Joslin v. Williams

107 N.W. 837, 76 Neb. 594, 1906 Neb. LEXIS 304
CourtNebraska Supreme Court
DecidedMay 3, 1906
DocketNo. 14,258
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 107 N.W. 837 (Joslin v. Williams) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nebraska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Joslin v. Williams, 107 N.W. 837, 76 Neb. 594, 1906 Neb. LEXIS 304 (Neb. 1906).

Opinions

Jackson, 0.

In July, 1901, Charles S. Joslin and Suviah Joslin, as trustees under the will of John J. Joslin, deceased, procured the appointment of a receiver in an action to foreclose a mortgage, wherein they were the plaintiffs and Dora E. Williams et al. were defendants.. Upon appeal to the supreme court the order appointing the receiver was vacated and the petition for the appointment dismissed. Joslin v. Williams, 3 Neb. (Unof.) 194. In that proceeding the Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland was surety on the bond of the applicants for the appointment. The receiver made report to the district court showing the collection of rents amounting to $257.60, and disbursements to the amount of $143.41, including his fees, and the remainder, by direction of the court, was paid over to the clerk subject to the order of Dora E. Williams, and that fund still remains in the custody of the court; and thereupon Dora E. Williams brought suit against the Joslins and their surety on the bond for [596]*596damages because of tbe wrongful appointment of tbe receiver, and recovered judgment, from wbicb error is prosecuted on bebalf of tbe Joslins and tbeir surety. In tbe discussion of tbe case tbe parties will hereafter be designated as they were designated in tbe court below.

Tbe principal questions presented for determination in tbis court may be summarized, first, as to tbe effect of tbe order approving tbe report of tbe receiver and directing tbe disbursement of funds upon plaintiff’s claim for damages by reason of tbe wrongful appointment; and, second, as to tbe measure of damages. It is urged on bebalf of tbe defendants that tbe order confirming the report of thé receiver and directing the disbursement of funds in his hands amounts to an adjudication of tbe rights of the plaintiff. This contention cannot be sustained, except upon tbe theory that tbe plaintiff was compelled to litigate in that action her right to tbe damages involved in tbis action; and it would seem that a bare statement of tbe proposition ought to be sufficient to dispose of that question. Tbe accounts of the receiver are not involved, nor was there involved in the accounts of tbe receiver any question of damages which might arise by reason of bis wrongful appointment.. Tbe appointment of a receiver adjusts and determines tbe right of no party to tbe proceedings, and grants no final relief, directly or indirectly. Vila v. Grand Island E. L., I. & C. S. Co., 68 Neb. 233. Tbe discharge of tbe receiver and tbe settlement of bis accounts was a necessary result of the appointment, and was, of course, conclusive as between tbe parties litigant and tbe receiver himself, but did not have tbe effect of determining the question of damages as between tbe litigants, any more than the dissolution of an injunction or tbe discharge of an attachment would determine tbe question of damages in actions where relief by injunction or attachment is sought.

By section 269 of the code, it is provided that every order appointing a receiver shall require tbe applicant to give a good and sufficient bond, conditioned to pay all [597]*597damages which the other parties to the suit, or any of them, may sustain by reason of the appointment of a receiver, -in case it shall he finally decided that the order ought not to have been granted. This provision is similar in effect to those provisions of our code requiring bonds to be given in attachment proceedings and upon the procuring of temporary orders of injunction, and, while the liability on the bond follows as a result of the final judgment in such cases, the extent of such liability and the measure of damages remains to be determined in an independent action on the bond., That is equally true in cases of a bond given by the applicant for the appointment of a receiver. The case is not one where the appointment of a receiver was acquiesced in or agreed upon by the parties, or where it was finally determined that the appointment was justified. The appointment in this case was resisted at the outset, and the right to such appointment was contested at every stage of the proceedings; and, while the rights and liabilities of the receiver were determined upon the settlement of his account, the liabilities of the parties to each other, growing out of the appointment, were in no sense determined or adjudicated. Authorities are cited to the effect that the plaintiff should not be held responsible for losses which result from the wrongful acts or negligence of the receiver. They are not applicable, however, to this case, where the wrong-does not arise out of the misconduct of the receiver. The damages here result from the wrongful appointment procured at the instance of the defendants Joslin.,

At the trial the plaintiff Avas permitted to prove, over the objections of the defendants, the rental value of the premises during the period when the receiver collected the rents and profits, and the value of the services of counsel employed in her behalf in procuring the vacation of the order appointing the receiver. It is urge'd that the rental value of the premises was not a proper measure of damages under the allegations of the petition, and that attorney’s fees in procuring the vacation of the order [598]*598should not be considered as an element of damages. The petition contains a recital of the appointment of the receiver, a copy of the bond, the appeal to the supreme court • and the order there made, the mandate of the supreme court requiring the district court to carry into effect the judgment of the supreme court, that the plaintiff was compelled to and did employ an attorney to prosecute the appeal to the supreme court, and the obligation to pay for the services so performed, together with the personal expenses of her attorney, which she was required to pay. It recites her title to the property and that she was entitled to the possession and the rents and profits; that the receiver entered upon the discharge of his duties, demanded and received the rents during the entire period of his receivership, and that he used and appropriated the’ rents and income arising therefrom; that the fair rental value of the premises was $24 a month and that the receiver collected the sum of $860 as such rents and profits. The contention that the rental value of the premises during the period of the receivership was not a proper measure of damages doubtless arises from the construction placed upon the allegation of the petition by the defendants.. We have no hesitancy in saying that the rental value of the premises was a proper measure of damages, and that the allegation in the petition showing the amount of rents collected by the receiver is entirely immaterial. What the result would have been had the plaintiff accepted the remainder of the rents and profits paid into court by the receiver, or had the plaintiff procured or participated in the proceedings resulting in the statement of the receiver’s account, it is unnecessary to determine; nor is it important to the inquiry that she might still apply to the clerk of the district court and receive the remainder from his hands. It is sufficient to state that she did not procure the accounting by the receiver and has not received any part of the funds collected by him; nor is it important that the defendants have permitted that fund to remain in the, custody of the clerk. '

[599]*599.. There is no statute expressly authorizing the allowance of attorney’s fees as an item of damages where it is finally determined that a receiver should not have been appointed. That is true, however, of every other element of damages.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
107 N.W. 837, 76 Neb. 594, 1906 Neb. LEXIS 304, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/joslin-v-williams-neb-1906.