A verdict being returned for plaintiff for $11,000, on
suggestion of the court, a remittitur of $6001 was entered. As
recorded, the terms of the judgment were:
"It is therefore ordered and adjudged by the court that the
plaintiff, Henry Horn, do have and recover of the defendant, the
Texas & Pacific Railway Company, the sum of eleven thousand
dollars and all costs in this behalf expended. And it appearing to
the court that on this day the plaintiff filed, in writing, a
remitter of $6,000.00, it is therefore ordered and adjudged by the
court that execution issue for the sum of $4,900.00 only, and all
costs herein."
The order of allowance of the writ of error declared that the
judgment was rendered for $4,999, and the bond and citation so
described it.
Held that, upon the entire record, the
judgment must be held to be for no larger sum than $4,999.
The case is stated in the opinion.
MR. CHIEF JUSTICE FULLER delivered the opinion of the Court.
Upon the trial of this cause, a verdict was returned for the
plaintiff in the sum of $11,000, and upon the suggestion of the
court the plaintiff entered a remittitur of $6,001, and prayed that
the same be allowed, and judgment entered for $4,999. The bill of
exceptions states that judgment was rendered for that amount
although, as recorded, the
Page 151 U. S. 111
terms of the judgment, after reciting the return of the verdict,
were:
"It is therefore ordered and adjudged by the court that the
plaintiff, Henry Horn, do have and recover of the defendant, the
Texas and Pacific Railway Company, the sum of eleven thousand
dollars and all costs in this behalf expended."
"And it appearing to the court that on this day the plaintiff
filed, in writing, a remitter of $6,001.00:"
"It is therefore ordered and adjudged by the court that
execution issue for the sum of $4,999.00 only, and all costs
herein."
The writ of error bore date June 24, 1890, and was made a
supersedeas, the order of allowance declaring that the judgment was
rendered for $4,999, February 13, 1890, and that a motion for new
trial was filed, but not acted on until June 5, 1890. The bond and
citation describe the judgment as for $4,999.
Although the judgment was entered immediately upon the return of
the verdict, in accordance with the practice in that jurisdiction,
and therefore for the amount of the verdict, it was within the
power of the court to allow the remittitur, and while the order to
that effect might have been more accurately worded, we are of
opinion that, upon the entire record, plaintiff in error cannot be
permitted to insist that the judgment as it stands is for a larger
sum than $4,999, nor can it be hereafter held liable as on judgment
for any other amount. Hence this case is not within our
jurisdiction, unless it falls within the Act of Congress of
February 25, 1889, 25 Stat. 693, c. 236, which, for the reasons
given in
Texas & Pacific Railway v. Saunders, ante,
151 U. S. 105, we
do not think it does. The railway company, in this case as in that,
filed a plea based upon the order of October 26, 1888, of the
Circuit Court of the United States for the Eastern District of
Louisiana, and in this case, as in that, the matter set up was in
bar, and not in abatement. The jurisdiction of the Circuit Court
for the Eastern District of Texas was not thereby questioned.
Writ of error dismissed.
