39 Iowa 413 | Iowa | 1874
For the purposes of this adjudication, it may be conceded that the facts offered to be proved by the plaintiff' would show that the justice of the peace rendering the judgment in question had no jurisdiction, and that the judgment-would, therefore, be void, and might be attacked, collaterally, in this action. The single question then remaining, and the only one necessary for us to decide is, whether, imder the facts conceded by the pleadings, the answer in the former action constitutes an estoppel. In order to constitute an estoppel, ordinarily, there must have been a representation of a material fact, known to the party asserting it, and unknown to the other, with the intent that the other shall act upon it, and upon which he is induced to act. The only element claimed, to be absent here, and respecting which the testimony was offered, is the second, to-wit: the knowledge of the party making the representation. For the answer represents the judgment as valid; this defendant Cramer was no party to it, and, in law, will be presumed ignorant of the facts respecting it; the answer was filed with intent to defeat the action, and the party was induced to act upon it, since, by the averments of the answer herein, which are .not denied, that action was
"Without entering into an extended investigation of the
Affirmed.