Sammis v. James
Sammis v. James
Opinion of the Court
As shown by the preceding statement, this is an action instituted in the Circuit Court of Duval county in this State on a judgment recovered by James S. Wight-man, suing for the use of James and Lucetta Marcher,
The assignments of error are as follows: 1st. Sustaming the demurrer to the 2d. 3d and 4th pleas filed December 7th, 1884; 2d. Sustaining the demurrer to the 2d and 3d amended pleas filed November 9th, 1886; 3d. Sustaining the demurrer to the 4th and 5th pleas filed November 17th, 1886; 4th. The refusal to permit defendant to file the plea of plene administramt, offered January 11th, 1887; 5th. The refusal to charge the jury as requested by defendant; and, 6th. Entering the stated judgment.
It may be safely asserted that where a final judgment has been recovered against a person in a court of one state, and an action is brought on that judgment in a court of another state, the question of the former tribunal’s jurisdiction of the person sued is open to inquiry and adjudication in the latter court; but where the former tribunal has acquired jurisdiction of the person of the defendant against whom it rendered judgment, its adjudication of the merits of the controversy, assuming always that the court had jurisdiction of the subject-matter of the suit, is conclusive upon the courts of a sister state. These principles have been established with reference to the provisions of Section 1 of Article IY of the Constitution of the United States, that “full faith and credit shall be given in each state to the * * judicial proceedings
It is also true, and reasonably so, that where the party sued undertakes to assail by plea the jurisdiction over him of the court of the sister state in which the judgment sued on was obtained, the plea must negative by certain and positive averment every fact upon which such jurisdiction can be legally predicated. If by any reasonable intendment the facts alleged in the plea can exist, and the court rendering the judgment sued on still have had jurisdiction, the plea is bad. Black on Judgments, Sec. 898; Freeman on Judgments (3rded.), Sec. 455 (4th ed.), Sec. 461; Shumway vs. Stillman, 4 Cowen, 292; Starbuck vs. Murray, 5 Wend., 148; Smith vs. Rhoades, 1 Day, 168; Moulin vs. Trenton Mutual Life & Fire Ins. Co., 24 N. J. (Law), 222; Latterett vs. Cook, 1 Iowa, 1; Struble vs. Malone, 3 Iowa, 586; Welch vs. Sykes, 3 Gilman, 197; Puckett vs. Pope, 3 Ala., 552; Barkman vs. Hopkins, 11 Ark., 157, 168; Williams vs. Renwick, 52 Ark., 160; Price vs. Ward, 25 N. J. (Law), 225; Long vs. Long, 1 Hill, 597.
The test of these principles is to be applied to the pleadings before us; but before doing so, the observations to be found in the next succeeding paragraph are necessary.
Applying the test of these rules to the pleas as applicable to the first count of the declaration, we are entirely satisfied of the insufficiency of the 2nd and 3rd pleas filed December 7, 1885, and of the 2nd plea filed November 9, 1886, and of the 4th plea filed on the 17th of the same month. Though the first and second of these four pleas state that there was no service on John S. Sammis, the intestate, they fail alto.
In so far as the first of the pleas discussed in the preceding paragraph affirms that the intestate was not indebted to the plaintiff in the judgment sued on, the authorities all hold that the fact of the indebtedness is concluded by that judgment. It belongs to the merits of that controversy, and has been adjudicated,
This leaves nothing of these pleas, in so far as they are applicable to the first count, undisposed of except certain features of the fourth plea. That plea denies that the intestate made the note declared on, and asserts that it was not produced or filed in the New York cause. Such matters do not go to the jurisdiction, but the former of them, as is said above of one feature of the first of these pleas, is strictly part of the merits of the complaint or controversy which the intestate was summoned to answer, and the latter pertains to New York procedure, and does not fall within that class of cases to which Rogers vs. Given, and others cited with it, supra, belong, and in -whose favor a reservation has been made by us. If the law of New York makes the filing of the note sued on in the case an essential to the validity of the judgment by default, or under such law the absence of such filing renders the judgment void there, that is a fact which is not, but should have been, set up in the plea. If the absence of such filing does not render the judgment void there, or, in other words, if, the court having jurisdiction of-the person of the intestate and the subject-matter of the suit, the judgment is valid there, it is valid here. Black on Judgments, Sec. 859-861, 867-881, 889; Renard vs. Abbott, 116 U. S., 277; Ritter vs. Hoffman, 35
There is but one aspect in which it can be said that the preceding views would not be applicable to the preceding pleas when considered in their relation to the second count of the declaration. Whereas, the copy of the New York judgment filed November 2d, 1885, with the first count, is not a part of that count, the second count makes the transcript of the New York proceedings filed with it October 28th, 1886, a part of the latter count, by the use of apt words, as follows: “which is herewith filed as a part hereof, marked exhibit A.” The act of 1828, McClellan’s Digest, Sec. 30,' p. 817, and R. S., Sec. 1057, provides that all bonds, notes, bills of exchange, covenants and accounts, upon which suit may be brought, or a copy thereof, shall be filed with the declaration, and in Hooker vs. Gallagher, 6 Fla., 351, it was properly held that a copy of a note which was filed with the declaration without any words purporting to make it a part of the pleading, was not a part thereof, and was not reached by demurrer. Without laying any stress upon the fact that fhis cause of action is not among those designated by the statute, we are unable to see that the quoted words of the declaration have not made it a material part of the second count to be considered in judging the pleas, and viewing them as having done so, we think its effect is to limit the scope of the allegation that the New York court “had jurisdiction of the parties” to an assertion that jurisdiction was obtained
II. The fourth of the pleas filed December 7th, 1885, is in effect that the statute of limitations and non-claim have run against and barred the claim set up; that is-to say, more than one year had elapsed since the-
As a defense under or plea of the statute of non-claim, this pleading is obviously insufficient, since it fails to allege a publication of the notice required by that act, McClellan's Digest, p. 84, sec. 30 (Fillyau vs. Laverty, 3 Fla., 72; Ellison vs. Allen, 8 Fla., 206), and such defect renders unnecessary any discussion of the question whether one year or two yTears is allowed by that act for the presentation of claims.
This, however, does not dispose of the plea, for if it be true that the action was barred, under the general statute of limitations of February 27, 1872, pp. 731-734, McClellan’s Digest, by the lapse, without suit, of one year from the grant of administration, the plea clearly presents this defense and should have been sustained. Section ten of this act prescribes twenty years as the period within which any action on any ■judgment of any court of any state within the United States, must be instituted, that section and others fixing the different limitations which govern other classes of causes of action. The fifteenth section is as follows: “If a person entitled to bring an action die before the expiration of the time limited for the commencement (hereof, and the cause of action survives, an action may be commenced by his representatives after the expiration of that time, and within six months from
We do not think this is ¡jjhe purpose or effect of this section; on the contrary, our judgment is, that its purpose was simply to secure the period of six months, and that of one year, according as the case may be, wherever the cause of action is alive at the death of the testator or intestate, and the statute is then running on it, and the period on limitation, applicable to it under other sections of the law, has expired before the issue of the letters, or will expire within less than the period of six months alter such issue, when the right of action is in the decedent, or within less than the period of one year, when the right of action is against the deceased. The sole purpose and effect of the section is to provide for cases in which the right of action existed in or against the. deceased at his death, a¡nd the statutory period controlling resort to the courts for its enforcement, was then running, and might expire either before the grant of administration, or after such grant, and within less than six months, or one year, (according to the class of the case) therefrom. The words “time limited for the commencement thereof,” mean and refer to the time prescribed elsewhere in the statute for bringing the action which may at any time be under consideration,
We are aware that a different view has been expressed in this court in the case of Sanderson’s Admrs. vs. Sanderson, 17 Fla., 820, 850. There it is said: “When the statute has not run in the lifetime of the intestate and the cause of action survives then it ceases to run after his death until an administrator is appointed; and upon his appointment, the action under the statute must be brought ‘within one year after the issuing of letters of administration.’ The terms ‘after the expiration of that time,’ in this section are limited by the terms ‘within one year after issuing letters of administration. ’ The terms ‘after the expiration of that time,’ in this section are there to make it clear that even if a greater length of time than the general limitation has expired after the death of the intestate and before letters of administration are issued, yet in cases where the limitation has not operated in the lifetime of the intestate, the time between the death and the issue of letters shall not be estimated.” We do not think the general limitations of the statute cease to run on the death of the testator or intestate; on the contrary, they continue to run, and if
The views referred to as announced by J ndge Westcott in the case just cited, though concurred in as an abstract proposition by the other justices then constituting the court, were held by them not to be applicable and were consequently not enforced, in that cause. Hence they have not the force of adjudicated law. To the extent and for the reasons indicated above, we are unable to agree with his conclusions, and we find ourselves supported by a similar conclusion reached in other states where the same statutory provision obtains. In California, where the corresponding section is identical with ours, it was said: That section only applies to cases where the statute has commenced to run; 'and that this construction is evident as well from reason as from the language of the section; and that the object was not to curtail, but to prolong the period for suing in the given category. Smith vs. Hall, 19 Cal., 85; Wood’s Cal. Dig., Sec. 24, p. 48. In Nevada, where six months was the general limitation, and three .months of it had run when the debtor died, and about
The result of our conclusions, with which, we may remark, the decision in Sanderson’s Admrs. vs. Thomas and Livingston, 17 Fla., 468, does not conflict,, is that the plea considered as one presenting the period of one year from the grant of letters as a bar is insufficient in law, and the demurrer was properly sustained.
IV. The third of the pleas filed November 9, 1886, alleged that Wightman, the plaintiff in the New York judgment, did not sell, assign or set over the judgment for a valuable consideration to James and Lucetta Marcher, and has never done so. It was demurred to and the demurrer was sustained. The second count of the declaration alleges such an assignment of the judgment. The argument advanced in support of the plea, and against the ruling sustaining the demurrer thereto, is, that the real party in interest must bring the suit, and for his own use. and can not bring it for parties not interested.
Under the common law system of jurisprudence, dioses in action are not assignable at law; or, in other words, fhe courts of law do not recognize any transfer or assignment of them, though courts of equity do, and hence the assignee can not, at least in the absence of a new promise to him by the obligor, maintain an action at law on them in his own name, but must sne in the name of the assignor, the obligee in the contract, for the use of such assignee. Barbour on Parties, 42, 44; Hooker vs. Gallagher, 6 Fla., 351; Kendig vs. Giles, 9 Fla., 278; 1 Parsons on Contracts (7th ed.), 223. Statutes, prior to 1881, modified the law rule as
V. Even if we treat the “5th” of the pleas filed November 9th, 1886, as a plea of plene administran it, instead of a statement that the administrator has no assets, without showing good reasons for not having any, it is bad. The idea oí plene administramt is not admissible in this State in an action whose purpose is merely to put the claim in judgment. Barnes vs. Scott, 29 Fla., 285, 11 South. Rep. 48; State vs. Crawford, 23 Fla., 289, 2 South. Rep., 371. The last remark is a sufficient disposition of the alleged error of the judge in refusing to permit the filing of a plea of plene administramt which was presented by the defendant on January 11th, 1SS7. It is certainly not error to refuse at any time a plea which is never admissible in the action.
\rI. The failure upon the part of the plaintiff to take any notice of the plea filed November 13th, and numbered 2d, is of no consequence. Its puiqpose was to present an issue as to Sammis, the intestate, having made the note sued on in New7- York, and hence, for reasons indicated in the first subdivision of 'this opinion, the plea was -without merit; and, besides this, its subject-matter was covered by other pleas. Appellant has sustained no harm from its having been overlooked by the plaintiff, if not also by himself. Gregory vs. McNealy, 12 Fla., 588; Walter vs. Florida Savings Bank, 20 Fla., 826.
VIII. The last error assigned is, that the court erred in entering the judgment in this cause, the same not corresponding with the pleadings, or being authorized thereby. The action is against the administrator on a cause of action which accrued against the intestate, and the judgment is in the usual form of a judgment de bonis testatoris. In so far as there were issues of fact, the requisite proof of all material facts, including that of New York law, is conclusively presumed to have been made. Dorman vs. Bigelow, 1 Fla., 281. These observations, with what has been said before, cover the entire case.
The judgment is affirmed.
Reference
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- Egbert C. Sammis, in Error v. James
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- 1. A demurrer to pleas to a declaration was filed, and two days after a new count was added to the declaration, and seven days later the demurrer was heard. Held, that the pleas stood to-the new count, and that the demurrer was applicable to them as standing in that relation. Section 98, p. 834, McClellan’s Digest. 2. Where a final judgment has been recovered in a court of one of the states of the Union, and an action is brought thereon in a court of a sister state, the question of the former tribunal’s jurisdiction of the person sued, is open to inquiry and adjudication in the latter court; but where the former court has acquired jurisdiction of the person of the defendant in judgment its adjudication of the merits of a controversy, of which it also had jurisdiction, is conclusive upon the latter court. 3. Where a party sued in one state on judgment obtained against him in a sister state undertakes to question the jurisdiction of the court of the latter state over him, his plea must negative by certain and positive averments, every fact upon which such jurisdiction can be legally predicated. If by any reasonable intendment the facts alleged in the plea can exist, and the court rendering the judgment could still have had jurisdiction, the plea is bad. 4. A plea to an action on a judgment obtained in a sister state, which sets up that there was no service of summons on the defendant in the action resulting in such judgment, is bad, as it does not exclude the idea or fact that he may have appeared in that action. This is not the case, however, where the declaration shows than the court in which the judgment sued on was rendered, obtained jurisdiction solely by service of summons. 5. Allegations in a plea that a defendant sued in one state on a judgment obtained in a court of a sister state, did not have his day m the latter court, or that the latter court did not have jurisdiction of him, are mere conclusions of law, and bad in substance, even though they have the basis of an accompanying-allegation that there was no service of summons in the action in which the judgment sued on was rendered. 6. A plea to an action on a judgment of a sister state, which sets up that the defendant was not indebted to the plaintiff therein, or denies the making of the note upon which that recovery was had, presents a matter of the merits of that controversy as to which the judgment is conclusive on the courts of the state where such judgment is sued on. 7. Allegations that no legal judgment has been rendered, and charging fraud without stating facts evidencing fraud, are mere conclusions of law and demurrable. 8. A plea that the note upon which a judgment of a court of a sister state was recovered, was not produced or filed in the cause in which such judgment was obtained is bad on demurrer. In the absence of an allegation in the plea that the law of the state where the judgment sued on was rendered, required the stated filing of the note, the demurrer does not admit that the law of that state required such filing. The same propositions are true of allegations to the effect that the judgment sued on was procured upon proof by affidavit of the service of the summons, and upon a complaint verified by a stated affidavit. U. The courts of this State do not take judicial notice of the laws of a sister state even in actions brought here on judgments obtained in other states; nor does the Supreme Court of the United States do so on writ of error to a state’s courts in such an action unless the state court takes such notice. 10. Error in sustaining a demurrer to a'plea is immaterial error where there is another plea of similar effect upon which no issue was taken. 11. Where there is no bill of exceptions it is conclusively presumed that the evidence sustained the verdict. 12. An averment of the required publication of the notice is essential to a plea of the statute of non-claim. 13. The fifteenth section of the act prescribing limitations in civil suits, Section 15, p. 734, McClellan’s Digest, does not create an independent or substantive limitation upon any and all causes of action which may exist in favor of or against a testator or intestate at his death, and upon which the statute may have begun to run at such death. The sole purpose and effect of the stated section are to secure after the grant of administration, the period of six months, to executors or administrators, and one year to those having a right of action against the testator or intestate, wherever the cause of action is alive at the death of the testator or intestate, and the statute is running on it, and the period of limitation applicable to it under some other section of the statute has expired before the issue of letters testamentary or of administration, or will expire within less than six months after such issue, when the right of action is in the decedent, or within less than one year when the right of action is against the deceased. It was intended to provide for cases in which a right of action existed in or against the deceased at his death, and the statutory period controlling resort to the courts for enforcing similar causes of action was then running, and might expire either before the grant of administration, or after such grant, and within less than “six months,” or “one year,” according as the cause of action may be in favor of or against a decedent. 14. The general limitations of the statute do not cease to run upon the death of a testator or intestate; on the contrary, they continue to run, and if more than six months of any period apu- plicable to a right of action existing in a testator or intestate at his death, or more than one year, where the right of action is against the deceased, remain unexpired at the time of the grant of letters testamentary or of administration, the general limitation controls, and nothing in the fifteenth section has any application or effect. Sanderson’s Administrators vs. Sanderson, 17 Fla., 820, reviewed. 15. Twenty years is the period limiting actions in this State on a judgment recovered in a sister state. A judgment was rendered in New York against a defendant on January 10, 1880, and an action thereon was commenced in this.State against his administrators more than a year after the grant of letters, and about four years after the recovery of such judgment, leaving nearly sixteen years of the general limitation of twenty years unexpired: Held, That the provisions of Section 15, of the statute of limitations, of February 27, 1872, (Section 15, page 734, McClellan’s Digest), that if a person against whom an action may be brought, dies before the expiration of the time limited for the commencement thereof and the cause of action survives, an action may be commenced against his executor or administrator after the expiration of that time and within one year after the issuing of letters testamentary or administration, did not govern the action on the judgment, but, in the absence of any publication of notice under the statute of non-claim, the action was controlled solely by the twenty-year limitation, and that nearly sixteen years remained for bringing suit thereon, at. the time the action'*-,was. instituted in this State. .. '■/ 10. The plea of mil tiel record does not present new matter, and the absence of a similiter to it is not ground for setting aside a verdict or arresting judgment-. 17. In a declaration in an action brought in the name of W. for the use of J. and L. M., the declaration alleged an assignmexit of the cause of action by W. to the usees, for a valuable consideration, and defendant pleaded that W. did not assign for a valuable consideration. The plea was bad, and demurrer thereto was properly sustained. 18. Axx action at law may be maintained on a judgment at law in the xrame of a judgment creditor for the use of an assignee of the judgment, notwithstanding the act of 1881, Chapter 3341, of the Laws, Section 981, , Revised Statutes, allowing the real parties to sue in their own name. 19. The plea of plane administravit is not admissible, in this State, in an action the purpose of which is simply to put a claim in judgment. 20. It is never error to refuse the filing of a plea that is never admissible in the action. 21. The presence in the record of a plea which has been overlooked and remains undisposed of, is immaterial where the plea is not oxxly without merit, but the subject-matter thereof is covered by other pleas which have been properly disposed of. 23. The trial judge refused an instruction offered by the defendant, and the record after this showing, reads as follows: “And the jury having heard the charge of the court and argument of the counsel, axxd having coxxsidered of their verdict, on their oaths do say;” then follows the verdict: Held, That the record shows that the judge gave instructions to the jury on the law of the case. Duggan vs. State, 9 Fla., 916, distinguished. 23. In the absence from the record of all the evidence, it will be presumed that the judge did not err in refusing to give a requested instruction to the jury. 34. A judgment de bonis intestatoris, in the usual form, is sufficient.