English v. Hager

Citations

• 119 Pa. 533
• 13 A. 479
• 1888 Pa. LEXIS 576

Syllabus

<p>1. An order opening a judgment entered by virtue of a warrant of attorney to let the defendant into a defence, is not a final judgment, and the plaintiff is not entitled to an appeal under the act of April 4,1877, P. L. 53, until the issue has been tried and a final order made setting aside the judgment or reducing its amount.</p> <p>2. On the trial of the issue, if it was error to open the judgment upon the facts as they stood when the order was made, it will be error to submit the case to the jury; the trial goes for nothing and the plaintiff is thereafter entitled to be heard upon the preliminary question of the defendant’s tight to have the judgment opened.</p> <p>3. A judgment entered by confession under a warrant of attorney should not be opened, nor the evidence submitted to the jury, unless the written instrument be overcome by testimony which if believed should move a chancellor to decree that the note was void, or should be reformed because of forgery, fraud or mistake.</p> <p>4. The unsupported testimony on oath of a defendant in such a judgment, admitting the execution of the instrument with a knowledge of its provisions but alleging fraud in the procurement and use of it, which is directly opposed by the testimony, on oath, of the plaintiff, is insufficient to warrant the opening of the judgment or to be submitted to the jury on the trial of an issue awarded.</p>