McMahon v. Turney
McMahon v. Turney
Opinion of the Court
— This is an action by a .subcontractor to recover the reasonable value > of work and labor which he claims he furnished to the defendants, who are charged in the petition as principal contractors for the erection of a building. The petition sought also the establishment of a lien against the property, but that feature was abandoned upon the trial, and the
The transcript filed here is very imperfect, and in many respects unintelligible, so that it is nearly impossible to tell from it who the parties appealing are, and we can only conjecture that the defendants, Gitten, Brockschmidt and Nelson, are probably the appellants. The judgment entry makes no disposition of the defendant owners, nor does it make any disposition of the defendant Turney, except in the following manner: “ It is, therefore, considered and adjudged by the court that the petition of plaintiff be taken as confessed as against said Turney, and that plaintiff have judgment accordingly. ’ ’ As the pi aintiff under the conceded facts of service upon Turney could have no personal judgment against him, and as no judgment against his property is sought, this judgment, whatever it may mean, is clearly erroneous, as it does not make the only disposition of Turney, which could be made of him, that is a judgment of dismissal. A judgment entry must dispose of all the defendants.
We have deemed it proper to call attention to these irregularities in the record to prevent their recurrence in similar cases, although we are compelled to reverse the judgment for a reason going beyond these technical defects; namely that there is no evidence to support it.
The plaintiff’s petition as above seen charges the defendants appealing as original contractors for the erection of the building on which plaintiff did this
It seems to be supposed by the plaintiff’s counsel that this hiatus in the proof is supplied by the testimony of the architect, who says that in drawing the contract he made the defendants partners, but this oral evidence has no probative force, in view of the recitals of the contract which does not make them partners. It is simply an interpretation of the contract by the architect, which is opposed to the legal interpretation of the instrument, and as such it necessarily goes for naught.
In addition to the foregoing, we may say that the evidence shows there is no equity in plaintiff’s claim. It appears by the uncontroverted and unimpeached testimony of one of the defendants that none of the defendants except Turney had any beneficial interest in this contract. It further appears by the plaintiff’s evidence that he receipted for this work to Turney, for the purpose of enabling the latter to collect the money from the owners, which he did, but that, instead .of paying
As the only person against whom the plaintiff can have any claim under the evidence is Turney, and as no-personal judgment can be rendered against Turney (who was brought in by publication) in this proceeding, there is no reason for remanding the cause.
Judgment reversed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.