James v. Williams

By the Court, Rhodes, J.: The first appeal having been dismissed, the second was taken too late to permit the appeal from the order denying the defendant’s motion for a new trial to be heard, and consequently it stands on the judgment roll alone.

No objection is made to the complaint as being insufficient to warrant the relief granted, and we think it states facts, which if true, entitle the plaintiff to such relief as is prayed for. And if no one of the facts therein stated, and which are put in issue by the answer, were contained in the findings, the [213]judgment would not be disturbed unless there was an exception for the want of a finding, or for a defective finding of facts, taken according to the provisions of the Act of 1861, to regulate appeals. (Statutes 1861, p. 589.) The Court is presumed to have found the facts necessary to sustain the judgment. This point has frequently been so held. (Lyons v. Leimback, 29 Cal. 139; Hidden v. Jordan, 28 Cal. 301; Lucas v. San Francisco, Id. 591.)

The only questions arising upon the findings in such case— if any written finding is filed—are these: Are the findings within the issues? And are they consistent with the judgment ? The question is not whether the facts found are, by themselves, or when taken in connection with those admitted by the pleadings, sufficient to sustain the judgment; for, as already remarked, the findings are, in the absence of exception, aided by the presumption that the facts in issue not contained in the finding as filed, and which are essential as a basis for the judgment, were found.

The opinion of the Judge who tried the cause, stating the evidence or bis analysis of it or some portion of either, coupled with the reasons for his rulings, is always valuable, and generally of great assistance to the appellate Court in their examination of the questions arising upon motion for a new trial, or bill of exceptions or statement on appeal; but neither the opinion nor the evidence form a part of the findings of fact, though it may happen to be incorporated therein. The findings in this case are liable to the objections noticed in the opinion of Mr. Justice Sawyer, in Hidden v. Jordan. We mention this matter because the defendants’ points, which are based upon the findings, do not relate to facts—the ultimate facts in the case—but rather to matters of evidence or of opinion. When we are required to examine the findings we must discard all matters merely of evidence or opinion that may be contained therein, and look to the facts alone.