270 P. 366 | Cal. | 1928
The petition for an order transferring this cause after decision by the district court of appeal, second appellate district, division one, to this court was granted May 3, 1928. At that time we had before us a petition requesting the transfer of the cause entitled O.E. Vaughn v. Pine Creek Tungsten Co., aCorporation, to this court after decision by said district court of appeal,
The order of transfer was made in the instant case to give opportunity for a fuller consideration of the two important questions raised by petitioner, to wit, first, that a defendant, in an action to quiet title cannot collaterally attack *210 a judgment valid upon its face and which forms one of the links in plaintiff's title; second, that a subsequent purchaser of lands encumbered by the lien of a judgment valid on its face and whose rights in said lands were not affected by the rendition of the judgment has not the right to attack the judgment on grounds of fraud or mistake which the original judgment defendant would have had. Authorities are to be found in this and other states which give a color of support to the claims made by both appellant and respondent.
[1] The present action was brought by respondent to quiet his title to certain mining claims, all of which is more fully set forth in the opinion of the district court of appeal, which we append as a part of the opinion on the case. There is no doubt that the answer sets forth all substantive matters necessary to constitute a direct attack on the judgment. The allegations of fraud are fully set out and are in the usual form. The attack upon the judgment is direct and in no sense collateral. The discussion of this branch of the case comes well within the rule announced in Follette v. Pacific L. P. Corp.,
The judgment sought to be voided was rendered in the case ofVaughn v. Pine Creek Tungsten Co.,
The trial court took the position that the judgment being valid upon its face was immune from what was regarded as a collateral attack by a party who had no interest in the subject of the action at the time the judgment was entered. Being of this view the court excluded all offers of evidence which, if true, would have had the effect of impeaching the integrity of the judgment. There has been much discussion by counsel as to whether false averments in the return of service of summons, which, if not inserted, would render the service invalid, fall within the definition of extrinsic or intrinsic fraud.
[2] "Fraud practiced upon the court is always ground for voiding the judgment as where the court is deceived or misled as to material circumstances, or its process is abused, resulting in the rendition of a judgment which would not have been given if the whole conduct of the case had been fair." (34 C.J. 282.) The species of fraud that furnishes the best example of extrinsic fraud is that kind which is practiced upon a defendant to keep him away from the trial, or to prevent him from claiming his rights in the *212 premises, or from setting up an available defense. The judgment in the instant case was a default judgment entered by the clerk. The judicial power which directs the entry of judgments was imposed upon if the allegations of the cross-complaint are true. If to induce a defendant to absent himself from the place of trial by the employment of fraudulent acts or to prevent him by fraudulent contrivance from setting up an available defense amounts to extrinsic fraud, it must inevitably follow that a fraud committed against the defendant by a false return of service of summons, when, in fact, no service was made, whereupon a default judgment is entered without giving the defendant an opportunity to have his day in court, is also extrinsic fraud and is fully as disastrous to the rights of a defendant as though he had been betrayed into absenting himself from the trial. In fact, the latter illustration includes all if not more of the elements of iniquity than the former illustration does. In both instances the defendant has not had his day in court. In the first case he was deceived into the notion that his rights would be preserved; in the other case, by the practice of fraud, the fact that an action was pending against him was concealed from him. Not being present in court, he was not able to combat any intrinsic fraud that may have been practiced against him.
People v. Mullan,
The cross-complaint contains allegations from which an inference of fraud as to the procurement of the judgment sought to be annulled is the inevitable result. This is true also as to the proposition that the court in which the judgment was entered was unduly imposed upon. The opinion of the district court of appeal, per Conrey, P.J., which we herewith adopt as a part of our decision, follows:
"This is an appeal from a judgment for plaintiff in an action to quiet title to an interest in certain mining claims located in Inyo county in this state. The defendant in its answer, among other things not necessary to consider here, alleged that from the 28th day of October, 1918, and up to the 28th day of December, 1922, the Pine Creek Tungsten Company was the sole owner and in possession of a one-half undivided interest in the said mining claims; that on the 28th day of December, 1922, said Pine Creek Tungsten Company sold and conveyed its said one-half undivided interest therein to the Natural Soda Products Company, which thereupon entered into possession of said mining claims and operated the same until the 14th day of March, 1923, when it sold and conveyed said one-half interest in said mining claims to the Tungsten Products Company, the defendant in this action, and that defendant then entered into the possession of said mines and operated the same and was operating the same when its answer was filed herein. The defendant alleged that the title claimed by plaintiff was based wholly upon a certain sheriff's sale (of date March 29, 1923), of said property of said Pine Creek Tungsten Company, made by virtue of the execution issued on a judgment which had been entered on the 17th day of July, 1922, in the case of Vaughn v. Pine Creek Tungsten Company, and that said judgment was void for several reasons; the facts alleged being the same referred to in the decision this day filed in Civil No. 5260, Vaughn v. Pine Creek Tungsten Co.,
[3] "It is contended by respondent here that even if that judgment was void, as alleged, for want of service of summons, nevertheless that the defendant in this action had no right to impeach it, because this defendant was not a party to the action in which the judgment in Vaughn v. Pine Creek Tungsten Co. was entered, and had no interest in said mining claims at the date of that judgment. The judgment was entered in the superior court of the state of California, in and for the county of Inyo, the county in which the mines are located, and if valid became a lien on the title of said Pine Creek Tungsten Company in those mines on the date of its entry. If that judgment was void it was not such lien. Unquestionably, appellant herein, claiming title in the manner hereinabove stated, would have a right to impeach the judgment on which the sheriff's sale and deed depend for their validity, if the judgment was void by reason of facts appearing on the judgment-roll. In Vaughn v. Pine CreekTungsten Co., supra, we have held that the judgment was not void on account of any such apparent defects. But appellant herein further contends that the court erred in refusing to allow appellant to show, by evidence extraneous to the record in the former action, that there was no service of summons upon any authorized representative of the Pine Creek Tungsten Company, and that therefore the default judgment rendered against that defendant was void.
"Respondent relies upon the rule that one who comes before the court solely as assignee of a defendant's right to have a judgment set aside on grounds of fraud will be denied relief, because such right is not assignable. He further contends that this rule applies in a case where, although fraud is not alleged, the judgment is sought to be impeached on account of some error extraneous to the record which left the court without jurisdiction and the judgment void as between the parties thereto. The decision in Bennett v. Wilson,
"The foregoing decision appears to have been grounded upon the proposition that because the judgment of Wilson against the corporation was regular on the face of the record (although there was in fact no service of summons) and because at the date of entry of that judgment, Wilson had not yet become a redemptioner from the execution sale under the Swearingen judgment, it followed that no rights of Bennett existing on the 17th day of July, 1896, were affected by the entry of Wilson's judgment, and that therefore he had no right to impeach the Wilson judgment.
"Before accepting the decision in Bennett v. Wilson as conclusive of the matter at issue, let us see how the rule has been stated and applied in some other cases. In People v.Mullan,
"Whitney v. Kelley,
"In Emmons v. Barton,
"So here, although appellant cannot interfere on behalf of the Pine Creek Tungsten Company to have the judgment *220
set aside, or ask to have it absolutely vacated and annulled, nevertheless appellant, so far as its status in relation to such judgment is concerned, has the right to show the void character of the judgment for the purpose of establishing the invalidity of the judgment lien, which is the very foundation of the plaintiff's claim of title. To the extent necessary for that purpose appellant had the same right that the Pine Creek Tungsten Company would have had to allege and prove that the judgment was void, either by reason of fraud or by reason of mistake leading to the default and the entry of judgment thereon. [4] In the exercise of this right appellant was, of course, subject to the same limitations which would have bound the Pine Creek Tungsten Company in seeking to obtain equitable relief against such judgment. It is a necessary condition to the allowance of such relief that facts be alleged sufficient to show that there was a meritorious defense to the action in which the judgment was entered. `Even though a judgment may have been obtained through fraud, or without service of process, a court of equity will not grant relief against it in favor of a party who "claims only the barren right of being permitted to defend against a claim to which he had no defense."' (Lee v. Colquhoun,
"We are of the opinion that the rulings of the court were erroneous in the particulars hereinabove stated and that appellant was thereby deprived of the opportunity to present an apparently good defense to the action.
The judgment is reversed and cause remanded for a new trial.
Richards, J., Shenk, J., Curtis, J., Preston, J., and Tyler, J., pro tem., concurred.
Rehearing denied. *221