Columbia Graphophone Co. v. Slawson
Columbia Graphophone Co. v. Slawson
Opinion of the Court
The sole question here for consideration is whether a party may prosecute error to a judgment in favor of one of several joint obligors without making the other joint obligors parties to such proceeding. Section 11256, General Code, provides: “Parties who are united in interest must be joined, as plaintiffs or defendants. If the consent of one /who should be joined as plaintiff can not be obtained, or, he is insane, and the consent of his guardian is not obtainable, or he has no guardian, and that fact is stated in the petition, he may be made a defendant.”
That this action could not have been maintained in the trial court against one of the three joint obligors without waiver on the part of such defendant, express or implied, seems to be obvious, and indeed it is not otherwise claimed by the plaintiff in error. But it is contended that since the motion for a new trial was sustained as to two of the joint obligors, and no judgment was rendered in their favor, the plaintiff in error was at liberty to dismiss the action as to them, and that they were, therefore, no longer parties united in interest.
' We see no good reason why these three makers of the guaranty were any' less united in interest in the court of appeals than they were in the trial court, nor are we able to see how the fact that the trial court rendered a judgment in favor of one of them and not in favor of the others severed that joint interest, since that judgment was the very action the proceeding in error sought to have reversed. Much less are we able to see how the voluntary dismissal by the plaintiff in error of two of the joint obligors could operate to sever their joint interest and thereby without the consent of
We are of opinion that Section 11256, General Code, contemplates that all parties united in interest must be joined as plaintiffs or defendants in all stages of a litigation, unless waived by the ' party injured by such failure to unite. .
Judgment affirmed.
Reference
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Parties — Error proceedings — Section 11256, General Code, applies, when — Joint obligors on guaranty — All necessary parties, when — Effect of dismissal of or judgment for one obligor. 1. Section 11256, General Code, applies with equal force at all stages of a litigation. . 2. Joint obligors upon a guaranty are parties united in interest within the meaning of Section 11256, General Code. The rendition of a judgment in favor of one, and not in favor of all, does not relieve a party seeking, a reversal of such judgment from the jurisdictional obligation of making them all parties in an error proceeding. 3. The fact that an adverse party voluntarily dismissed his action against two of the joint obligors, without prejudice, after the rendition of the judgment sought to be reversed, does not sever their- unity of interest, nor make them any less necessary parties.