104 Minn. 163 | Minn. | 1908
Action brought in justice court to recover a balance alleged to be due plaintiff from defendants, in which plaintiff had judgment for the amount claimed with costs. Defendants appealed to the district court upon questions of law alone, where the judgment of the justice was affirmed, from which they again appealed to this court.
The only question presented by the assignments of error necessary to be considered is whether the justice erred in overruling defendants’ objections to the admission in evidence of two certain depositions
It may be conceded for the purposes of the case that the depositions are defective in the respects pointed out, but in the absence of some suggestion of prejudice to defendants, or that the depositions are not-full, fair, and complete, the defects are not fatal. They amount to irregularities or informalities, and are cured by section 4678, R. L. 1905. That statute provides that no informality, error, or defect in any proceeding in connection with the taking of depositions shall be sufficient ground for excluding the same when offered in evidence, unless the party objecting thereto shall make it appear to the satisfaction of the court that the officer taking the same was not authorized to administer an oath, or that such party was by such irregularity, error, or defect precluded from appearing and cross-examining the witness. The purpose of this statute was to avoid the exclusion of depositions when offered on the trial of an action on purely technical grounds. Its language is broad and comprehensive, and includes all proceedings from the initiatory notice to the return of -the deposition by the officer, and, unless an error or defect be such as to render the deposition an absolute nullity, it is not fatal to its admission in evidence, in the ab
Other questions suggested in appellants’ brief are unimportant, present no reversible error, and require no special mention.
Judgment affirmed.