Maplewood Bank & Trust Co. v. Carragher Construction Co.
Maplewood Bank & Trust Co. v. Carragher Construction Co.
Opinion of the Court
This is an appeal from the judgment of the Essex Circuit Court giving summary final judgment to plaintiff-respondent against defendants-appellants for $1,575 damages, entered upon an order for summary judgment, which order struck out the answers of both defendants and two of the three counterclaims filed by defendant Carragher Construction Company, and denied that part of the motion to strike out the third counter-claim of defendant corporation.
The complaint was based upon a promissory note dated September 1st, 1932, payable one month after date, to “The
Plaintiff-respondent gave notice of a motion before the Circuit Court for an order to strike out the answers “on the grounds that the allegations contained therein are untrue in fact and sham, or that they are frivolous, argumentative and uncertain;” to strike out counts one and two of the counterclaim of the corporation defendant, “on the ground that said counts are untrue in fact and sham, or that they are frivolous and do not disclose a cause of action;” and to strike out count three of the counter-claim “on the ground that said counter-claim is for unliquidated damages and therefore not the proper subject of a counter-claim, and on the further ground that said counter-claim arises out of an entirely separate transaction and raises a separate issue which would em
IJpon the hearing of the motion defendants presented no affidavits. After argument the Circuit judge, as above stated, made an order striking out all the pleadings of both defendants except the third counter-claim of defendant Carragher Construction Company, and granting summary final judgment. From this judgment defendants appealed.
Several grounds of appeal are argued, but for present purposes it seems necessary to consider only one, which we think is well taken.
We think the learned Circuit judge erred in ordering a final judgment for plaintiff upon its claim while allowing a counter-claim in an amount exceeding plaintiff’s claim, to stand.
The order for summary judgment directs: “that the motion to strike out the third count of said counter-claim be denied,” and further orders that: “final judgment be entered in favor of the plaintiff and against the defendants Carragher Construction Company, and John J. Carragher, for the sum of $1,575,” &c.
How the third counter-claim of the defendant Carragher Construction Company is in the amount of $9,159.32, far exceeding plaintiff’s claim.
Rule 67 of the Supreme Court says: “If the amount found due on the counter-claim of the defendant exceeds the amount found due to the plaintiff, the defendant shall have judgment for the excess.”
Apparently the Circuit judge considered the order for final judgment justified by rules 82 and 83. But we do not take that view. WTe think the situation presented in the present case did not justify the final judgment entered, since such final judgment runs counter to the spirit and purpose of rule 67.
The judgment will be set aside, with costs.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.