167 Ind. 153 | Ind. | 1906
This suit was commenced on June 2, 1903, by appellant, a minor, by his next friend, in the city court of the city of Hammond, Lake county, Indiana, to have a certain judgment rendered in said court declared void, vacated and set aside, on the ground of fraud penetrated by appellee in securing the rendition thereof.
The following are some of the material facts disclosed by the amended complaint filed in the proceedings: On November 12, 1902, appellant, Philip Steinmetz, a minor in the employ of appellee company, was injured through its alleged negligence while at work in its .packing house at the city of Hammond, Indiana, on account of which injuries his left arm had to be amputated near the shoulder, etc. On November 15, 1902, the father of appellant, Philip Steinmetz, as his next friend, instituted in the city court of Hammond against appellee, in the name of appellant, an action for damages arising out of said injuries. The city of Hammond is incorporated under the general laws of this State pertaining to the incorporation of cities. The damages sought to be recovered in the action were laid at $500, the limit of the jurisdiction of said court under the laws of this State in an action for the recovery of money. It is shown that the defendant, by its attorneys, appeared to said action without any service of process. A jury was demanded and impaneled, and it returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff for $500. It is charged that this verdict was not returned upon any evidence given in the case, but was returned solely upon statements made to
It will be noted.that this statute invests city courts with original concurrent jurisdiction with justices of the peace and with the city mayor. By §3497 Burns 1901, §3062 R. S. 1881, the mayor of a city, in addition to the particular powers therein granted, is in civil actions invested, within the limits of the city, with the jurisdiction and powers of a justice of the peace. Turning to §1500 Burns 1901, §1433 R. S. 1881, we find that therein it is provided that “justices of the peace shall have jurisdiction to try and determine suits founded on contract or tort, where the debt or damage claimed or value of the property sought to be recovered does not exceed $100, and concurrent jurisdiction to the amount of $200, but the defendant may confess judgment for any sum not exceeding $300. No justice shall have jurisdiction in any action of slander, for malicious prosecutions, or breach of marriage contract, nor in any action wherein the title to lands shall come in question, or the justice be related by blood or marriage to either party.”
That a justice of the peace under the laws of this State is not invested with the powers of a court of equity, and is not authorized to assume jurisdiction and award relief in equity cases, as is a court of superior general jurisdiction, is settled by repeated decisions of this court. Brown v. Goble, supra, and cases cited; Leary v. Dyson (1884), 98 Ind. 317; Greenwaldt v. May (1891), 127 Ind. 511, 22 Am. St. 660.
In the latter appeal Judge Elliott, speaking for the court, said: “As the judgment for costs was obtained by fraud, equity will enjoin its collection, for the justice of the peace had no authority to review his own judgment on the ground