Taylor v. Leesnitzer
Taylor v. Leesnitzer
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court.
This is an appeal from a decree passed upon a bill filed by appellee, Mary J. Leesnitzer, against Margaret E. Taylor [the appellant] .in her own right and as executrix of her deceased husband, Elizabeth E. Padgett, and Franklin C. Padgett, her husband, averring that the testator acquired the real estate described in the bill subsequently to the execution of his will, and that at his death said real estate vested in his heirs, said Mary J. Leesnitzer and said Elizabeth E. Padgett, his half sisters; that appellant had not renounced under the will within the time fixed by law, and that she had thereby become barred of dower right in said real estate; whereupon the bill prayed
Appellant interposed a demurrer to said bill, which being overruled and appellant electing to stand thereon, the court decreed said real estate to be sold and the proceeds divided between said heirs, without dower to appellant.
A motion has been made to dismiss the appeal because “Elizabeth E. Padgett, one of the defendants to the original bill, and having a substantial interest adverse to appellant in the maintenance of the decree appealed from in this cause, and who will be affected by its modification or reversal, has not been joined either as an appellee or appellant, or as a party hereto;” and “that there has been no summons and severance, or service of notification of appeal upon said Elizabeth E. Padgett.”
Mrs. Padgett and her sister have a joint interest in the subject-matter of the decree appealed from, but Mrs. Padgett was not made a party to the appeal. These facts bring this case within the rule. Godfrey v. Roessle, 5 App. D. C. 299; Slater v. Hamacher, 15 App. D. C. 294; Masterson v. Herndon (Mastersan v. Howard) 10 Wall. 416, 19 L. ed. 953; Cruit v. Owen, 21 App. D. C. 391.
We are constrained to dismiss the appeal with costs, and it is so ordered. Appeal dismissed.
On April 21, 1908, the appellant filed a motion to vacate the dismissal of her appeal, or for a modification of the decree of dismissal.
The motion was denied June 9, 1908, Mr. Chief Justice Shepard delivering the opinion of the Court:
The appellant has filed a motion to set aside the decree dismissing her appeal, and for a hearing on the merits, or else modifying the same so that she be permitted to correct her record by citing the omitted parties, or giving an additional bond.
This is not a case of a judgment or decree against two or
It is contended that this court has no right to look beyond the transcript as filed, and that the presumption must be indulged that the bond is complete in all respects. Martin v. Hunter, 1 Wheat. 304, 361, 4 L. ed. 97, 111, is cited in support of this contention. Without pausing to consider the difference between the statute regulating writs of error from the Supreme Court of the United States, which was under consideration in that case, and the rule providing for appeals to this court, the proposition may be conceded as sound under ordinary conditions. But, under the conditions of this case, the presumption as regards the recitals of the bond operates rather against, than in favor of, the appellant. When the transcript in this case was filed, July 17, 1907, it was entitled, Margaret E. Taylor, etc. v. Mary J. Leesnitzer, and was so entered upon the docket. The usual appearence signed by counsel for appellee was executed under that title. The record was printed as filed, and in September a copy was delivered to counsel for Mrs. Leesnitzer, who also entered his appearance for her. A few days before the case was called for hearing, counsel for the appellant informed the clerk that the case had not been properly docketed, as Mrs. Leesnitzer was not the only appellee, and requested that the docket and cover of the records be corrected, making the title appear as follows: “Margaret E. Taylor, etc. v. Mary J. Leesnitzer, Elizabeth E. Padgett, and Franklin C. Padgett.” This was done and the cover of the printed record was changed and reprinted as requested. No application was made to the court for leave to do this. The caption of the transcript as it came from the court below remains unaltered. Another ' copy with the amended title on the cover was then delivered to counsel for Leesnitzer. The motion to dismiss was made within twenty days thereafter. The title given by the clerk below to the transcript was the correct one if the bond ran only in favor of Mrs. Leesnitzer,
The suggestion made on the argument of the case, that, in the event the motion be held to be well taken, the appellant may be allowed to file an additional supersedeas bond and have a citation to Mrs. Padgett and her husband, has been renewed in the present motion.
While we regret to have to dispose of an appeal save upon its merits, we do not perceive how this motion can be granted. Under the provisions of the Revised Statutes (secs. 1000, 1005, 1007, and perhaps others), the Supreme Court of the United States, has been quite liberal in indulging presumptions in favor of regularity, and in permitting amendments to writs of error and citations therein. See Martin v. Hunter, supra; Peugh v. Davis, 110 U. S. 227, 28 L. ed. 127; Inland & Seaboard Coasting Co. v. Tolson, 136 U. S. 572, 34 L. ed. 539, 10 Sup. Ct. Rep. 1063; and other cases referred to therein. In Scruggs v. Memphis & C. R. Co. 131 U. S. cciv., Appx., and 26 L. ed. 741, an appeal bond for costs, though not signed by all of the appellants, was held to be sufficient surety. In Shepherd v. Pepper, 133 U. S. 627, 644, 33 L. ed. 706, 713, 10 Sup. Ct. Rep. 438, five defendants gave notice of appeal in open court. A supersedeas bond was required of one of them, Cray, in the sum of $100, which she had neglected to execute. She was in the appellate court on the record, no citation being necessary because of the notice and allowance of appeal having been made in open court, and the court permitted her to execute the bond nunc pro tunc. This had no effect to bring in a new party, but amended a defective appeal and perfected it. On the other hand, the same court has, of its own motion, dismissed appeals where a necessary party has not been brought up by the writ of error or the appeal. Estis v. Trabue, 128 U. S. 225, 229, 32 L. ed. 437, 438, 9 Sup. Ct. Rep. 58. It was held in that case that a writ of error might be amended
As before said, the reasons for requiring all of the opposing-parties in interest to be joined on the writ of error or appeal' are stronger than those which apply to the joinder of all those-
In Slater v. Hamacher, 15 App. D. C. 294, this court went very far in permitting an amendment citing in certain omitted parties, who should have been joined with the appellant, or else omitted by proper summons and severance. The decree had gone against these other defendants whose interests had been derived from the chief defendant, who alone appealed. They had acquiesced in the decree and were completely bound thereby, and the amendment cured what was considered, as shown by the authorities cited, a formal defect in the proceeding on appeal. Under the rules of the court, those parties could not have taken an appeal from the decree after the time therefor had expired, and the notice given to them was a formality. In the present case, on th'e other hand, the omitted party was opposed in interest to the appellant, and was the beneficiary, jointly with the appellee, of the decree sought to be reviewed. The decree being in her favor, she was interested in its maintenance and opposed to its review. To a proceeding to review it, she was a necessary party. As such she had the right to demand that, as to her also, the
An appeal by the appellant to the Supreme Court of the United States was allowed June 6, 1908.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- TAYLOR v. LEESNITZER
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Appeals; Summons and Severance; Equity; Parties to Appeal; Appeal Bonds; Rules of Court. 1. Where two parties have a joint interest in the subject-matter of a decree, and one of them appeals without making the other a party to the appeal, and there has been no summons and severance, the appeal will be dismissed. (Following Godfrey v. Roessle, 5 App. D. C. 299; Slater v. Hamacher, 15 App. D. C. 294; and Cruit v. Owen, 21 App. D. C. 391.) 2. In equity, parties, one in interest, may be arrayed as plaintiffs and defendants nominally; but their true relations are taken into consideration throughout the entire transaction. 3. Where, to a bill in equity by one of two heirs of a decedent against his widow and the other heir, alleging that the widow had lost, her dower right in certain land, and seeking partition by sale and a distribution of the proceeds thereof between the two heirs, the widow demurs, and, the demurrer being overruled, and she having elected to stand thereon, a decree for sale and such distribution is. passed, and the widow appeals, it is not necessary for her to obtain a severance from her codefendant, but'the latter and the complainant must both be made parties to the appeal, and, if one only is made a party, the appeal will be dismissed. 4. Semble, that, under ordinary circumstances, an appellate court has no right to look beyond the transcript as filed, and, where the transcript shows that an appeal bond was filed, but it is not copied in the transcript, it will be presumed that the bond is complete in all respects. 5. Where an appeal was docketed in this court as one in which there was only one appellee, and, on application to the clerk, by the appellant, and without leave of the court, the docket entries were changed so as to name a second appellee, and the cover of the record was reprinted and made to so show, and the question arose whether the appeal bond — of the filing of which in the lower court there was only a memorandum entry in the transcript — ran in favor of one or both appellees, it was held that the presumption was that the bond ran only in favor of the appellee first named. 6. Where a party, on an appeal from a decree which jointly affects two parties opposed to him, perfects his appeal as to one only by giving a supersedeas bond to secure him alone, this court will dismiss the appeal; and the court is powerless under its rules, on motion by the appellant, to allow the appellant to file an additional bond and cause a citation to issue to the other party and so perfect the appeal. (Citing Rule 10 of this court, and Slater v. Hamacher, supra; United States ex rel. Mulvihill v. Clabaugh, 21 App. D. C. 440, and Darlington v. Turner, 24 App. D. C. 573.) 7. This court has no power to set aside its rules relating to appeals. (Following Darlington v. Turner, supra.)