Kennedy's Administratrix v. Hammond

16 Mo. 341
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedMarch 15, 1852
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 16 Mo. 341 (Kennedy's Administratrix v. Hammond) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kennedy's Administratrix v. Hammond, 16 Mo. 341 (Mo. 1852).

Opinion

RylaND, Judge,

delivered the opinion of the court.

From the above statement, the assessment of damages upon the dissolution of the injunction, becomes the main point for the consideration of this court.

This injunction cannot be said to be a proceeding to restrain the collection of money, in this case. Here, there was no judgment at law, the enforcement of which, by execution, was restrained and enjoined. Sections 11 and 13 of the act concerning injunctions, Rev. Code, 1845, are as follows :

Sec. 11. No injunction shall issue in any case, until the complainant execute a bond with sufficient security, to the other party, in such sum as the court or judge shall deem sufficient to secure the amount, or other matter to be enjoined, and all damages that may be occasioned by such injunction, conditioned that the complainant shall abide the decision which shall be made thereon, and pay all sums of money, damages and costs, [352]*352that shall be adjudged against him, if the injunction shall be be dissolved.
“ Sec. 18. Upon the dissolution of an injunction, in whole or in part, damages shall be assessed by a jury, or, if neither party require a jury, by the court; but if money shall have been enjoined, the damages thereon shall not exceed ten per centum on the amount released by the_dissolution, exclusive of legal interest and costs.”

On judgments at law, the dissolution of an injunction restraining the collection of the money, can allow of damages being assessed, at not more than ten per cent. That, in addition to legal interest. It is obvious that, in some cases, when injunctions have been granted to restrain an act from being' done other than to collect money, such as the one in this present case, the damages may necessarily be much greater than the delay of receiving a sum of money for a few months could ordinarily produce ; and if damages only can be measured by per cent., in many cases there would be no criterion to ascertain them by. From the words of the act, too, we can see, that to restrain the collection of money, was not alone in the mind of the legislators. “Amount or other matter to be enjoined.” Here, the complainant below did not seek to enjoin and restrain the defendants from the collection of a judgment or of a sum of money, but to prevent them from proceeding to sell property, the trust fund, and in that act, on the part of the complainant, serious injury may have been committed ; no less than the destruction in a greater or less degree of the value of the entire fund ; and can it be said, that ten per cent, is to be the amount of damages to be awarded, on the dissolution of an injunction in such cases ? Ten per cent, on what ? The original debt, for the payment of which the trust was made ? That will not do. Nor can the defendants be compelled to resort to the bond on which that injunction was originally allowed. The condition of the bond is, “ pay all sums of money, damages and costs that shall be adjudged against him, [353]*353if the injunction be dissolved.” Now, before suing on this bond, after dissolution, “ the damages must be adjudged,” and the non-payment of the amount adjudged forms the breach of the bond, so far as damages are concerned.

No argument can be drawn from the liability arising on the bond, in order to ascertain how, and what amount of damages must be adjudged. The bond is to secure the payment of the money when adjudged. The trust property in this case was sold at the maturity of the first note ; that note was for something over one thousand dollars.

The property was incapable of division. It was sold entire. The property was liable to be sold on the default of payment of either of the notes. The complainant’s intestate, James Kennedy, became the purchaser, for $2,800. Shortly after the sale, he offered to Hammond, the trustee, one of the defendants below, the money to pay the amount of the first note, interest, and costs of advertising, and expenses of sale, &c., with a receipt from Emerson and Childs for the balance of the $2,800, and demanded a deed. Hammond refused to accept the tender, or to make a deed until the full amount of the debt secured by the property was paid. Now, what right had Emerson and Childs to receive the proceeds of this trust sale over the above notes ? Say the trust property, that is, the lease on it, had been assigned to them; they took it, with the incum-brance upon it. Now, if this sale, on the maturity of the first note, passed the entire interest in the trust estate to the purchaser, free from the incumbrance of the second note, then that sale, if Emerson and Childs had a right to receive the amount over the first note, and expenses, was an injury to the cestui que trust, instead of a benefit; for by it he lost the security for half the debt originally secured by this trust property.

At the maturity of the second note, steps were taken to sell the trust property ; then the complainant below steps in, and by his bill prevents the sale by injunction. Upon the dissolution of this injunction, the trust property being destroyed, partly [354]*354by fire, and the lease forfeited to the original lessor ; the trust property j I may say, lost to the cestui que trust, the damages in consequence were assessed at the amount of the debt originally secured and interest, and I think very properly.

Let us look at the facts in this case. Hall, Allen and Childs were the proprietors of the lease from Chambers, off the steam saw mill. They gave their deed of trust on the-property to secure two notes. Afterwards, Hall sold all his-interest in the premises to Childs and Emerson, expressly subject to the debt mentioned in the trust deed. Then Alien-sells his interest in the property to Childs and Emerson, in like manner subject to the payment of the debt. Then Childs transfers the property to Emerson, subject to the payment of the debt. Lastly, Emerson transfers the property to John Maguire, in the same manner, subject to the debt; so that Maguire becomes the owner of the property, and, in respect to the prior parties, is the principal debtor, and they merely his securities to the holder of the trust debt. Maguire procures Kennedy to bid off the property at the trustee’s sale, and prosecutes the present suit for his own benefit, using Kennedy’s name. Maguire has all along been in possession, receiving a large rent, $2,000 per year, until the mill was burned down in 1849. The deed of trust contained a stipulation that the premises should be insured, and that the insurance should stand as security to the creditor. Maguire collects the insurance for his own benefit. This, too, pending the injunction. So, too, pending the injunction, the landlord enters into the premises for a forfeiture, and Maguire suffers him to keep possession, and to make leases to other parties. Ma-guire, after making the trust debt his own, appropriates the security for the debt, to his own use, and insists that the original creditor, Orris Hall, shall look to the makers of the notes individually, and not to the trust fund.

The notes are still due; the trust property was sold; Ma-guire gets possession through Kennedy’s purchase, pays no part of the debt for which the property was sold, rents out this [355]*355very trust property for $2,000 a year, apd indemnifies Kennedy to prosecute this proceeding, in which tbe injunction was obtained. Had tbe second sale proceeded, tbe debt in all probability might have long ago been made out of tbe trust property.

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Bluebook (online)
16 Mo. 341, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kennedys-administratrix-v-hammond-mo-1852.