Opinion ID: 1679677
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: first and third causes of action

Text: Asserting that there were no genuine issues of material fact and that they were entitled to judgment as a matter of law, Jacobsen and the Clinic moved for summary judgment on the second, third, and fourth causes of action. Then Schlake moved the district court for summary judgment on each of his four causes of action. After Schlake filed his motion for summary judgment, he moved to amend his petition concerning the first and third causes of action. The district court heard Jacobsen and the Clinic's motion for summary judgment at the same time as Schlake's motion to amend. Schlake's motion to amend the first and third causes of action contained in his petition was granted. The district court also ruled on the motions for summary judgment on the second and fourth causes of action only. No ruling on Schlake's motion for summary judgment on the first and third causes of action appears in the record. [W]here the moving party, before the determination of the motion, proceeds in the action in a manner inconsistent with the object of the motion, the latter is abandoned or waived, as by making an inconsistent motion in the cause, by going to trial on the merits, or by taking some step in the cause, before the hearing of the motion, which renders the motion unnecessary. 60 C.J.S. Motions & Orders § 42 at 63 (1969). We have held that an appellant may not predicate error on a motion not ruled upon. State v. Blair, 227 Neb. 742, 419 N.W.2d 868 (1988). See, also, Hiway 20 Terminal, Inc. v. Tri-County Agri-Supply, Inc., 235 Neb. 207, 454 N.W.2d 671 (1990) (where no ruling appeared to have been made on motion, it was presumed that motion was waived or abandoned); Dewey & Stone v. Lewis, 12 Neb. 306, 11 N.W. 330 (1882) (held that no case was presented for review where for no apparent reason motion was not acted upon, and no bill of exceptions was filed). In this case, the filing of the motion to amend was inconsistent with the motion for summary judgment and constituted a de facto abandonment of the prior motion for summary judgment. In any event, summary judgment on the first cause of action would have been inappropriate, as a genuine issue of material fact was raised by the conflicting evidence on the redemption price. The trial court did, however, rule on Jacobsen and the Clinic's motion for summary judgment, filed after the amended petition, concerning parts of Schlake's third cause of action. The trial court granted summary judgment for Jacobsen and the Clinic on those parts entitled Breach of Oral Agreement to Terminate Lease Upon Recovery of Investment and Breach of P.C. Billing Agreement. The trial court granted the motion, concluding that the claims made in these parts of the third cause of action were identical to those made in the second and fourth causes of action. We agree. Following is our determination on those issues.