46 Ark. 498 | Ark. | 1885
This is an appeal from a judgment by default in a suit upon an account. The court heard no testimony on the rendition of judgment, but the judgment entry recites that the account was duly verified.
It is not necessary that the affidavit to the account should be in the language of the statute or that it should be attached to the account itself. The spirit of the statute is complied with when, as in this case, the complaint, after a proper reference to the account, which is attached to it, for the several item.3 and their separate value, alleges that the services performed are worth the amounts charged and that the defendant is justly indebted to the plaintiff in the amount claimed, and the complaint is itself properly verified. This is, in substance, a verification of the account.
As to diligence in making his defense none was shown. The defendant alleged, in his first motion, that he supposed he had counsel who would attend to his interest but his subsequent allegations and the exhibits which he filed in support of them show that he was not sincere in his first statement; for his excuse in the end for this negligence was that no resident attorney would undertake to make his defense for him, and that the non-resident attorneys applied to would appear in his behalf only upon condition that the case could be transferred to their home court. The circuit judge, doubtless, understood that the inability to procure legal assistance had been brought upon the defendant by his own conduct, and his paltering with the court in the matter in hand could not commend the reasonableness of the excuse for suffering the default.
Affirm.