20 Mont. 279 | Mont. | 1897
The controlling issue of this appeal is set forth in the following bill of exceptions in the statement on motion for new trial:
‘ ‘Be it remembered, and it is hereby certified as part of the record in said causé and of the statement on motion for a new trial, that on the 26th day of February, 1896, the defendant, by J. W. Stanton, Esq., his counsel, jxresented to the judge of said court for settlement the proposed statement and copy of amendments thereto on motion for anew trial; the plaintiff being represented by W. T. Pigott, Esq., his counsel, who appeared solely for the purpose of objecting to the settlement, upon the grounds hereinafter set out. It is further certified that the proposed statement was duly served by copy on plaintiff, December 21, 1895; that the said proposed amendments were duly served by copy by plaintiff on defendant, December 31, 1895; that the defendant delivered to the clerk of said court, for the judge thereof, December 21, 1895, the said proposed statement, but never at any time delivered to him the said proposed amendments; that in the latter part of January, 1896, the defendant withdrew from the custody of the clerk said proposed statement, for the purpose of comparing the proposed amendments therewith, and that he never returned said proposed statement to the clerk; that the defendant has never incorporated said amendments into said proposed statement; that the proposed statement and. amendments
After the hearing of the motion for a new trial, the District Court made the following order : ‘ 'The motion of defendant for a new trial in the above-entitled cause coming on to be heard upon a statement of the case settled and allowed, after argument of the case by Stanton & Stanton, in behalf of the defendant, and W. T. Pigot, in behalf of the plaintiff, and due consideration, it is ordered that such motion be, and the same is hereby granted. ’ ’
Appellant contends that the lower court had no right to grant a new trial, by reason of the fact that no proper statement was before it.
Subdivision 3, § 1173, Code of Civil Procedure, is as follows : “If the motion is to be made upon a statement of the case, the moving party must, within ten days after service of the notice or such further time as the court in which the action is pending, or the judge thereof, may allow, prepare a draft of the statement and serve the same, or a copy thereof, upon the adverse party. If such proposed statement be not agreed to by the adverse party, he must, within ten days thereafter, prepare amendments thereto and serve the same, or a copy thereof, upon the moving party. If the amendments be adopted, the statement shall be amended accordingly, and then presented to the judge who tried or heard the cause for settlement, or to be delivered to the clerk of the court for the judge. If not adopted, the proposed statement and amendments shall within ten days thereafter be presented by the moving party to the judge, upon five days’ notice to the adverse party, or delivered to the clerk of the court for the judge. * * *”
Respondent urges that by its order granting a new trial the previous conclusion that the delay had been unreasonable was nullified. We cannot assent to this. Having once held that the delay was unreasonable, the objection to the settlement having been properly preserved and presented by appellant when the motion for a new trial was heard, it cannot be inferred that the lower court nullified its previous deliberate holding.
Of course, it was the duty of respondent, if he had accepted, as he claims, the amendments, to incorporate them in the statement when presented for settlement; but we do not deem it necessary to hold that the failure to do so was fatal. What we do hold is that the delay of 57 days in the presentation of the statement and amendments for settlement, unexplained, and found by the ,trial court to be an unreasonable delay, is fatal to respondent in this controversy. (See Connor v. Railroad Co., 101 Cal. 429, 35 Pac. 990.)
All evidence, therefore, is withdrawn from our considera
Reversed and Remanded.