32 Cal. 304 | Cal. | 1867
Lead Opinion
This is an appeal from an order striking out a statement on motion for new trial. The respondent moves to dismiss the appeal upon the ground that no appeal lies from such an order.
We have recently held, in several cases, that an order striking out a statement on motion for new trial is not appealable. (Leffingwell v. Griffing, 29 Cal. 193; Ketchum v. Crippen, 31 Cal. 365; Pendegast v. Knox, ante, 73; Genella v. Relyea, ante, 159.) It is true, we entertained such an appeal in Harper v. Minor, 27 Cal. 107, and Jenkins v. Frink, 27 Cal. 337, but the point that such an appeal did not lie was not made, and it escaped our notice.
In some districts a practice seems to have arisen in relation to proceedings touching new trials, which we think has no foundation in the Practice Act. If the defendant, in the motion, has, or supposes he has some technical grounds upon which to resist the motion, such as a failure to file and serve notice of motion, or statement, or affidavits to be used at the hearing, within the periods of time respectively provided by the statute, he has been allowed to make a counter motion to dismiss the motion for a new trial where the notice is not within time, or to strike out the statement where the notice is in time but the statement is not. In Harper v. Minor the counter motion was to dismiss the motion for a new trial, and in Jenkins v. Frink it was to strike out the statement. We are of the opinion that such a mode of procedure is irregular, and not only without the sanction of any provision of the statute
Suppose the motion for a new trial to be dismissed, or, what amounts to the same thing, the statement or affidavits upon which it is based stricken out, how is the plaintiff in the motion to proceed thereafter? He may claim that his notice or statement, as the case may be, is in time, and if so he is entitled to the opinion of this Court upon that question. How is he to get his case here within any of the modes fixed by the statute? If no way has been provided, or if there is a way and it is unnecessarily circuitous and complicated, a practice which necessitates a resort to it ought not to be countenanced.
It is suggested that he may still prosecute his motion for a new trial and insist upon an order denying it, and then appeal from the order. There is a manifest absurdity involved in the idea of further prosecuting a motion which has been dismissed, or the foundation upon which it rests stricken out. But overlook the absurdity and suppose the thing to have been done, what will come to this Court on the appeal—of what will the record consist? In passing upon the question of new trial we are confined to the record upon which the Court below ruled. By the very conditions supposed the Court below had no record before it when it denied the motion, so we have
But it is suggested that the order dismissing the motion or striking out the statement may be brought up on the appeal from the order denying the motion by a bill of exceptions. Suppose that this could be done, it would be necessary to come here twice before the motion for a new trial could get here; for the first appeal would merely reverse the order striking out the statement, and a statement would thereafter have to be settled by the Court below and the motion for a new trial again decided before we could reach the question. But it cannot be brought here by a bill of exceptions. The definition of an excption as given in section one hundred and eighty-eight of the Practice Act is not broad enough to cover such a case. An exception as there defined is an objection taken at the trial, or at any time from the calling of the action for trial to the rendering of the verdict or decision.
It is next suggested, that on the appeal from the order denying the new trial, the ruling of the Court in dismissing the motion, or striking out the statement, can be brought up by a statement made on such appeal, as provided in section three hundred and thirty-eight. Suppose that this can be done, such a course would still be objectionable, because it would make it necessary to bring the case here twice before the motion for a new trial could be reached, for the reason, as stated above, that until the error in dismissing the motion or striking out the statement has been corrected, no statement for the purposes of the motion for a new trial can be prepared. But we do not consider that orders referred to in the three hundred and thirty-eighth section include orders granting or refusing new trials. Motions for new trials rest here, as in the Court below, upon the record made and settled before the motion is heard. There can, therefore, be no occasion for a further statement on an appeal from such an order, for we can only review it upon the same record upon which, the Court below decided. The orders referred to in section three hundred and thirty-eight are evidently such special
From these considerations we think it clear that the practice" pursued in this case is out of the line of procedure adopted by the code. It is manifest that under either mode above suggested the first appeal, though nominally from the order denying or granting a new trial, is in effect an appeal from the order striking out the statement, for that order is the order and the only one which is in fact reviewed, and the order from which the appeal appears to be taken is not reviewed at all, and cannot be until the case has gone back and an opportunity has been given to the parties to make a record upon which it can be heard.
To show the utter absurdity of such a practice it is only necessary to trace it one step further. If a statement can be made'up under the three hundred and thirty-eighth section, after a motion for a new trial has been decided, it must be done within twenty days. Suppose a dispute should arise as to whether it was filed within time and a motion should be made to strike it out also, and should be sustained, how Would the case stand then? Would still another statement be in order ? If a statement would be in order in the first instance, it would for the same reason be in order in the second, and so on to the end of time; statement after statement could be struck out and all access to this Court on the part of the plaintiff in the motion be cut off. A practice which leads to such absurd consequences cannot be sustained.
A party moving for a new trial is entitled to a ruling upon • his motion upon the basis upon which he presents it, in order that he may have and enjoy unembarrassed his right of appeal to this Court. If his notice or statement has not been served or filed within time, that is a good reason why his motion
There is no force in the suggestion that the defendant in ■the motion, if not allowed to take this course, will be forced to waive objections as to time. If the notice and statement, or either of them, is not filed within time, he may safely rely upon such facts as fatal to the motion when brought to a hearing. If, however, as is generally the case, there is some doubt as to whether they are within time, and he does not de.sire to take any risk, he may propose amendments without waiving his right to object that they are not within time by a simple preface that he does so without prejudice to his right to object at the hearing to the notice or statement upon those grounds. By so doing he waives nothing; on the contrary, he preserves all his rights in the premises. The Court will then proceed and settle the statement and at the hearing pass upon the objections so reserved. If the motion is denied an appeal can then be taken to this Court, where the whole matter can be reviewed" upon the record upon which the Court below heard the motion. Such is the plain and obvious course prescribed by the statute and no departure from it can be indulged, without, as we have seen, mischievous if not absurd results.
The appeal must be dismissed; but we. advise the Court below ,to set aside its order striking out the statement and allow the motion for a new trial to proceed in the manner suggested.
Dissenting Opinion
I concur in that part of the order which dismisses the appeal, on the ground that the order from which the appeal is taken is not appealable, but I am compelled to dissent from
Under the New York code a motion for new trial may be made upon a “ case ” answering in many respects to our statement. (N. Y. Code, Sec. 265.) The statute does not minutely point out the mode of proceeding in making up a
It is said, however, that the Practice Act does not provide for striking out statements, and the practice is out of the line of the methods indicated. The reason of the absence of any express provision to that effect seems obvious enough to my mind. The law does not contemplate any irregular proceedings. It provides for a regular course of judicial proceedings, and contemplates that the course indicated will be pursued. It does not presume that a statement on motion for a new trial will be filed without a previous notice of intention to move duly served, or after the time allowed by law has expired, and the right fyas been waived, or, that it will be filed in any instance without authority of law, and, therefore, does not make any express provision for dealing with such a case. Hor is any required. The power to purge its files and records
If this is not good practice, there is, of course, but one alternative left—the one suggested in the opinion of my associates—to treat the statement as though it was regularly and properly filed, notwithstanding the fact that it is illegally on the record, placed there without the shadow of right, and to be ultimately entirely disregarded; go through the labor— and sometimes very arduous and annoying labor—of preparing and serving amendments, serving notice of settlement, requiring the Judge to devote a few hours, or days, as the case may be, to its settlement; also as much time as may be necessary to the argument and determination of the case upon the matter in the statement, as well as the regularity of the proceeding, and then bring it to this Court, and upon preliminary motion have the entire statement, as finally settled after so much labor, struck out because the original statement served was filed without a notice of intention to move for new trial, or after the time had expired, or because the document in the record is no statement. I do not suppose a term of this Court has passed since its organization, without striking out one or more statements on motion for new trial on these very grounds—because they were improperly filed, and had no proper place in the records of the Court from the beginning. (De Castro v. Richardson, 25 Cal. 49.) “ It is manifest the statement was not prepared and filed within the time prescribed by the statute, and consequently it forms no • part of the record.” (Ryan v. Dougherty, 30 Cal. 221.) A statement without legal notice of motion for new trial cannot be “ annexed to the record of the judgment or order from which the party may appeal." (Flateau v. Lubeck, 24 Cal. 366.) If it forms no part of the record, why compel the Court below to treat it as a part of the record, and put the parties to the expense of bringing it here ? Why not meet the intruder at the threshold, by striking out the document as soon as it appears, • without imposing on the counsel and the District Judge this accumulated burden of useless labor, and saddling
The striking out of a statement which has been improperly filed in no way interferes with the regular proceedings on a motion for a new trial. It is a proceeding interlocutory to the order granting a new trial. The striking out of the statement takes away those grounds necessary to-be presented by statement, but not necessarily all the grounds upon which the application, or motion for new trial may be subsequently made. Only three causes, out of the seven, for which a new trial may Be granted, depend upon or have any relation to a statement. (Prac. Act, Sec. 194.) The motion is often, perhaps usually, made on some of the other four grounds, as well as those required to be presented by statement. In such case, the striking out of the statement takes away a portion of the basis upon which the moving party intends to rely. He may still obtain a new trial on the other grounds. His statement is not his motion or application. It simply contains the grounds, in whole or in part, upon which the moving party relied to sustain his motion. In Jenkins v. Frink, 27 Cal. 339, we said that the third step in a proceeding to obtain a new trial is: “ The motion, or, in the language of the statute, ‘ the application for new trial,’ which 4 shall be made at the earliest period practicable after filing the affidavits or state
But it is said that an appeal from the order denying a new trial after striking out the statement, is, in effect, an appeal from the order striking out, as that is the only order reviewed. The same may be said with equal propriety of the case of an order sustaining a demurrer to a complaint, but which goes no further. • The order is only interlocutory, and not appealable. The party desiring to appeal must prosecute the matter to a judgment against himself or he cannot appeal. (Moulton v. Ellmaker, 30 Cal. 429 ; Moraga v. Emeric, 4 Cal. 308.) And when the appeal from the final judgment is taken, the interlocutory order sustaining the demurrer only is reviewed in the same sense as the order to strike out a statement is reviewed on appeal from the order denying a new trial. The two cases are parallel, and I am not able to perceive that there is any greater absurdity in the necessity for prosecuting the proceeding to the final order in the former case than in the latter; and I am not aware that any objection has ever been urged to entering final judgment after overruling the demurrer, and then appealing from the final judgment because the interlocutory order was really the one to be reviewed.
I'also think my brethren in error in supposing that, if a
But if I am wrong in supposing that the aggrieved party is entitled to make a statement on appeal from the order, and the consequences suggested in the opinion of the Court must follow the practice of striking out, that is to say, that there will be no remedy, then, in many instances the same objections apply with equal force to the practice recommended by my associates, and the same consequences must follow. Suppose a contest arises, whether a notice of intention to move for a new trial has been served at all, or, if served, whether served in time, or whether a statement has been filed in time. These questions often arise from various causes, such as defective attempts to make service personal, or substituted; mistakes and disputes about dates; mistakes in orders extending
It is further said, that motions for new trials rest on a record made and settled before motion had; that we can only review the action of the Court below on the same record; and that there is, consequently, no occasion for a statement on appeal from orders granting or refusing new trials. This is doubtless true, when all the errors or rulings sought to be reviewed on appeal occurred before the verdict or finding, and are presented in the settled statement on motion for new trial—that is to say, when the rulings complained of are in the record upon which the Court below acted. But sometimes they are not in the record. The statement on motion for new trial is to contain only the grounds upon which the party intends to rely particularly specified, and “ so much of the evidence, or a reference thereto as may be necessary to explain the particular points thus specified, and no more.” (Sec. 195) When the parties cannot agree, the statement must be settled by the Judge. In settling the statement he acts judicially. The moving party may have introduced matter to which the other party objects as irrelevant to the points specified, and he, in turn, offers amendments to which his opponent objects on the same grounds. The Judge must rule upon the matters, either admitting or rejecting, as he shall adjudge the right to be. It is his duty to exclude irrelevant matter. (McMinn v. Whelan, 27 Cal. 321.) He may err in these rulings, as well as in others, and the statement, as finally settled, may bear but a faint resemblance to that originally proposed. But it is the statement as settled and certified—the result of the judicial contest, and the rulings of the Court in the process of settlement, and not the statement, as first proposed, or the means by which the result is attained, that constitutes the record upon which the Court finally acts, in granting or denying a new trial. It is this result alone—
Again : the practice of striking out statements on motions
I confess, it seems bordering on presumption to still persist in maintaining my views, after they have been so confidently
There are many rulings in the progress of a cause previous to a trial, and perhaps in other stages of the proceedings, which are liable to be erroneous and which a party is entitled to have reviewed, but which he cannot make the subject of an exception, as the term is used in sections one hundred eighty-eight and one hundred eighty-nine of the Pactice Act. The same is also true in respect to the various appealable 'orders; and, in my view, the office of the statement on appeal, either from the judgment or order, is to enable the party aggrieved to bring into the- record in this mode those matters which are not made record in any other designated mode. The statement on appeal from all appealable judgments, and orders, is the medium provided by law for presenting for review in this Court every ruling of the Court below affecting the judgment or order from which the appeal is taken, from the first inception of the suit, or proceeding, to the final judgment or order, where the question does not arise on the judgment roll, or is not presented in some other mode specifically prescribed by statute. It is the peculiar office of the statement on appeal to present those matters for which no other specific provision is made. It was designed to cover other grounds and reach other errors, than those presented by a statement on motion for a neio trial. Some of the rulings on questions of law embraced in a statement on motion for new trial may, it is true, also be presented by bills of exceptions and statements on appeal from the judgment; but the general purpose of statements on appeal, both from judgments and orders, is to provide for errors in other portions of the field of litigation than those covered by statements on motions for new trial. We substantially so held, as I think, in Harper v. Minor, 27 Cal. 109. This mode, I also think, includes those objections taken to
As we have seen, no mode of bringing many matters of the kind before indicated in this opinion into the record is suggested in the prevailing opinion, and, as it is fair to presume one would have been suggested, had any occurred to the minds of my associates, I think it may be safely concluded, that there is no remedy in those cases, unless the view maintained in this opinion is sound. Now, the general methods of the Practice Act for making records of matters not otherwise provided for, is, by statement on appeal from the judgment, or order, which is the subject of appeal. Section three hundred thirty-eight so expressly provides, and this is not attempted to be controverted. The provisions of this section apply to every appealable judgment and order, unless an appeal from an order granting or denying a new trial be an exception. This I do not understand to be disputed. A statement on appeal from such order, for the purpose of bringing into the record those intermediate rulings and matters affecting the order not otherwise presented, is, therefore, in entire congruity and harmony with the methods prescribed by the Practice Act with reference to every other appealable order. Whether the method be good or bad, it is the one prescribed, and, I may be permitted to say, I think it both simple and good. If it is good as to other orders, it must be good for accomplishing the same purpose on appeals from orders granting and denying new trials. No substantial ground for a distinction is apparent to my apprehension. Nor, if I read section three hundred thirty-eight aright, is any distinction made by statute. The language
It is suggested that the utter absurdity of the view maintained in this opinion will be apparent by tracing the proceeding one step further—that the same difficulty might occur in making a statement on appeal that arose in making the statement on motion for new trial, and statement might follow statement ad infinitum. It is, perhaps, a sufficient answer to this suggestion to observe, that the statute provides for nothing beyond a statement on appeal from the order upon motion for new trial. The statement can only reach those matters prior to and affecting the order. The order granting or denying a new trial is the last appealable order in that line of proceeding. There must be an end of statements, as of all things finite, and this is the end of the law in that line of procedure. It may be said, that there may, then, at last, be an error without a remedy. Be it so. Ita lex scripta. But the view maintained in this opinion has, at least, this advantage over that of my associates : an opportunity is afforded by it to review and correct all error’s of every kind which intervened in the prior stages of the proceedings in any way affecting the order from which the appeal is taken ; and this opportunity can only be lost by some further blunder subsequent to the order. I apprehend that, in practice, the liability to go on repeating in the statement on appeal from the order deny
An order striking out a statement on appeal from a final judgment would be appealable, because such an order “ is a special order made after final judgment?” within the meaning of section three hundred forty-seven. It is a special order, and it follows the judgment in the same line of proceeding. Upon such appeal the party appealing would, undoubtedly, be entitled to have a statement on appeal annexed to the order under section three hundred thirty-eight; and in this way he could make a record of the rulings upon which the order striking out ultimately depended. And I see no reason why a party is not entitled to appeal from all special orders after final judgment, and annex a statement showing an error complained of, so long as the Court continues to make them. So the statute provides.
In Harper v. Minor, 27 Cal. 109, there was also an appeal from an order striking out a statement on appeal from the final judgment, as well as/rom an order dismissing motion for new trial. This Court affirmed the order striking out the statement, and in so doing necessarily recognized the practice
While I think a motion to strike out a statement improperly filed correct practice, and in very many cases the simplest, most convenient, cheapest and best mode, I am free to admit that there are, perhaps, instances where prudent counsel might think it best or safest for them to pursue the mode indicated in the prevailing opinion. Counsel might not feel quite sure of their ground, and think it desirable to have the questions arising on the merits determined in the same appeal in case the decision upon the objections to the statement should finally be against them, or they might be unwilling to risk the loss of some right by failing to present amendment's, and for that reasoq take their objections and still go on with the settlement of the statement in the usual way. If counsel are disposed to pursue that course, I know of no valid objection to their doing so. I think counsel would be entitled to pursue either course, as the exigencies of the particular case might seem to them to require.