Deakin v. Lea

7 F. Cas. 281, 11 Biss. 27

This text of 7 F. Cas. 281 (Deakin v. Lea) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering U.S. Circuit Court for the Northern District of Illnois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Deakin v. Lea, 7 F. Cas. 281, 11 Biss. 27 (circtndil 1879).

Opinion

DRUMMOND, Circuit Judge.

Frank Den-kin, a subject of the queen of Great Britain and Ireland, brought a suit in tlie state court on a bond, against Charles W. Lea, James D. Perrins, also subjects of the same sovereign, and John Crerar, a citizen of the state of 1111-[282]*282nois. The bond was executed in August, ,1878, and was given under an order entered in a suit pending in this court, where Lea and Perrins were plaintiffs, and Deakin was defendant [see Case No. 8,154 and 13 Fed. 574], and in consequence of the continuance of an injunction which had been issued by this court against the defendant. The defendant having made application to the court for further security upon the. continuance of the injunction, the bond in controversy in this case was giyen in the penalty of five thousand dollars. The order of the court was simply that a bond should be given by the plaintiffs, with security to be approved by the court. Neither the form nor the condition of the bond was prescribed by the court in its order. The condition of the bond which was actually given was as follows: that the obligors “shall well and truly pay, or cause to be paid to the said Prank Deakin or his assigns all damages and costs that shall be awarded against said Lea and Perrins, complainants, and in favor of said defendant Prank Deakin upon the trial or final hearing of the said cause or upon the dissolution of said injunction by reason of the wrongful or improper issuance of the same.”

Crerar entered his general appearance in the state court. Lea and Perrins, by their council, entered an appearance in the state court, as they said, solely for the purpose of petitioning the court for the removal of the cause to this court; and thereupon Crerar filed a demurrer to the declaration in the case, and then all the defendants joined in the petition for the removal of the cause to this court; and they all executed the bond required by law in cases of removal. Under these circumstances, the case came into this court and is now pending here.

An application is now made by the plaintiff in the cause to remand it to the state court on the ground that this court has no jurisdiction. The jurisdiction of this-cause must be sustained on one of two grounds; either because of the citizenship of the parties, or on account of the subject matter in controversy. If this suit be considered as an action against Crerar only, and that Lea and Per-rins have simply joined him for the purpose of removing the suit to this.court, and are not in court for any other purpose, then there can be no doubt that this court would have jurisdiction of the case; for if it had been a suit against him alone, without naming Lea and Perrins, he undoubtedly could have removed the cause to this court under the second section of the act of 1S75.

It is claimed now by the counsel of the defendants that the only object of Lea and Perrins was to remove the suit to this court, and that they did not enter their appearance for any other purpose; and that there was, therefore, no general appearance so as to make them subject personally to the jurisdiction of the court. There may be some doubt whether what they have done does not constitute a general appearance in the cause, and whether it is necessary for them to appear, by pleading or otherwise, in- order to give this court complete jurisdiction of their persons; but as there may be a doubt as to what is the effect of the action on the part of Lea and Perrins, I do not feel inclined on that account to send the case back to the state court, and particularly when the bond in this case is a several as well as a joint bond, and each party is severally liable for the whole amount of the damages which may be recovered upon it It is undoubtedly true, however, that the last clause of the second .section of the act of 1S75 does not provide for a case where there is a separate-controversy between a subject of a foreign government- and a citizen of one of the United States, but only to a controversy between citizens of different states, and where the suit is sought to be removed by one or more of the plaintiffs or defendants:

Then in relation to the subject matter -of the controversy.

The language of the fifth section of the act of 1S75 is, If in any suit removed from a state court to the circuit court of the United States it shall appear to the satisfaction of said circuit court after the removal of the cause, that such suit does not really and substantially involve a controversy within the ju•risdiction of the said circuit court, then it shall proceed no further in the suit, but shall remand it to the court from which it was removed; so that it has to appear to the satisfaction of the court that it has no jurisdiction of the cause before it can be sent back to the state court There is some difficulty, I think, in this question. This action is on a bond executed for the benefit of the defendant in the former suit, in consequence of the order of this court» It may be that the bond was not strictly in compliance with the order. It was nevertheless a bond executed because the order of the court was made, and in a suit pending in this court* and was, therefore, an instrument growing out of a controversy in this court, and I am not clear that this court has not jurisdiction of the case on account of the subject matter in controversy here.

The condition of this bond is not in precise conformity with the practice of this court in injunction bond's. At the same time, as I have said, the object of the court and of the parties it is to be presumed, was to give' indemnity to the defendant in the cause. X am inclined to think that prior to the passage of the act of 1SG1 in this state this bond would have been a valid bond, upon which an action would have been maintainable in the courts of this state under the last clause of the condition, “to pay all damages and. costs that may be awarded * * * upon the dissolution of said injunction.”

There are various decisions of the courts of this state, prior to the passage of the act of 1SG1, in which it was decided that -where [283]*283language like this was used, .viz: “all damages • and costs that may be awarded in case of the dissolution of the injunction,” it was not necessary that the damages should be awarded by the court in which the cause was pending and in which the bond was given (Ryan v. Anderson, 25 Ill. 372; Hibbard v. McKindley, 28 Ill. 240; Brown v. Gorton, 31 Ill. 417; Edwards v. Edwards, Id. 478; Phelps v. Foster, 18 Ill. 309; Russell v. Rogers, 56 Ill. 176), and that it might properly refer to the case of damages awarded where a suit was brought upon the bond; and it seems to me where they have held otherwise, as they have in some cases since, it was because of the effect given to the act of 1801, by which it was competent for the party, where the injunction was dissolved, to ask the court to assess the damages which he had sustained in consequence of the issuing of the injunction; and since the act of 1S74 and the proviso contained therein (Rev. St Ill. c. 69, § 12) that a failure to assess damages shall not operate as a bar to an action on the bond, and which seems to have been passed in order to meet some of the decisions of the supreme court of this state, it may be, I think, a very questionable matter whether or not, if this bond had been filed in a case in the state court, it would not have been a valid bond, and the breach would not have been complete if there had been damages sustained, although the court did not award any damages upon the dissolution of the injunction.

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Related

Phelps v. Foster
18 Ill. 309 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1857)
Ryan v. Anderson
25 Ill. 372 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1861)
Hibbard v. McKindley
28 Ill. 240 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1862)
Russell v. Rogers
56 Ill. 176 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1870)
Steam Stone Cutter Co. v. Jones
13 F. 567 (U.S. Circuit Court, 1882)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
7 F. Cas. 281, 11 Biss. 27, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/deakin-v-lea-circtndil-1879.