Court Opinion

ID: 9629021
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 09:35:56.27212+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:07:14.361477
License: Public Domain

CARTER, J., Concurring and Dissenting.
I concur in the reversal of that portion of the judgment from which plaintiff appealed, which reads as follows: “That plaintiff take nothing by reason of his amended complaint herein and that defendant Louise L. Osborn have judgment for costs of court expended in the sum of $-,” but I dissent from the holding of the majority that the judgment against defendant *368and cross-complainant from which no appeal was taken must also be reversed. That portion of the judgment reads as follows: ‘ ‘ That cross-complainant take nothing by reason of her cross-complaint herein, and that cross-defendant Merinoeth R. Osborn have judgment for costs of court expended in the sum of $__”
It is obvious from a reading of the majority opinion that the two portions of the judgment above quoted are separate and distinct and that they are in nowise interdependent, or that the portion from which plaintiff and cross-defendant has appealed is so connected with the remainder, from which no appeal was taken, that the appeal from the first part affects the second part and involves a consideration of the whole judgment. This conclusion is manifest from the face of the majority opinion itself where it discusses in detail both the facts and the law relating to plaintiff’s side of the case but only gives a passing reference to the basis upon which defendant and cross-complainant claims title to the property. The majority opinion does not purport to hold that there would have been merit in an appeal prosecuted by defendant and cross-complainant if such an appeal had been taken. Notwithstanding this situation, the majority directs the reversal of the entire judgment so that the claims of the defendant and cross-complainant set up in her cross-complaint may again be litigated in the trial court.
In so holding the majority goes outside of the record in suggesting possible reasons why defendant and cross-complainant did not appeal, as if her reasons for not appealing had any bearing whatever upon the scope of review of this court on an appeal by plaintiff from the portion of the judgment against him. Until the decision of this court in Hamasaki v. Flotho, 39 Cal.2d 602 [248 P.2d 910], it was the settled rule that “when an appeal is taken from a part of a judgment or order not so intimately connected with the remainder that a reversal of the part appealed from would require a reconsideration of the whole case in the court below, an appellate court can review only the portion appealed from. The unaffected parts must be deemed final, and can be enforced pending the appeal.” (See 4 Cal.Jur.2d, § 535, p. 389.) This rule has been followed in every case decided by this court prior to the Hamasaki case, supra, and it has never been departed from except in the Hamasaki case.' In Glassco v. El Sereno Country Club, Inc., 217 Cal. 90 [17 P.2d 703], the late Chief Justice Waste, speaking for a unanimous *369court, said (p. 91): “Preliminarily, it might be said that that portion of the judgment denying the appellants a lien, and which is attacked by the plaintiffs in their brief herein, is not properly a subject of review upon this appeal because of the insufficiency of the notice of appeal. The notice states that the appeal is ‘from so much of the judgment herein as denies relief to the plaintiffs against the said defendant, Clotilde G. Castruccio . . .’ The notice of appeal makes no mention of that separate and distinct portion of the judgment denying plaintiffs a lien. It is elementary that an appeal from a portion. of a judgment brings up for review only that portion designated in the notice of appeal. (2 Cal.Jur. 155, sec. 25.) While it is true that notices of appeal are to be liberally construed with a view to hearing causes on their merits (Harrelson v. Miller & Lux, 182 Cal. 408, 414 [188 Pac. 800]), we are of the opinion that the notice filed in the present case does not present ‘a mere misdescription’ of the judgment, calling for the application of said rule, but rather presents a situation somewhat analogous to that presented in Dimity v. Dixon, 74 Cal.App. 714, 718 [241 Pac. 905], viz., one where the description of that portion of the judgment appealed from is so clear and unmistakable as to preclude a description of that portion of the judgment denying appellants a lien.” The following cases fully support the rule that an appellate court has jurisdiction to review the portion of the judgment appealed from only unless the part appealed from is so interwoven and connected with the remainder, or sp dependent thereon, that the appeal from a part affects the other parts or involves a consideration of the whole, and is really an appeal from the whole judgment: Lake v. Superior Court, 187 Cal. 116 [200 P. 1041] ; G. Ganahl Lbr. Co. v. Weinsveig, 168 Cal. 664 [143 P. 1025] ; Whalen v. Smith, 163 Cal. 360 [125 P. 904, Ann.Cas. 1913E 1319] ; In re Burdick, 112 Cal. 387 [44 P. 734] ; Luck v. Luck, 83 Cal. 574 [23 P. 1035] ; Early v. Mannix, 15 Cal. 149; Pacific Mutual L. I. Co. v. Fisher, 106 Cal. 224 [39 P. 758].
It must be remembered that the judgment denying plaintiff relief was based upon his complaint and the evidence offered by him in support of the allegations of the complaint that he was the owner of the property as a result of the deed executed by his father and placed in escrow to be delivered to plaintiff upon his father’s death. The judgment denying defendant relief was based upon the allegations of her cross-complaint that she was the owner of the property as the *370result of an execution sale under a judgment against plaintiff. It seems to me that if this court has the power to review the portion of the judgment against the defendant, it should determine on this appeal the validity of the execution sale and the conveyances under which defendant claims and then reverse the entire judgment with directions to render judgment either in favor of plaintiff or defendant, thus bringing an end to the litigation. However, the majority does not purport to do this but nevertheless reverses the judgment against the defendant who did not appeal therefrom and makes no contention that the judgment against her was erroneous.
Section 938 of the Code of Civil Procedure provides: “Any person aggrieved may appeal in the cases prescribed in this title. The party appealing is known as the appellant, and the adverse party as the respondent. ’’ (Emphasis added.) It goes without saying that plaintiff could not have appealed from the portion of the judgment against the defendant, since he was not aggrieved thereby, and defendant could not have appealed from the portion of the judgment against plaintiff for the same reason. Therefore, plaintiff appealed from the only portion of the judgment from which he could lawfully appeal.
Section 956 of the Code of Civil Procedure which covers the matters which may be reviewed on appeal from a judgment concludes with the following sentence: ‘ ‘ The provisions of this section do not authorize the court to review any decision or order from which an appeal might have been taken. ’ ’ The clear implication of this provision is that the court may not review any decisions or order from which an appeal might have been but was not taken. Applying this provision to the case at bar it seems clear that this court is not authorized to review the judgment against defendant from which no appeal was taken.
To summarize, it appears that the plaintiff appealed from the portion of the judgment denying the relief demanded by him in his complaint. The majority opinion holds that his appeal is meritorious. The relief demanded by defendant was by way of cross-complaint and the judgment denied her such relief. She did not appeal. It is conceded that her claim of title is based upon instruments entirely separate and apart from the instruments on which plaintiff’s claim of title is based. Defendant has not sought to have this court review the portion of the judgment denying her relief on her *371cross-complaint. It is obvious that the portion of the judgment denying her relief on her cross-complaint is in nowise related to the portion of the judgment denying plaintiff the relief demanded in his complaint. There is no interdependence between the two portions of the judgment. Such being the case, it is clear under both the code provisions relating to review on appeal and the authorities which I have cited above that the review here should be limited to the portion of the judgment from which plaintiff appealed, and that the judgment against defendant from which no appeal was taken should not be reviewed.
As stated earlier in this opinion the only case holding to the contrary is HamasaM v. Flotho, supra. The decision in that case was based upon the theory advanced by the majority that even though there was no appeal from the judgment and only an appeal from an order granting a limited new trial, this court had the power to review the judgment because it felt required to do so “in the interests of justice.” There was no question of any interdependence in the Hamasaki case as there was only one judgment and one order, both of which were in favor of the respondent. The majority now rely upon the Hamasaki case as authority for reversing the judgment against defendant in the case at bar from which no appeal has been taken. Certainly the Hamasaki case is not authority for the holding in this case. The other eases relied upon by the majority clearly fall within the exception to the rule that where the part of the judgment appealed from is so interwoven and connected with the remainder, or so dependent thereon, that the appeal from a part affects the other parts or involves a consideration of the whole, that it is really an appeal from the whole judgment. The case at bar does not fall within this rule as clearly appears from what I have heretofore stated.
It should be noted that the foregoing rule relates only to judgments which are not divisible into separate parts. And in order for the rule to be applicable, the judgment, on its face, must disclose that the part appealed from is interwoven with or dependent upon other parts not appealed from. In other words, unless the interdependence of the separate parts of the judgment appears upon the face of the judgment itself there can be no basis for holding that the part appealed from is so interwoven and connected with the remainder, or so dependent thereon, that the appeal from a part affects the other parts or involves a consideration of the whole judg*372ment. Since the judgment in the case at bar is in two separate and distinct parts or paragraphs and neither makes any reference to the other, there is no basis whatever for a holding that they are in any way interwoven with or dependent upon each other.
The effect of the majority holding in this ease is not only to create confusion in the law, as it undoubtedly will, but it places an additional burden on both appellate and trial courts to review portions of judgments from which no appeal is taken in clear violation of the statutory provisions which I have heretofore cited. The right of appeal is clearly statutory as well as the scope of review. The Legislature has sought to limit the power of appellate courts to review only such portions of judgments as may be appealed from. This legislation has a dual purpose. First, to reduce the amount of work required by an appellate court in disposing of an appeal, and second, to limit the issues which may be retried in the trial court in the event of a reversal which should have the effect of saving the time of both the trial court and litigants. It now appears that the majority of this court not only ignores this salutory legislation but overrules the long line of authorities upholding and applying such legislation without even mentioning either the legislation or the authorities. The majority claims the right to do this “in the interests of justice.” However, it has been aptly stated that “Justice is what is well established” and that “Justice is compliance with the written laws.” I find no basis for the holding of the majority in this case in any concept of justice with which I am familiar.