Griswold v. Jackson

2 Edw. Ch. 461
CourtNew York Court of Chancery
DecidedMay 19, 1835
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 2 Edw. Ch. 461 (Griswold v. Jackson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Court of Chancery primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Griswold v. Jackson, 2 Edw. Ch. 461 (N.Y. 1835).

Opinion

The Vice-Chancellor:

fact of a sufficient tender must, ior the present, be deemed established; and this is very important to the complainant’s case: for without it his bill could not be supported for the purpose of throwing the loss, arising from the subsequent depreciation of the stock, upon the defendant.

The question nevertheless arises: what right has the complainant to file a bill for this purpose 1

It appears to me that whether he be viewed in the light in which the bill represents him, that is to say, as an agent of Caroline Dunham, raising the money on the pledge of the stock as belonging to her and for her account, making himself personally liable for the repayment and therefore standing in the character of a surety or whether he be considered, as the answer insists he was, the equitable owner of the stock and entitled to all the beneficial interest in it, that this can make no difference in respect to the principal ground of defence, namely, that the proceedings and decree in the former suit are a bar.

It is objected, that in respect to the forty shares of stock, the decree in the former cause settled the rights of the parties and protects the defendants from all liability to account for the value. In the former suit it is true that Caroline Dunham failed in throwing the loss, arising from the depreciation of stock, upon the defendant, because the evidence fell short of proving a lawful tender of the money so as to entitle her to a return of the shares at a time when they were worth to her eighty per cent, of their par value : and as the cause stood upon the evidence, the court could do no more than ascertain the amount of the indebtedness for which the stock was pledged and decree a redemption upon [466]*466payment of such amount—and in default of payment hold her foreclosed of all right afterwards to redeem. The effect of her omission to redeem under this decree was to vest the defendant with the absolute ownership of the forty shares (for it did not extend to the other eleven) and he had then" a right to dispose of the stock as he should think proper, giving credit for the value and looking to those who were personally liable for the whole or balance of his debt.

If such recourse were had to Caroline Dunham, she would be precluded from again calling in question the fact of a tender and claiming to be allowed the value of the stock at the time: because, as between herself and the defendant, it was a matter res judicata, and all she could claim would be a credit for the value at the time it became the defendant’s property by the foreclosure. But when recourse is had to the complainant, it appears to me he is not in a situation to be precluded by the former decree. He was not a party to the suit in which it was made; and I do not perceive how he can be bound by the adjudication on the question of tender. In order that the decree may be pleaded or set up as a bar, it is necessary, it should bind the party against whom it is pleaded: but no one can be bound by a decree unless he is a party to the suit or the representative of a party or one w’ho can claim in his right the same equity already passed upon. Hence, the general proposition that a former decree may be pleaded in bar to a new bill relative to the same matter between the same parties ; and the converse of the rule is equally true that a former decree cannot be so pleaded, unless it be conclusive upon the rights, of the plaintiff in the second bill or of those under whom he claimed: Mitford, 4 ed. 238; Beames on Pleas, 211. Upon this principle it was held by Lord Hardwicke, in Atkinson v. Turner, Barnard. 74, that where the plaintiff in the second suit was no party to the suit in which the decree was made, such decree could not be set up-in bar; and one reason may be found in Doyley v. Smyth, 2 Ch. Ca. 119, where a dismission was pleaded in bar to a new bill filed by a third person on the ground of the same equity—and the plea was overruled: because the plaintiff in the new bill could not have a bill of review of the former decree, he not being a [467]*467party, although the new bill and the former one were founded upon the same equity. In Neafie v. Neafie, 7 J. C. R. 1, Chancellor Kent had occasion to examine the effect of a decree of dismission of a former bill on the merits ,(and the decree in the suit of Caroline Dunham was a decree of dismission, although, at the same time,i.t, foreclosed her equity of redemption) and he appears to have considered that to render, a dismission a technical bar, it must be an absolute “ decision upon the same point or matter and the new bill “must be by the same plaintiff or his representatives against “ the same defendant or his .representatives.” In other respects, also, I think the reasoning of Chancellor Kent, in Neafie v. Neafie, has an important bearing upon the point under consideration and serves to show that the complainant cannot be precluded, by the former decree, from filing a bill for the relief which is now sought. Other cases may be mentioned to elucidate the principle still further—as where a mortgagee forecloses the equity of redemption against the mortgagor, without making a subsequent mortgagee or incumbrancer a party to the suit: such decree cannot be pleaded or set up in bar of a bill filed by the second mortgagee or incumbrancer to redeem; and the reason is, because he was not made a party to the first suit. This has been held, even where the first mortgagee had no notice of the second mortgage or incumbrance when he filed his bill and took the decree: Godfrey v. Chadwell, 2 Vern. 601, Morrett v. Westerne, Ib. 663. In such cases it may be said that the equity of the second mortgagee is of the same nature as the mortgagor’s : a right to redeem from the first mortgage ; and yet, by the decree, themne is foreclosed or barred of his right and the first mortagee is apparently quieted in the possession and.enjoyment of the estate. But it is only so with respect to the party to the suit and he who was not a party and has a distinct equity of his own is still at liberty to enforce it; and, notwithstanding one decree of foreclosure, the property is still liable to be redeemed by-those having claims who were not made parties to the suit for that purpose. If, therefore, there are any 'circumstances in this case to give the complainant a stand[468]*468ing in court to sustain his bill, I am of opinion the proceedings and decree in the former suit of Caroline Dun-ham present no technical bar to his relief.

Viewing the complainant in the light of an agent for Caroline Dunham in the transaction, in relation to the pledge of the forty shares of stock, and as a surety for her in consequence of making himself personally liable by his due-bills for the money borrowed, and there is sufficient equity in this case to give him a standing in court.

The general doctrine with respect to the right of a surety in equity to have the benefit of any collateral security or pledge held by the creditor delivered up to him upon his paying the debt and in some cases to have the creditor turned round to pursue and exhaust his remedy against the property or thing pledged to him by the principal debtor before compelling the surety to pay, is too well understood to need any explanation here. The complainant is sued at. law for the debt for which the stock was pledged. It can be of no use to him now to have it delivered up or retransferred ; and nothing can be realized from it in the hand of the defendant towards reducing or extinguishing the debt. It is, indeed, entirely lost.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Gentry v. Farruggia
53 S.E.2d 741 (West Virginia Supreme Court, 1949)
884 West End Avenue Corp. v. Pearlman
201 A.D. 12 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1922)
Seidlitz v. . Auerbach
129 N.E. 461 (New York Court of Appeals, 1920)
Assets Realization Co. v. Howard
127 N.Y.S. 798 (New York Supreme Court, 1911)
Sternbach v. Friedman
54 N.Y.S. 608 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1898)
Stockton v. Copeland
5 S.E. 143 (West Virginia Supreme Court, 1888)
Loughborough v. McNevin
15 P. 773 (California Supreme Court, 1887)
Williams v. Hayes
32 N.W. 44 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 1887)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2 Edw. Ch. 461, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/griswold-v-jackson-nychanct-1835.