for a new trial. The statute also provides that if the motion is not determined within the specified time, “the effect shall be a denial of the motion without further order of the court.”
But in the present action, as in Kahn v. Smith, post, p. 12 [142 P.2d 13], and in Lauritzen v. H. L. Judell & Co., 109 Cal.App. 168 [292 P. 536], the court granted the motion for a new trial within sixty days from the filing of the notice of intention to move therefor, hence it was acting within its jurisdiction if the notice of entry of judgment was ineffective. Three facts are particularly relevant in considering the rights of the parties under these circumstances. In the first place, the delay in passing upon the motion for a new trial is in no way attributable to the appellant, who acted promptly, filing its notice of intention on the seventh day following the
Applying this rule of construction to the facts of the present case, the notice of entry of judgment set forth an erroneous date of entry. As a consequence the notice did not limit the power of the court to pass upon the motion for a new trial and, as the court granted the motion within sixty days from the filing of the appellant’s notice of intention to move for a new trial, it was acting within the jurisdictional period. And it may not be said that Abbot-Kinney Company by appealing from the judgment has waived its right to question the sufficiency of the notice, particularly since it has consistently urged in its briefs that the order granting the new trial is valid and that the appeal is taken only to safeguard its rights.
Nor is the appellant now precluded from asserting that the service of the notice of entry of judgment did not fix the jurisdictional period for a ruling on a motion for new trial by failing to appeal from the order denying its motion to strike the notice of entry of judgment. For, assuming that such an order is appealable, the denial was not necessarily a ruling determining the effect of the notice. The court may have agreed with the argument of counsel that the defect prevented the service of the notice from limiting the power of the court to pass upon the motion for new trial, but, in the exercise of its discretion, decided that the notice showing the error should remain a part of the record upon which it acted in ruling upon the motion for a new trial. Also, if the error
In relying upon the cases of Waddingham v. Tubbs, 95 Cal. 249 [30 P. 527], and Santa Ana etc. Co. v. Ernest Rurup Estate, 23 Cal.App.2d 445 [73 P.2d 908], the majority opinion fails to recognize the rule that a stronger showing is required to justify interference with an order granting a new trial than with one which has been denied. (See Abercrombie v. Thomsen, 59 Cal.App.2d 331, 337 [138 P.2d 701].) Thus Waddingham v. Tubbs, supra, is clearly distinguishable from the present action, for there the court not only denied the motion for a new trial but also held that there was no error in the facts stated in the notice of entry of judgment. And in Santa Ana etc. Co. v. Ernest Rurup Estate, supra, another case' where the motion for new trial was denied, the notice of entry of judgment was in the customary form and correctly contained all of the necessary data.
For these reasons, I believe, as no appeal was taken from the order granting a new trial, the judgment was vacated and the appeal should be dismissed.
Shenk, J., and Curtis, J., concurred.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- ROBERT LEES McCORDIC, Respondent, v. SAMUEL M. CRAWFORD Et Al., Defendants; ABBOT-KINNEY COMPANY (A Corporation), Appellant
- Cited By
- 24 cases
- Status
- Published