Johnson v. Vaughan

48 Ky. 217, 9 B. Mon. 217, 1848 Ky. LEXIS 55
Court of Appeals of Kentucky·Decided January 27, 1848·Published·Cited by 3 cases

Opinion

'Chief Justice Marshall

delivered the opinion, of the Court.

This action of debt was brought upon an injunction bond executed by Thomas C. and Barnabas Johnson, in September, 1847. The- condition recites that T. C. Johnson had obtained an injunction to stay all further proceedings in a suit pending in the Pike Circuit Court [218] against him, by G. W. Vaughan, on a note for $110 25* and concludes as follows: “therefore if the above bound T. C. J. and B. J,, they or either of them, shall well and truly pay the said sum of $110 25 cents, to the said G„ W. V. aforesaid, with all legal costs and interest or damages, that has or may be decreed in the aforesaid judgment or injunction, in case the same should be dissolved, or they be made in any wise liable for the debt and cost and interest or damages, and abide by and perform the decree of said Court, then” &c. &c. The declaration avers that the said' Injunction has been dissolved and judgment rendered on said note, but that the defendants nor either of them did not pay the said sum of $110 25 cents, with all legal cost and interest or damages that have been decreed on said judgment or ■injunction, or abide by and perform the decree of the Court.

It is error to give judgment against one who was not served with process — or to give judgment against one defendant sued, without disposing of the suit as to the other defendant. —Nor can the court, without a jury, render judgment upon an injunctionbound uniess a jury be dispensed with by consent.

The principal obligor seems not to have been served with process, and we cannot determine upon the record that he ever appeared in the case; But upon a demurrer and pleadings by B, Johnson alone, the Court, without the intervention of a jury, rendered a judgment against the defendants for $110 25 cents, with interest from the 11th day of October, 1848.

If the judgment be understood to be against both defendants, it is erroneous,-because as to T» C. Johnson there was neither appearance nor service of process. If it be against B. Johnson alone, it is erroneous for the same reason, and because the action was not disposed of as to the other defendant. It is, moreover, erroneous because a jury was necessary, unless dispensed with by the parties, and the record does not show any such dispensation. The defendant, it is true, may have no •cause to complain of the amount of the judgment. But this, if it be so, does not appear as it should do, by the decision of the tribunal appointed by the law or by the parties, nor by any thing in the record. The judgment must, therefore, be reversed, as being on these grounds,, irregular and erroneous. But as the questions arising on the demurrer and pleadings were properly made and [219] sxmsí still determine the late of the cause in the Circuit Court, it is necessary now to consider and decide them.

An injunction bond given upon bill filed before judgment, securing the amount which may be recovered at law, and costs, in case the injunction shall be dissolved, is claiming within, the statute of 1796— (Stat. Law, 809.) . ,. . , junction bond not required by law, but not against law, will. tha\ are^eqSred ^law—And the insertion of conditions in an in-

The ground on which the demurrer and pleas were intended to rest, is that the condition of the bond is broader than the law or the order for injunction required or authorized, and particularly in providing for the payment of the note, that no judgment having been enjoined, the condition should have been for paying such damages as the obligee might sustain by the wrongful sueing outjpfthe order of injunction, that whatever goes beyond this was inserted in the condition by the Clerk, through ignorance or mistake, and that the bond as written was executed by the defendant, B. Johnson, by mistake, under the confidence that nothing was in the instrument but that which the law required.

Without stopping to enquire how far these positions, if true in law and fact, would affect the obligation of & the party under the express letter of his bond, executed ,. . as the basis of an injunction staying proceedings against him at law, and waiving any argument founded on the fact that the order for the injunction, is neither recited in the condition of the bond nor otherwise set forth in the record, we shall confine ourselves to the main question presented, and that is whether the bond and condition are in any material point, involved in this case, more comprehensive than is required by law in a bond to be taken in enjoining proceedings in a suit before judgment.

The 37th section of the act of 1796, (1 Slat. Law, 800,) enacts that “no injunction shall be granted to stay proceedings in any suit at law, unless,” &c., “in which case the complainant shall enter into bond, with sufficient security, to be approved of, &c., for paying all money and tobacco and costs due or to became due to the plaintiff in the action at law; and also all such costs as shall be awarded against him or her in case the injunction shall be dissolved.”

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Johnson v. Vaughan, 48 Ky. 217, 9 B. Mon. 217, 1848 Ky. LEXIS 55 (Ky. Ct. App. 1848).

48 Ky. 217 (Johnson v. Vaughan) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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