44 Neb. 301 | Neb. | 1895
The question presented in this ease is the construction of sections 18, 20, and 21 of the Code of Civil Procedure in relation to limitations of actions. Webster sued Davies on several promissory notes made by Davies and maturing in 1884, 1885, and 1887. The action was brought in the district court of Platte county on June 21, 1890. Davies answered that on June 21, 1890, and for more than three years prior thereto, he had been a resident of Wyoming; that each of the notes was executed and delivered in the state of Nebraska while Davies was a resident of this state. He then pleaded a statute of Wyoming to the effect that such actions on contracts expressed or implied, contracted or incurred before the debtor became a resident of Wyoming, shall be commenced within two years after the debtor shall have established his residence in Wyoming. The reply was a general denial. The only evidence was the statute pleaded by the defendant and the testimony of the defendant himself, which shows that in 1887 he went to Wyoming in the employ of a railroad company, going first to Wiser, then moving to Laramie, where he bought a home, then to Green River, where he bought another home, thence to Rock Springs, thence to Millis, remaining altogether at these different points in Wyoming about three years; that he went to Wyoming because he was employed by the railroad company and went from place to place in Wyoming as directed by that company, but he left with the intention of making his home in Wyoming and without any intention of returning to Nebraska. Shortly before this action was brought his father died and he thereby inherited property in Nebraska, and for that reason returned. The court found generally for the defendant and entered judgment accordingly.
“ Sec. 18. All actions, or causes of action, which are or have been barred by the laws of this state, or any state or territory of the United States, shall be deemed barred under the laws of this state.”
“ See. 20. If, when a cause of action accrues against a person, he be out of the state, or shall have absconded or concealed himself, the period limited for the commencement of the action shall not begin to run until he come into the state, or while he is absconded or concealed; and if after the cause of the action accrues he depart from the state, or abscond, or conceal himself, the time of his absence or concealment shall not be computed as any part of the period within which the action must be brought.
“Sec. 21. When a cause of action has been fully barred by the laws of any state or country where the defendant has previously resided, such bar shall be the same defense in this state as though it had arisen under the provisions of this title.”
Where similar statutes are in force there was formerly much doubt because of the apparent conflict between section 20 and the other sections quoted • but it has been quite generally decided that the provision of section 20 which toils the statute during the absence of a defendant from the
Judgment affirmed.