Title: Biggs v. Memphis Loan & Thrift Company

State: tennessee

Issuer: Tennessee Supreme Court

Document:

385 S.W.2d 118 (1964) Joe BIGGS, Plaintiff in Error, v. MEMPHIS LOAN & THRIFT COMPANY, Inc., Defendant in Error. Supreme Court of Tennessee. December 11, 1964. *120 Albert H. Boyd, Memphis, Davis & Davis, Memphis, of counsel, for plaintiff in error. Harold C. Streibich, Memphis, Harsh, Harsh & Crawford, Memphis, of counsel, for defendant in error. HOLMES, Justice. We shall refer to the parties according to their status in the lower courts. This case originated in the General Sessions Court of Shelby County. On Wednesday, January 15, 1964 that Court rendered a judgment in favor of the plaintiff, Memphis Loan & Thrift Company, Inc., against the defendant, Joe Biggs, in the amount of $399.28 and costs. On Monday, January 27, 1964 Joe Biggs executed a pauper's oath in lieu of appeal bond which recited in part, "I am not able to bear the expense of an appeal from the judgment of the Court in the above styled case, which has this day been taken and granted". This pauper's oath was sworn to and subscribed by the defendant, Biggs, before a deputy clerk in the Office of the Clerk of the Court of General Sessions of Shelby County. Thereafter, on March 20, 1964, the Circuit Judge sustained a motion of the plaintiff, Memphis Loan & Thrift Company, Inc., to dismiss the defendant's appeal because it "was not made or perfected within the statutory time of ten days," as provided by T.C.A. § 27-509. The Circuit Judge granted an appeal from this order and allowed sixty days in which to perfect the appeal. Thereafter, on April 17, 1964, the defendant, Joe Biggs, presented to the Circuit Judge a petition for certiorari seeking a review in the Circuit Court of the judgment of the Court of General Sessions by certiorari. No writ of supersedeas was prayed for. By his fiat, the Circuit Judge ordered the petition for certiorari set for hearing on April 24, 1964. The record shows that this petition for certiorari, which is in forma pauperis, was filed with the Circuit Court Clerk on April 21, 1964. On that same date the plaintiff filed in the Circuit Court motions to dismiss the petition for certiorari and to quash same. By order of April 27, 1964, the petition for certiorari was dismissed by the Circuit Judge. By order of the Circuit Judge, the cause in which the appeal was dismissed and the certiorari cause were consolidated for purposes of appeal. The defendant has perfected his appeal to this Court and filed assignments of error and brief. The first assignment of error is that the Circuit Court erred in sustaining the motion of the plaintiff, Memphis Loan & Thrift Company, Inc., to dismiss the appeal of the defendant, Joe Biggs. By Section 4 of Chapter 109, Public Acts 1959, which is codified as T.C.A. § 27-509, *121 the time within which to appeal from a judgment of a General Sessions Court in Shelby County was changed so as to allow ten days in which to appeal instead of "two (2) entire days thereafter, Sundays exclusive," as provided by T.C.A. § 27-501. This 1959 Act provides: T.C.A. § 1-302, provides: Using the formula prescribed by this statute, it is apparent that the last day within which to appeal from the General Sessions Court judgment rendered on January 15, 1964 was Saturday, January 25, 1964. Therefore, the filing of the pauper's oath on Monday, January 27, 1964 was not within a period of ten days from the adverse decision in the Court of General Sessions. The defendant contends that by enacting Section 4 of Chapter 109, Acts 1959, it was the intention of the Legislature merely to substitute ten days in lieu of the two days provided for by T.C.A. § 27-501. This contention overlooks the fact that the 1959 Act does not amend T.C.A. Sec. 27-501, which provides that any person dissatisfied with the judgment of a justice of the peace, recorder or other officer of a municipality charged with the conduct of trials may appeal within two entire days exclusive of Sundays. By the 1959 Act, the Legislature established an entirely new period of time within which to appeal from judgments of Courts of General Sessions and left undisturbed the time within which an appeal may be taken from judgments of an officer of a municipality or a justice of the peace. While Courts of General Sessions had been created by private acts in many counties prior to the enactment of Chapter 109, Acts 1959, it was the purpose of that statute to create a statewide system of Courts of General Sessions except in those counties expressly excepted from the application of that statute. This purpose of the Legislature is expressed in the caption of the Act as follows: The Courts of General Sessions in Shelby County were created by Ch. 123, Private Acts 1941. Prior to the enactment of T.C.A. § 27-509 the time within which to appeal from the judgments of that Court was governed by T.C.A. § 27-501. Since the enactment of the 1959 Act the time within which to appeal from judgments of Courts of General Sessions throughout the State has been controlled by T.C.A. § 27-509. The time to appeal from judgments of municipal courts and justices of the peace is still prescribed by T.C.A. § 27-501. There is, of course, at least one Sunday in each ten day period. Had the Legislature in enacting a statute fixing ten days as the time within which to appeal from judgments of Courts of General Sessions intended to exclude Sundays, it would have so stated in the statute. In the absence *122 of such a provision, the general statute governing the computation of time, T.C.A. § 1-302, is applicable and Sunday is excluded only if it is the last day. The fact that Section 6 of Ch. 109, Acts 1959 provides: does not make the provisions of T.C.A. Sec. 27-501 applicable to appeals from Courts of General Sessions because it is "expressly provided to the contrary" in Section 4 of the 1959 Act (T.C.A. § 27-509). It is also contended that, because T.C.A. § 55-101 declares the period from noon to midnight of each Saturday to be a half-holiday on which public offices may be closed, Saturday, January 18, 1964 and Saturday, January 25, 1964 each should be counted as only one-half a day and, therefore, the ten day period to appeal expired on Sunday, January 26, 1964. The fact that holidays are not excluded by T.C.A. § 27-509 or by T.C.A. § 1-302 fully answers this contention. As stated in Hammick v. Gilbert, 24 Tenn. App. 330, 332, 144 S.W.2d 5, 6, "A legal holiday under this statute has a different status from that of Sunday. Such is the general rule." It is only when the last day to appeal falls on Sunday that any day after the first day is excluded in computing the ten day period allowed for appeal. The fact that Rule 6 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure may expressly exclude Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays from the computation of time in certain instances does not change the clear meaning of the applicable Tennessee statutes. Had the Legislature of Tennessee intended to exclude such days, it would have so stated in either T.C.A. § 27-509 or T.C.A. § 1-302. By Rule 32 of this Court, all petitions for rehearing must be presented within ten days after the opinion in the case sought to be re-examined is announced. In Eslinger v. Miller Bros. Co., 203 Tenn. 688, 698, 315 S.W.2d 261, 265, it was held that this ten day period is to be computed as provided in T.C.A. § 1-302. See also O'Brien v. State, 205 Tenn. 405, 326 S.W.2d 759, which holds Sundays are excluded in the computation of time only where the applicable statute expressly so provides. The first assignment of error is overruled. The second assignment of error is that the Circuit Court erred "in denying the petition for certiorari following the dismissal of Joe Biggs' appeal." This Court has held that the issuance of a writ of certiorari rests in the judicial discretion of the Court, to be granted only when necessary to prevent substantial wrong. Ashcroft v. Goodman, 139 Tenn. 625, 633, 202 S.W. 939. In State ex rel. Karr v. Taxing District of Shelby County, 84 Tenn. 240, 246, it is stated: The following quotation from McMurry v. Milan, 32 Tenn. 176, 178, 179, has long been recognized as a correct statement of what constitutes good cause for failing to appeal within the time allowed by law: The petition for certiorari in this case states the reason for failure to appeal within the time allowed by law as follows: By this language the defendant Biggs does not state that with proper diligence he could not have notified his attorney on Saturday, January 25, 1964, that he desired to appeal on the pauper's oath. The averment that he "was sick for some days prior to the time the appeal was perfected" without setting forth the confining nature of his illness or the precise dates thereof does not aver a sufficient reason for filing the pauper's oath appeal on Monday, January 27, 1964, instead of on some date within the ten day period allowed for appeals. The averment that he would have appealed except for his own "blameless misfortune" is the averment of a conclusion and not an averment of facts. In affirming the action of the Circuit Court in dismissing a petition for certiorari to a Court of General Sessions, this Court, in Gray Motors, Inc. v. Fanburg's Garage, 202 Tenn. 648, 650, 308 S.W.2d 410, 411, stated: In Copeland v. Cox, 52 Tenn. 171, 173, the duty of a defendant to exercise diligence in such a case is stated, as follows: In our judgment it cannot be said that the Circuit Judge abused the discretion reposed in him by law in denying the petition for writ of certiorari in this case. From a reading of the averments of the petition, we can only conclude that the reason the defendant, Biggs, did not appeal to the Circuit Court within ten days after the rendition of the judgment is that he did not notify his attorney within that time that he wanted to appeal. The averment that he was sick for "some days" is not sufficient to show that with due diligence he could not have notified his attorney and executed his pauper's oath appeal within the time allowed by law. We find no error in the judgment of the Circuit Court. Its judgment is in all things affirmed at the cost of the defendant, Biggs.