Levy v. Taylor

24 Md. 282, 1866 Md. LEXIS 18
CourtCourt of Appeals of Maryland
DecidedMarch 22, 1866
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 24 Md. 282 (Levy v. Taylor) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Levy v. Taylor, 24 Md. 282, 1866 Md. LEXIS 18 (Md. 1866).

Opinion

Weisel, J.,

delivered the opinion of this Court.

The suit in this case being upon an injunction bond, and the defendant (the appellee) being the surety in the bond, he, after oyer, pleaded general performance and for a further plea, that whilst the writ of injuntion was in full force and effect, a certain William W. Taylor and others named, filed their petition in the cause in which [289]*289the injunction was prayed and granted, praying for leave to become parties complainants with Thomas R. Rich, the original complainant therein, which said leave was granted by order of the Court of April 14, 1857, admitting the petitioners as co-plaintiffs, who, with the said Rich, did thereafter rightfully prosecute and control said suit. These pleas were accompanied with an agreement of the parties that on the trial of the issue joined on the replication to the plea of general performance, the defendant should be at liberty to rely on the matters averred in the second of the pleas, so far as they were legally admissible as a defence. It was also agreed that the said William W. Taylor, mentioned in the second plea as one of the petitioners, to be made co-plaintiffs in the proceedings for the injunction, was the same William W. Taylor who is the defendant in this action, both parties to have the benefit of the record and proceedings of the case of Rich against these appellants in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, and in the Court of Appeals of Maryland, (so far as the same might be legally admissible for the purpose,) and of any facts provable thereby. The record of the proceedings here referred to is the record of the cause in which the injunction was granted upon the bond sued on in this case. That cause resulted in a decree of the Circuit Court for Baltimore City dismissing the bill and dissolving the injunction, which, upon an appeal to the Court of Appeals, was affirmed with costs. t

In the progress of the trial three exceptions were taken by the plaintiffs to the ruling of the Court below, upon offers made by them of the record of said chancery proceedings, as evidence before the jury, which will be noticed and disposed of hereafter.

The evidence in the cause being closed, the plaintiffs submitted four prayers for instructions, all of which were [290]*290refused, except the first. The defendant also offered one prayer, which, was granted ; and the verdict being for the defendant, the plaintiffs, having excepted to the granting of the defendant’s prayer, and the refusal to grant their 2nd, 3d and 4th prayers, as well as to the rulings of the Court upon the offers of evidence above referred to, appealed to this Court.

The defendant’s prayer will be first disposed of. By granting it the Court instructed the jury that the obligation of the defendant, as surety in the bond sued on, was discharged by the order of the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, passed on the 14th of April, 1851, admitting other parties, as complainants with the said Rich, to prosecute said equity cause, and that as the writ of injunction was prosecuted with effect from the time of the issuing thereof continually until the passing of said order, the verdict ought to be for the defendant.

In support of this instruction it was contended by the counsel of the appellee that he undertook only in a case in which Rich was sole complainant, who alone could control the proceedings in the cause, and who, whilst he remained sole complainant, did prosecute with effect, and thus performed the condition of the bond; that the omission of other parties to prosecute deprived Rich of his power to control the cause, and placed a restraint upon his disposition or capacity to compromise or dismiss the suit. In this way the defendant’s responsibility was affected to his prejudice, and the nature of the suit, so far as he was concerned,materially changed.

In this view we do not concur, and think the Court below erred in the instruction given. The authorities relied on by the appellee on this point are only examples of the well-settled doctrine that the liability of a surety is not to be extended by implication beyond the terms of the contract, and that any dealings by a creditor with his [291]*291principal debtor, which amount to a departure from the contract by which the liability of the surety is enlarged without his consent, will discharge the surety. Whilst this is well established law, it is equally settled that the intention of the parties when the bond was executed is to guide in its construction, and to arrive at this, the nature of the contract, the purposes to he accomplished by it, and the character of the proceedings, of which it forms a part, will he regarded. Strawbridge vs. Balto. & Ohio R. R. Co., 14 Md. Rep., 366, 367. In this case the bond was given in a judicial proceeding as a necessary step to obtain the writ of injunction, and to indemnify the adverse party against its effects and operation. The hill in equity was a creditor’s bill filed by the complainant, Rich, in express terms '' on behalf of himself and all other creditors of Charlotte Levy, who should come in and contribute to the expenses of the suit.” It thus provides expressly for the admission of the parties. Apart from this, the proceeding was subject to the rules of chancery practice, in such cases for the making of other and proper parties. The condition of the bond, in its recital, referred to the hill of complaint, and stated its object to he to obtain the writ of injunction to restrain the obligees from doing certain things particularly mentioned in it. These were to prevent the parties, defendants to the bill, from selling or disposing of, or intermeddling with certain goods in a store, and that the Court might by its decree apply these effects to the payment of the debts of the complainant and the other creditors of Charlotte Levy. The condition of the bond was co-extensive with the objects and purposes of the bill, and the admission of new parties did not enlarge the responsibility of the obligors. The risk incurred by the surety when there was hut one party complainant to the hill was as great as when the number was in[292]*292creased. The possibility that Rich, as sole complainant, might have made better terms is mere conjecture. To meet this it might be said that the new parties might control him in procuring a more favorable result. Such speculations lead to no certain or definite conclusion. 77 Eng. C. L. Rep., 664. And this case is the more strong against the surety, inasmuch as he himself applied to be made a party complainant in conjunction with the other petitioners, and thereby assented to the act which he complains of as enlarging his responsibility.

We think the second prayer of the plaintiffs presented the proper rule of damages, and ought to have been granted.

The third was properly rejected. Whatever damages were sustained arose from the loss or the deterioration in the value of the property that was tied up by the injunction. Samson Levy’s interest in that was as mortgagee. If the loss of his security was the loss of his debt, he would obtain all he would be entitled to in the difference of value in the property itself. The suit being joint, the damages must be joint, and any special loss that he, as mortgagee, could sustain, ought not to be included in the general estimate or sum of damages.

The fourth prayer presents the general rule correctly, but it should have limited the jury to a sum within the penalty, and in this is defective and was rightly refused.

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Bluebook (online)
24 Md. 282, 1866 Md. LEXIS 18, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/levy-v-taylor-md-1866.