Case Name: Johnson Knight vs. John G. Trim
Court: Maine Supreme Judicial Court
Jurisdiction: Maine
Decision Date: 1897-01-18
Citations: 89 Me. 469
Docket Number: 
Parties: Johnson Knight vs. John G. Trim.
Judges: Sitting: Peters, C. J., Walton, Emery, Haskell, White-house, Strout, JJ.
Reporter: Maine Reports
Volume: 89
Pages: 469–470

Head Matter:
Johnson Knight vs. John G. Trim.
Knox.
Opinion January 18, 1897.
Award. Assumpsit. Aetion. Pleading.
Assumpsit upon an award on submission under seal cannot be maintained; nor can the form of action be changed to debt.
On Exceptions by Plaintiff.
This was an action on an award, the agreement to submit to arbitration being under seal, and the award of the arbitrators thereon being in writing.
The action was “of the case,” in assumpsit.
The plea of defendant was the general issue.
The plaintiff moved to amend the writ from assumpsit to debt,
The presiding justice refused the amendment, and ordered a nonsuit. The plaintiff excepted.
J. H. and Q. O. Montgomery, for plaintiff.
The cause of action is not changed by the amendment. The defendant is not called upon to answer to anything he has not been notified of. It is the same cause of action. The change is in mere matter of form.
It comes within the statute allowing amendments when the person and case can be rightly understood. II. S., c. 82, § 10.
Counsel cited: Bell v. Austin, 18 Pick. 93; Band v. Webber, 64 Maine, 195; Hathorn v. Calef, 53 Maine, 478; Oliver’s Prec. pp. 181, 655.
C. E. and A. S. Littlefield, for defendant.
Sitting: Peters, C. J., Walton, Emery, Haskell, White-house, Strout, JJ.

Opinion:
Haskell, J.
Assumpsit upon an award on submission under seal cannot be maintained. Holmes v. Smith, 49 Maine, 242. Nor can the form of action be changed by amendment from assumpsit to debt. Flanders v. Cobb, 88 Maine, 488.
Exceptions overruled.