Groves v. Sentell

66 F. 179, 13 C.C.A. 386, 1895 U.S. App. LEXIS 2312
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedJanuary 15, 1895
DocketNo. 337
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 66 F. 179 (Groves v. Sentell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Groves v. Sentell, 66 F. 179, 13 C.C.A. 386, 1895 U.S. App. LEXIS 2312 (5th Cir. 1895).

Opinion

PARDEE, Circuit Judge.

The supreme court, in the opinion delivered by Mr. Justice White, saw fit to specifically prescribe the final decree to be entered in this case as follows:

“The decree is reversed, and a decree is rendered in favor of Martha Groves and William J. Groves, directing the payment out of tlie fund of $4,873, with interest at eight per cent, from March 5, 1884, until paid, and costs of this and the court helow.” Groves v. Sentell, 153 U. S. 465-486, 14 Sup. Ct. 898.

The mandate filed in the circuit court concludes as follows:

“On consideration whereof, it is now here ordered, adjudged, and decreed by this court that the decree of the said circuit court in this cause be, and the same is hereby, reversed, with costs; and that the said Martha Groves, William J. Groves, and Thomas A. Pogue, administrator of Itosetta Rhea, deceased, recover against the said George W. Sentell et al. three hundred and forty-nine dollars for their costs herein expended, and have execution therefor. And it is further ordered that this cause be, and the same is hereby, remanded to the said circuit court with directions to enter a decree directing the payment to> Martha Groves and William J. Groves, out of the fund in the registry of the court, the sum of $4,873, with interest at 8 per centum per annum from March o, 18S4, until paid, with costs in that court.
“May 14, 1894.
“You therefore are hereby commanded that such execution and further proceedings be had in said cause, in conformity with the opinion, and decree of this court, as, according to right and justice, and the laws of the United States, ought to be had; the said appeal notwithstanding.”

In tlie circuit court, on filing tlie mandate, a decree was entered adjudging that the whole amount in the registry of .the court in the case be paid to Martha Groves and William J. Groves, and, further, that George W. Sentell, Fanny B. Randolph, William B. McLean, liquidator of the partnership company of G. W. Sentell, testamentary executor of Benjamin Conyers, deceased, be condemned in solido to pay the sum of $349, costs expended in the supreme court of the United States, and the further sum of $507.50, costs in the circuit court, for which sums execution was directed.

The first assignment of error in this court is:

“That the court erred in not complying with the final decree of tlie supreme eom't, as set forth in its mandate, and the opinion upon which same was based.”

The decree prescribed by the supreme court and directed to be entered in the circuit court was not a personal decree against any of the parties to the suit, except for the sum of $349, costs of the supreme court, but was a decree disposing of the fund in the registry of the court, of which alone it would seem, from the pleadings, the court had jurisdiction. As the decree of the circuit court rendered in pursuance of the mandate gave all the fund in the [181]*181registry of tbe court to Martha Groves and William J. Groves, it is clear that in this respect the appellants cannot complain. If the appellants desired relief beyond the fund in the registry of the court, their application should have been to the supreme court

The second assignment of error is:

“That tlie court erred in limiting its decree to the sum of it'i.SJO, now in its registry; in not ordering the amount to he at once paid on account; and in not ordering George W. Sentell to fill up the registry with a sufficient fund to satisfy the balance found due by him to Martha Groves and William ,T. Groves by the supreme court, with interest accrued to date, and their counsel fees.”

The real proposition- asserted by this assignment of error is that George W. Sentell should be required to pay into the fund interest at 8 per cent., pending the suit. According to the opinion of the supreme court, the original bill of George W. Sentell was not a strict bill of interpleader, because of an ultimate interest of Sentell in the fund in controversy; but that, as a bill in the nature of a bill of interpleader, it was allowable. The difference between a strict bill of interpleader and a bill in the nature of a bill of interpleader, so far as practice and proceedings are concerned, is that in tbe one tbe complainant is entitled of right to his costs, including solicitors’ fees, while in the other — as generally in equity cases— the costs are within the discretion of the court. Willard, Eq. Jur. (Ed. 18631 p. 321. In both the fund should be paid into the court before any order is made in tbe case. 2 Daniell, Ch. Prac. 1563, and cases there cited. If paid into court to the full amount, no interest on the fund in the court while proceedings are pending ought to be required of the complainant, unless some fault or delay in the proceedings can be aliribuled to his conduct. In Spring v. Insurance Co., 8 Wheat. 270 293, the complainant in a bill of interpleader was required to pay interest on tbe fund pending tbe proceedings, because he had not. paid the same into court. In Richards v. Salter, 6 Johns. Ch. 445, the complainant was excused from paying interest because he had. with all reasonable diligence, resorted tc the court, and paid tbe money into court, after in vain calling on tbe defendant for indemnity. The record in this case shows that at the time the fund was paid into court the full amount, principal and interest, to wit, the sum of $1,873, with interest thereon a: the rate of 8 per centum per annum from March 5, 1884, aggregating the sum of $5,713.46, was paid into court. The fault herein attributed to the complainant, George W. Sentell, as a reason for charging him with interest upon the fund while lying in the registry of the court is that, soon after the injunction restraining the Groveses and others from prosecuting their suit at law was issued, Mrs. Groves and others, through their counsel, suggesting that the funds were on deposit in the registry, and that from the showing-before the court the same belonged to movers, took a rule oil the complainant to show cause why the movers in the rule should not be permitted to withdraw tbe same on giving bond for the amount thereof, with surety to be approved by the court, without prejudice [182]*182to any of tbeir rights in the premises; and that such rule, being submitted to the court, after argument by the parties respectively, was discharged by the court. The record does not show whether the rule was opposed by counsel for the complainant in the bill. It is stated in this court by his solicitor then and now that he did not oppose the rule, but that the same -was opposed by counsel for other defendants. The rule taken was practically an informal demurrer to the bill of complaint, and as such seems to have been properly overruled. The delay caused in this respect, as well as that resulting from the appeal to the supreme court, if operating an injury; should be attributed to the action of the circuit court, for which the interpleading complainant should not be held responsible. However this may be, in our opinion the limitation of the decree as suggested in this assignment of error would have been wholly unwarranted. When the supreme court prescribed the decree to be entered in the circuit court in such specific terms as the record shows, there was nothing left for the circuit court to do in the premises but to enter the decree prescribed by the supreme court, and execute the same.

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

Related

Lundgren v. Gaudiane
782 P.2d 285 (Alaska Supreme Court, 1989)
New York Life Ins. Co. v. Cooper
76 F. Supp. 976 (S.D. New York, 1944)
Los Angeles Soap Co. v. United States
56 F. Supp. 260 (S.D. California, 1944)
State ex rel. McDonald v. Farrington
126 N.W. 91 (Nebraska Supreme Court, 1910)
Metcalf v. City of Watertown
68 F. 859 (Seventh Circuit, 1895)
Groves v. Sentell
69 F. 223 (Fifth Circuit, 1895)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
66 F. 179, 13 C.C.A. 386, 1895 U.S. App. LEXIS 2312, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/groves-v-sentell-ca5-1895.