286 P. 1093 | Cal. Ct. App. | 1930
On November 17, 1926, an action was commenced in the Municipal Court of the city of Los Angeles upon a judgment for the sum of $500, entered in the state of Nevada. Judgment was rendered in favor of the defendant, from which the plaintiff appealed to the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, wherein said judgment was reversed, and this is an appeal by the defendant therefrom.
It is contended that since the original judgment was rendered in a foreign state, the cause of action did not arise in Los Angeles County, nor in this state, and in any event that it was barred by the provisions of subdivision 1, section 336, of the Code of Civil Procedure. *53
[1] It is argued that since in the ordinary acceptation acase is a state of facts furnishing occasion for the exercise of jurisdiction, the cause of action did not arise in this state so as to confer jurisdiction upon the Superior Court, and is hence not a case arising in the city or county of Los Angeles, within the meaning of the statutes conferring jurisdiction upon the Municipal Court. The defendant appeared by demurrer in the courts below solely upon the grounds above mentioned, and at no time questioned the validity of the judgment upon which suit was instituted. The plaintiff alleged the rendition of judgment in Nevada, and that under the laws of that state the defendant had six months within which to appeal; that he had not appealed, and that said judgment was in full force and effect. Section
[2] It is claimed that the judgment was rendered in Nevada on June 10, 1921, and that, although the statutes in that state permit an appeal at any time within six months after entry thereof, the statute of limitations barred the present action on June 10, 1926, for the reason that the action in this state may be commenced within five years. Appellant's contention is that having taken no appeal, the judgment in Nevada was not stayed, but he offers no authority which even remotely suggests that an appeal might not have been perfected within that time, or that the statute of limitations commences to run during the period allowed for appeal. It has repeatedly been held that a cause of action upon a judgment does not accrue until the judgment becomes final, and that the statute of *54
limitations does not commence running in such cases until the expiration of the time for appeal. (Harrier v. Basford,
Although the question as to jurisdiction of this court over appeals from the Superior Court, after an appeal from the Municipal Court, where the appeal was taken after November 6, 1928, has in other cases been denied and the appeals dismissed, we are not here concerned with that situation. The appeal in this case was taken on May 18, 1927, and prior to the date upon which the statute depriving this court of such jurisdiction became effective. The facts in this regard are the same as in Harris
v. Moore,
[3] We think that this amendment to the Constitution is clearly distinguishable from the provision of the code which was passed upon in Pacific Gas Radiator Co. v. Superior Court,
That these principles are law in this state is declared in the following decisions: Pignaz v. Burnett,
In Montecito Co. Water Dist. v. Doulton, supra, the opinion declares: "The said amendment to the statute of 1913, adopted on May 11, 1923, does not purport, either by its express terms or by any reasonable implication, to be retroactive in its operation or effect, and it is a well-established principle of statutory construction that while the legislature has power to pass retroactive laws which do not impair the obligations of contracts or affect injuriously vested rights, it is equally true that statutes are not to be construed as intended to have a retroactive effect so as to affect pending proceedings unless such intent is expressly declared or necessarily implied from the language of the enactment."
To the same effect is East Bay Mun. Utility Dist. v.Garrison, supra: "There is nothing in the act itself to indicate that it was intended to have any such retroactive effect, and it is a well-settled principle of statutory construction that an act will not be construed to be retroactive in the absence of either an express declaration to that effect or a clear implication that such was the intent of the legislature." *56
In Pignaz v. Burnett, supra, the statute in question shortened the time for taking an appeal from one year to six months after entry of judgment in the trial court. After six months had elapsed, but before the expiration of one year subsequent to judgment, an appeal was taken. In passing upon a motion to dismiss, the Supreme Court said. "If the amendment operated retrospectively, it cut off the right of appeal immediately upon the taking effect of the act, affording no opportunity whatever thereafter for the exercise of this privilege, and depriving this court, so far as the legislature can, of its jurisdiction in the cases upon which it would so operate."
It was concluded that no such intention should be imputed to the legislature. We think both the logic and the rule announced in San Francisco etc. Rys. v. Superior Court, supra, are in point and controlling in passing upon the instant matter. Section
"We are here dealing with a provision of law which deprives a court of power to pass upon a motion for new trial unless such power is exercised within a specified time after verdict ornotice of decision. The time is designated in clear and unequivocal terms, and if the provision is applicable at all to proceedings pending at the time it became operative, its terms are such, in our opinion, as to preclude a construction to the effect that it did not absolutely take away from the trial court the power to pass on the motion for a new trial after the expiration of three months from the rendition of the verdict or service on the moving party of the notice of the decision of the court, regardless of all other circumstances.
"This being the construction that must be given to the provision, we have no doubt that it should not be construed as applicable to proceedings on motion for new trial pending *57
at the time it became operative. Pignaz v. Burnett,
[7] Here, it is equally true that those enacting the amendment terminating the appellate jurisdiction of the District Court of Appeal in such cases must be assumed to have had in mind both the decision in Pignaz v. Burnett, *58 and San Francisco etc. Rys. v. Superior Court, supra, as well as other decisions of our appellate courts declaring similar principles. It is also true that in this instance if the amendment be given a retroactive construction and made applicable to appeals pending at the time it became effective the result would be to "cut off at that moment" the right of a party to have the determination of his appeal or the asserted errors of the trial court reviewed at all, in those cases wherein the time for appeal expired.
[8] We have not overlooked the opinions rendered in Berg v.Traeger,* (Cal.App.) 285 P. 332, and D.Q. ServiceCorp. v. Securities Loan Discount Co.,** (Cal.App.) 285 P. 335. Unlike these decisions, we hold that in this instance it is not only unnecessary and unfair to construe the amendment here in question as being retroactive, but that to do so would be inconsistent with the authorities to which we have referred and from which we have quoted. The California decisions referred to in the last-named cases do not, in our opinion, require the conclusion that this amendment should be interpreted retroactively. In Johnson v. Wolff,
The judgment is affirmed.
Thompson (Ira F.), J., concurred.