Case Title: Olson v. Roop

Citation: 467 P.2d 437

Docket Number: 

State: oregon

Court: Oregon Supreme Court

Date: 1970-04-08T00:00:00Z

Document:
467 P.2d 437 (1970)
Ralph OLSON, Respondent,
v.
John Wallace ROOP and Lois B. Roop, Husband and Wife, and Pansy L. Roop, Appellants.

Supreme Court of Oregon, In Banc.
Argued and Submitted October 9, 1969.
Decided April 8, 1970.
Norma Paulus, Salem, argued the cause for appellants. With her on the briefs was William M. Gehlen, Stayton.
Dale Pierson, Salem, argued the cause and filed a brief for respondent.
Before PERRY, C.J., and McALLISTER, SLOAN, O'CONNELL, GOODWIN,[*] DENECKE and HOLMAN, JJ.
*438 HOLMAN, Justice.
This was a suit by a builder to foreclose a mechanic's lien arising out of labor and materials furnished for the construction of a house for defendants. The trial court denied the lien but entered a judgment for plaintiff for certain specified items for which the court found that no payment had been made. Defendants appeal upon the ground that the lien was not valid and, therefore, no authority remained pursuant to which a court of equity could give legal relief in the form of a money judgment.
Plaintiff does not contest the court's ruling concerning the inadequacy of his lien, nor do defendants contend there was insufficient evidence to sustain the judgment. The only question is whether, when the lien failed, equity retained authority to determine the legal issues and to enter a judgment.
The law in this state concerning the authority of a court of equity in such circumstances was, for many years, in a condition of considerable confusion. Without attempting to enumerate all of the many cases bearing upon the subject, it can be said as a general rule that equitable rights must be both averred and proved before purely legal rights will be determined by a court of equity. Walker v. Mackey et al., 197 Or. 197, 211, 251 P.2d 118, 253 P.2d 280 (1953); Ward v. Town Tavern et al., 191 Or. 1, 38-39, 228 P.2d 216, 42 A.L.R.2d 662 (1951); Oregon Growers' Co-op. Ass'n v. Riddle, 116 Or. 562, 569, 241 P. 1011 (1926). It has also been recognized in many cases that a party may waive the equity court's lack of authority and submit himself to a determination of the legal issues by the equity court. After all, the only material difference is whether a jury or a judge decides the facts because the same person is the judge, whether at law or at equity. A party may certainly waive a jury.
The dispute in the past has arisen principally over what constitutes a waiver of the court's lack of authority. This court has held many times that asking for affirmative relief and proceeding to try the issues without any objection constituted a sufficient waiver by a defendant. Ward v. Town Tavern et al., supra, 191 Or. at 40, 228 P.2d 216; Oldenburg v. Claggett, 142 Or. 238, 241-242, 20 P.2d 234 (1933); Hansen v. Bogan, 127 Or. 399, 403, 272 P. 668 (1928). However, in Winkleman v. Oregon-Washington Plywood Co., 240 Or. 1, 10, 399 P.2d 402 (1965), we, finally, clearly held that a jury trial is waived by defendant's failure, at the completion of plaintiff's case in chief, to request that the case be transferred to the law side of the court for a jury trial. See also Ward v. Town Tavern et al., supra, 191 Or. at 38, 228 P.2d 216 and Topolos v. Skotheim et al., 126 Or. 683, 693, 250 P. 235, 270 P. 753 (1928). We believe this rule to be an eminently fair one, which adequately protects the right of a jury trial and at the same time avoids repetitious trials resulting from a change of heart after an adverse result is known.
We must now determine whether defendants adequately protected their right to a jury trial under the above rule. At the completion of plaintiff's case, defendants made the following motion:
We see nothing in defendants' motion which apprises the trial court that defendants were objecting to the court's authority to determine all issues because of the lack of equitable cognizance and a jury trial. One of the issues under the pleadings was whether defendants were indebted to plaintiff. After the motion was denied, defendants proceeded to submit their evidence on the issues without further objection. The following language from Ward v. Town Tavern et al., supra, is particularly appropriate:
It should be recognized, of course, that there is no such thing as a motion for an involuntary nonsuit in an equity case. Also, pursuant to ORS 16.460(3), the motion should have been to transfer the case to the law side of the court rather than one to dismiss.
We hold that the defendants waived the lack of equitable cognizance and a jury trial. The judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
[*]  GOODWIN, J., resigned December 19, 1969.