178 Iowa 1129 | Iowa | 1916
On the 18th day of August, 1911, the defendant herein brought an action against this plaintiff to recover damages on account of fraud and deceit in the exchange of property. Issue was joined, and the cause brought to trial to a jury on the 25th day of September, 1912. The cause was duly tried, and, on the 26th day of September, the jury returned a verdict in favor of the defendant herein, plaintiff in said cause, for $3,875. On the 28th day of September, 1912, the defendant in said cause, plaintiff in this cause, filed his motion for a new trial. On the 2nd day of January, 1913, this motion was submitted to the court before whom the cause was tried, and taken under advisement. On the 17th day of January, 1913, the court overruled the motion, and entered judgment for the plaintiff against the defendant, for the full amount of the verdict, with costs. After judgment had been entered, the plaintiff herein, defendant in said cause, through his attorney, demanded that the evidence taken down by the official shorthand reporter be certified, as required by Section 3675 of the Code. Plaintiff states that said demand was repeatedly made upon said reporter within 30 days after the rendition of the .judgment; that, by oversight or mistake on the part of the reporter, due to the fact that the judge and reporter were engaged in official work in other counties, the certificate to the shorthand notes of the evidence was not made and filed within 30 days from the rendition of the judgment, as required by the statute; that the certificate required by the statute was not attached to the shorthand notes until the 17th day of March following, and was not
“It cannot be said a party is prevented from prosecuting'or defending a case by a matter occurring after judgment. But it may be said he is prevented from prosecuting and defending an appeal in the case. But no such meaning can be put upon the language. It unmistakably refers to casualties which prevented the prosecution or defense at the trial upon which the judgment was entered.”
See Ruppin v. McLachlan, 122 Iowa 343; Richards v. Moran, 137 Iowa 220, 227; Dumbarton Realty Co. v. Erickson, 143 Iowa 677, 681.
“A judgment at law, so long as it stands, imports absolute verity as to every proposition of law and fact essential to its' existence against all the parties to it. ’ ’ See Shultz v. Shultz, 136 Ind. 323 (43 Am. St. 320, and note).
The defendant in this suit urges many grounds against the granting of the relief prayed for. We are satisfied, however, -to rest our decision upon .the ground that equity will not grant relief' against judgments entered in a court of law without some showing of ground for equitable relief — •
“The principle is fundamental that, when-a party has had full opportunity to be heard and make any defense be may have before a verdict and judgment is' rendered against him, equity will not aid him and grant relief after such verdict and judgment, unless obtained by fraud, accident, or mistake, unmixed with any fault on his part. A -judgment at law ought to be conclusive on the matter in dispute, both as settling the rights-of the parties and to put'an end to litigation, unless it affirmatively appears that such judgment is wrong, and that it would be against equity and good conscience to have it enforced. It is not enough that the judgment may be wrong, but some equitable consideration also must be shown to' exist to warrant the interference of equity. The facts alleged show that the justice’s court had jurisdiction; that both parties appeared before it and joined issue; that a trial was had by a jury; and that the verdict and judgment was regularly found and entered. All this tends to show that the judgment was right, and the rights of the parties legally determined. There is no suggestion that the trial was unfair, or that the court erred in the admission or rejection of evidence, or in any of its rulings, or that the*1139 verdict or judgment was obtained by fraud, or by any act of the prevailing party, or that the plaintiff was prevented from making any defense to the action, or in any way whatever prevented from fully and fairly presenting his cause to the jury and t¿he court. So far, there is nothing to warrant even the inference that there was any failure of justice, or that any injustice had been done by the verdict and judgment. The plaintiff puts himself upon the bare proposition that, having lost the benefit of his appeal by accident, he may properly seek relief in equity, without regard to whether or not the trial already had was fair, or the .judgment rendered therein was against equity and good conscience. But accident alone is not sufficient; there must be some failure of justice from the accident — some circumstances of hardship or fraud, as the case may be — to warrant the interference of equity.”
See also Johnson v. Branch, 48 Ark. 535. In this case it appears that no opportunity was afforded the party against whom the judgment -was rendered to move for a new trial because the court adjourned, and the term lapsed before the motion could be made and disposed of, and the court said:
:‘This was such an'accident as would give jurisdiction to a court of equity to grant relief, provided the party complaining was otherwise entitled to it. . . . The accident alone does not warrant the interference of equity.. The judgment must appear to give the winning party an,advantage which a court'of equity would not permit him to hold, in order to warrant its extraordinary interference with the proceedings at law.. It grants relief against judgments in aid of justice, not as a recompense for the accident; and, although .the law court may have committed error upon the trial, if the judgment is not against conscience, it will not meddle with it. (Cases supra.) The accident, or some other ground of equitable interposition, and the injustice of the judgment, must concur.”
“It is not enough to warrant the extraordinary interference of equity with a judgment at law, that an accident has prevented the losing party from pressing a motion for a new trial based upon technical errors occurring at the trial; even though they might be sufficient to warrant a reversal on appeal. A party who has obtained judgment after a full investigation of the controversy by a competent tribunal, will not be forced by a court of equity to submit to a new trial, unless justice imperatively demands it. It must clearly appear to the court that it would be contrary to equity and good conscience to allow the judgment to be enforced.”
See Ratto & Company v. Levy Bros., 63 Tex. 278. This is an action to enjoin a judgment on the ground that the plaintiff was prevented by accident and mistake from presenting his case on appeal to the Supreme Court. The court said:
“It is well settled that in this character of cases, ‘relief will not be granted unless the party seeking it show clearly to the satisfaction of the chancellor that he has a good defense to the action, which he was prevented from making by fraud, accident, or the acts of the opposite party, wholly unmixed with any fault or negligence on his part. He must be able to impeach the justice and equity of the verdict and judgment of which he complains and to manifest clearly to the court that there is good ground to suppose that a different result will be attained'by a new trial.’ ”
There must be something inherently wrong in the judgment, and the burden rests upon the complaining party to impeach the judgment. He addresses himself to a court of equity. It follows that, if he is unable to show any statutory or legal ground for the relief prayed- for, he must show some fact or circumstance which' calls into exercise the' larger equitable powers of a court of equity. He must not only show that the judgment is unconscionable and inequitable—
“Admitting that the delay of appellant in presenting to appellees’ counsel his statement of facts ... is not such negligence as precluded him from complaining of the failure of the presiding judge to prepare a statement of facts- before the adjournment of court, or to file such statement, as agreed by the parties, ... in time for appellant to prosecute his appeal, does the mere failure of the judge to make out and file such statement, and the subsequent affirmance of the judgment on certificate without reference to the merits, authorize the district court to grant a new trial or tQ enjoin the collection of the judgment ? Surely, it cannot be insisted that a judgment of the district court and its affirmance by this court can be set aside or enjoined, on application to the district court,- without its being made to appear, prima facie at least, by the applicant, that he had a meritorious. defense to the action, and but for the failure of the judge to make out the statement of facts, this court might, and probably would, have reversed the judgment and granted him a new trial. It is a universal rule that the aid of a court of equity can never be invoked by a party who does not show merit. Certainly the overruling and setting aside a judgment of a court having jurisdiction of the parties and subject-matter of the suit cannot be thought to be an exception to this general rule. Appellant, however, made no attempt to show merits. His petition seems to have been framed upon the*1142 theory that the district court, by reason of the fact of the failure of the judge to file the statement of facts as agreed, and his being thereby deprived of a full review of the judgment by this court, could set aside its former judgment and order a new trial of the original suit in that court, just as if a new trial had been granted on an application during the term at which the judgment was rendered. It is not pretended that appellant was in any way hindered or obstructed in making his defense to the original action in the district court. It is insisted merely that he did not get the benefit of his appeal to this court, and could not have done so with any hope of success without a statement of facts, approved by the judge. But, we ask, why should a court of equity interfere and grant relief unless there was merit in his- appeal ? Surely, no one would claim relief because by accident or mistake he has lost the opportunity of appealing from-the judgment of the district court, if it appeared that his appeal was taken merely for delay; and if not, it must be conceded, it is incumbent upon the party applying to a court of equity for relief to show equity. Appellant, when he appealed to equity for relief, because, as he says, he has lost the benefit of his appeal for want of a statement of facts, should show, prima facie at least, a meritorious ground of appeal; and that, had the statement of facts been filed, so that he could-have presented his appeal to this court as he designed, the judgment might, and probably would, have been reversed.”
The court in this ease found, upon an examination of the record, that there was no reasonable ground for believing that a new trial would have been granted if the statement of facts had been preserved and filed, and it is said:
“It is, therefore, impossible for us to say, on the case as made by appellant, 'that he has suffered any-injury by the failure of the court in the matter complained of, as would warrant a court of equity to enjoin or set aside the previous judgment.”
“The right to appeal is a right to prosecute the same according to the reasonable .rules and regulations imposed by legislative authority; ’ ’ and it is said in that case, in sub•stance, that noncompliance with the statutory requirements in perfecting an appeal is fatal to his right to be heard, and a refusal to excuse noneomplianee with the statutory*1144 requirements where the same is occasioned by accident, casualty or misfortune, is not a denial of the constitutional right, and it is said:
“It is easily conceivable that the sickness or insanity of such party occurring during that period may prevent an appeal within the time limited, yet a refusal to entertain his appeal, taken at a later date, could hardly be construed into a denial of a constitutional right. In such cases the appeal fails, not because a constitutional right is denied, but because of failure to comply with the conditions constitutionally imposed upon its exercise. If the failure is caused by unavoidable casualty, the party thus handicapped suffers a misfortune, but no wrong for which either Constitution or statute provides a remedy.”
We are not unmindful of the fact that the Supreme-Court of Nebraska has held to a different doctrine. See Curran v. Wilcox, 6 N. W. 762 (10 Nebr. 449); State v. Gaslin, 32 Nebr. 291 (49 N. W. 353) ; Holland v. Chicago, B. & Q. R. Co., 52 Nebr. 100 (71 N. W. 989) ; Zweibel v. Caldwell (Neb.), 99 N. W. 843. In this last case, the court, in referring to the previous decisions of the same court, said:
. “ In all of these cases, the constitutional right to a review is spoken of and treated as absolute. It is true, the question as to the necessity of some showing of error in the judgment complained of is not touched upon in any of them. In the absence of such a showing, the loss without fault of one’s'constitutional right of review would seem sufficient to warrant a new trial, and that prejudice will be presumed.”
In none of these Nebraska decisions above referred to is any authority given for the holding therein made except the authority of previous decisions of -the same court. In the case of Richardson v. State, 15 Wyo. 465 (89 Pac. 1027, 12 Ann. Cas. 1048), it is held that, on appeal in a criminal case, the court will grant a new trial where it is made to appear. affirmatively that the record has been lost or destroyed or mislaid, or the defendant is unable to produce it without
“It seems to be well established, as a general rule, that where a defendant has done all that the law requires in perfecting his appeal, and where the record necessary for a review of the ease is lost or destroyed while in the custody of an officer of the court, in order to prevent a possible miscarriage of justice by depriving the defendant of his legal right of appeal, a new trial will be granted. ’ ’
In this state, however, the rule is that a failure to perfect a record on appeal, because of noncompliance with reasonable legislative regulations, cannot be excused by a showing that such noncomplianee was occasioned by accident, casualty, or misfortune.
‘ ‘ This right, like all others, must be exercised and worked out through the channels of the law, and to enjoy it, the party must put himself in the attitude which the statute prescribes. . . . It is easily conceivable that sickness or insanity of such party, occurring during that period, may prevent an appeal within the time limited, yet a refusal tó entertain his appeal, taken at a later date, could hardly be construed into a denial of a constitutional right. In such
In denying plaintiff’s appeal in this case, this court held to this doctrine, and refused to consider the appeal, even upon a showing of unavoidable casualty, preventing the presentation of the record. As the case now stands before this court, the plaintiff is asking equitable relief against the judgment. He has failed to show any ground upon which equitable relief can be granted. All presumptions are in favor of the judgment entered in the court below. All presumptions are in favor of its regularity. The burden is on the plaintiff to impeach it. This he has not done or attempted. This case presents no assurance that a different result would be obtained upon a new trial. It presents no fact from which an inference can be drawn that the verdict was not the result of fair consideration by the jury of the whole record. It presents no fact from which it is made to appear.that the record upon which the jury acted was not fully and fairly made by the trial judge who presided. The plaintiff in this case has presented in this record no fact or circumstance that would tend to lead the mind to a conclusion that the judgment against him, of which he complains, was not fairly, legally, and justly entered. This court, acting as a court of equity, will not interfere and set aside this judgment on the supposition that it might result in some benefit to this plaintiff, when the record presented does not 'show any reasonable ground for so believing. The presumption is in favor of the record. The presumption is in favor of the judgment, in favor of its regularity, and of the proceedings leading up to it. "With this presumption standing in the way, it would be unjust and inequitable to this defendant to force