58 Mo. App. 61 | Mo. Ct. App. | 1894
This is a suit on a duly authenticated . copy of a judgment rendered by a court of general jurisdiction within the state of Wisconsin.
“Now upon motion of Geo. W. and Charles W. Lakin, attorneys for plaintiff, it is hereby adjudged that Jesse W. Walker, the plaintiff, do have and recover of the defendant the possession of the said property described in the complaint, if delivery thereof can be had; and in case a delivery thereof can not be had, then that said plaintiff recover of said' defendant the value thereof, to wit: The sum of $190, together with the aforesaid sum of $190 damages, together with the sum of $92.31 costs and disbursements, amounting in the. whole to the sum of $472.31.”
The answer of the defendant denied there was a record of the judgment.
At the trial the plaintiff offered in evidence a duly authenticated copy of the record of the proceedings and judgment together with section 2888, chapter 128 of the Revised Statutes of Wisconsin, 1878, page 765. To the introduction of which defendant objected on the ground that the petition did not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action and on the further ground that the judgment was in the alternative. This objection being by the court sustained plaintiff asked leave to amend his petition by striking out that part as to
The act of congress in relation to the authentication of records provides the manner in which the judicial records and proceedings of the courts of any state shall be proved or admitted in any other court within the United States and when so authenticated they shall have such faith and credit given them in every court within the United States as they have by law or usage in the courts of the state whence the said records shall be taken. Kincaid v. Storz, 52 Mo. App. 564.
The judgment was rendered in conformity with the express requirements of the statute of Wisconsin (R. S. (Wis.), section 2888), and is unexceptionable in form and substance. Heeron v. Beckwith, 1 Wis. 17; Smith v. Phelps, 7 Wis. 211; Rose v. Tolley, 15 Wis. 443. Judgments are revived in that state by civil action, instead of by scire facias. R. S. Wis. 1878, secs. 2916, 3463; Ingraham v. Champeon, 54 N. W. Rep. 398. If an action could be brought on the judgment in the-state where rendered, then manifestly it could be-brought here where there is jurisdiction of the person of the defendant.
The proper action on a foreign judgment at law for the sum awarded by it, is that of debt. Brisbane v. Dobson, 50 Mo. App. 170. But it is contended by the defendant that the judgment sued on is in the alternative and therefore it will not support an action of debt. The Wisconsin statute, like that of our own state, does not require that the judgment of return of the property shall fix a time in which it is to.be made and if not complied with, the money judgment to
On the face of the judgment after such a period it must be conclusively presumed that return of the property can not be had, and that, therefore, it must be regarded as only a money judgment which, of course, will support the action of debt. The alternative feature in such case is as if it had never been.
In Thorner v. Batory, 41 Md. 593, it was held that a judgment which had been rendered by a court of .the
But whatever may be the rule in respect to alternative and conditional judgments, it can have no application to the judgment on which this action is based, for upon its very face the alternative, that possibly would otherwise render it not actionable, is shown to have expired by lapse of time, or in other words the right to return the property, which was stated to exist in the Maryland case just referred to, can not be invoked by defendant in this case on account of the great length of time that has elapsed since its rendition.
The petition stated a good cause of action, and no valid reason is perceived why the record of the judgment offered in evidence was not admitted to prove the ■cause of action plaintiff alleged.
The judgment will be reversed and the cause remanded.