Case Title: JR Watkins Company v. Beisel

Citation: 103 N.W.2d 333

Docket Number: 

State: south-dakota

Court: South Dakota Supreme Court

Date: 1960-05-31T00:00:00Z

Document:
103 N.W.2d 333 (1960) J. R. WATKINS COMPANY, a foreign corporation, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. Maynard C. BEISEL, Roland Klueber and Alma Klueber, Defendants and Respondents. No. 9827. Supreme Court of South Dakota. May 31, 1960. George W. Kunkle, Yankton, for plaintiff and appellant. Louis H. Smith, Sioux Falls, for defendants and respondents. SEACAT, Circuit Judge. The plaintiff, The J. R. Watkins Company, commenced this action against the defendants, Maynard C. Beisel and Roland and Alma Klueber, to recover the sum of $1,364.80 for certain Watkins products sold and delivered to the defendant Beisel, the payment of which plaintiff claims was guaranteed in writing by the defendants, Roland and Alma Klueber. The defendant Beisel answered and denied liability, and counterclaimed for damages in the sum of $6,000. The defendants, Roland and Alma Klueber, filed a separate answer also denying liability on the grounds that the contract signed by them guaranteeing payment to the plaintiff by the defendant Beisel for all products sold and delivered by the plaintiff *334 to Beisel was obtained by fraud of the plaintiff, and also that the plaintiff granted extensions of time to Beisel for payment of the goods contrary to the written guaranty. The action was tried to the court without a jury, which resulted in findings of fact and conclusions of law and judgment releasing the defendants, Roland and Alma Klueber, from any and all liability to the plaintiff, allowing the defendant Beisel credit for products to be returned to the plaintiff company of the value of $600, dismissing the defendant Beisel's counterclaim, and rendering judgment in favor of the plaintiff and against the defendant Beisel in the sum of $764.80, besides the costs. The plaintiff, feeling aggrieved, has appealed from the judgment without making an application for a new trial. The appellant has presented to this court six assignments of error which the respondents maintain are mere assertions of error, in violation of SDC 33.0735, and present no questions for review. SDC 33.0710 provides: However, in order for an appellant, who is appealing from a judgment without a motion for a new trial, to raise the insufficiency of the evidence to support the findings, conclusions and judgment, he must comply with SDC 33.0735 which provides: This court has held under this statute that an assignment of error need follow no stated form, but must fully and plainly point out the error alleged to exist, and if the insufficiency of the evidence to justify the decision is assigned, the assignment must state the particulars in which the evidence is claimed to be insufficient. SDC 33.0735; Stoecker v. Stoecker, 74 S.D. 415, 54 N.W.2d 171; Loffer v. Witte, 71 S.D. 626, 28 N.W.2d 698. Assignments that merely assert error without stating the particulars in which the evidence is claimed to be insufficient and which fail to refer to the page of the transcript or portion of the record where *335 the alleged error appears are wholly insufficient. Stoecker v. Stoecker, supra; Hirning v. Dunlap, 64 S.D. 414, 266 N.W. 882; Mahoney v. Smith, 41 S.D. 278, 170 N.W. 140; Reeves v. National Fire Ins. Co., 41 S.D. 341, 170 N.W. 575, 4 A.L.R. 1293; Privat v. Grand Bay Land Co., 41 S.D. 494, 171 N.W. 327; Brown v. Brown, 46 S.D. 469, 193 N.W. 596; Burd v. Meader, 50 S.D. 641, 211 N.W. 604; Sully v. Egan, 51 S.D. 46, 211 N.W. 803. Turning to the appellant's assignments of error, we find that assignments 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 are as follows: These assignments merely assert error and do not conform to section 33.0735 in that they do not either refer to the page of the transcript or portion of the record where the alleged error appears or state the particulars in which the evidence is claimed to be insufficient, and therefore present nothing for review. Appellant's fourth assignment of error reads as follows: In the trial of a case to the court without the intervention of a jury, it is not error for the court to deny a motion for judgment at the end of the trial, as SDC 33.1403 provides that upon the trial of a question of fact by the court, its decision consisting of findings of fact and conclusions of law separately stated must be given in writing and filed with the clerk, and no judgment shall be rendered or entered until after such filing of such decision. Furthermore, this assignment also does not refer to the transcript or record where the alleged error appears, and merely asserts error, and presents nothing for review. As the plaintiff has wholly failed to comply with the provisions of SDC 33.0735, the judgment of the trial court is affirmed. All the Judges concur. SEACAT, Circuit Judge, sitting for SMITH, J., disqualified.