Norris v. Pollard

75 Ga. 358
CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
DecidedJanuary 26, 1886
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 75 Ga. 358 (Norris v. Pollard) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Norris v. Pollard, 75 Ga. 358 (Ga. 1886).

Opinion

Hall, Justice.

Both of these writs of error are founded upon different judgments, rendered separately, against Morgan and Norris, who were joint defendants in the same suit. Defences were set up to the suit in Morgan’s name alone, who was the principal in the four notes sued on, and Norris, although not so appearing on the paper, was, in fact, only ■the surety of Morgan, which was well known to Pollard, the real plaintiff in the cause. Norris was misled as to his being defended, and was under the impression that the pleas filed were in the joint names of himself and Morgan, his principal in the paper. There being no defence as [360]*360to him, and the notes sued on being unconditional contracts, in writing, the court, on motion of plaintiff’s counsel awarded judgment against him without the intervention of a jury.

The case was then tried as against his co-defendant upon the issues found on his several pleas, and a verdict returned on each of them in favor of the plaintiffs. Morgan moved to set the verdict aside, and prayed for a new trial, on the grounds set forth in his motion. The hearing of the motion was postponed to a future time, and pending it, the rendering of judgment upon the verdict was superseded. While this proceeding was suspended, the plaintiff caused an execution to issue upon the j udgment against Norris, which was levied on his property. Norris filed his bill on the equity side of the court against Pollard and others, the plaintiffs, and against the sheriff levying the ■fi.fa. issuing from the judgment obtained against the complainant, alleging the foregoing facts and others, and praying that an injunction issue restraining the respondents from enforcing the judgment obtained against him until a final judgment was had by respondent, Pollard, against Morgan, and for other relief. The injunction was ordered, as prayed, by the Honorable R. W. Carswell, Judge of the superior courts of the Middle Circuit, the Honorable Henry C. Roney, Judge of the Augusta Circuit, where the bill was brought, being disqualified to act in the matter. It ap-. peared from the allegations in the bill that the judgment sought to be enjoined thereby had been rendered by M. P. Carroll, Esq.., as judgeypro hac vice. When the bill was called for a hearing before Joseph Ganahl, Esq., who had been selected to preside in the place of the judge of the circuit, the defendants insisted upon a demurrer, filed thereto, upon the following among other grounds, viz.: That Judge Carswell had no jurisdiction to order the injunction; that M. P. Carroll, Esq., the judge pro hac vice who awarded the j udgment, was alone competent and authorized to enjoin its execution; that there was no equity [361]*361.in the bill; that complainant had an adequate remedy at law by motion to set aside the judgment; that he was in laches by allowing the judgment to go against him without objection; that the judgment was conclusive; that the notes on which the j udgment was founded were several as well as joint.,* and, although the action against him and the other was joint, this was no bar to awarding a separate judgment against him by the court, etc. This demurrer was sustained, and the bill was dismissed. To this decree the complainant excepted, and this writ of error was sued out to set aside and reverse it.

1. It is at least doubtful if the judgment awarded by the court against one of the joint defendants, while the suit was pending and undetermined upon the pleas filed by his co-defendant, for whom he was only surety, was not void. Under the constitution, Code, §5145, the court can render judgment, without the verdict of a jury, only in civil cases founded on unconditional contraéis in writing, where an issuable defence is not filed under oath or affirmation. There was an issuable defence made in this case, as prescribed by the constitution. The plaintiff chose to treat the contract as joint, and there was nothing in the case authorizing or justifying the severance of the defendants ; both of them had been served; they were both in life, and both within the jurisdiction of the court. There was no defence set up here that would not have been as available to the complainant, as to his co-defendant in the common law suit, considering the relation they bore to each other and to the plaintiffs in that suit, that of principal and surety. That the respondent owed a duty to this complainant ”as the surety of his principal debtor, and that he was bound to act toward him in the utmost good faith, will not be questioned, and it is equally clear that the surety is liable for no greater amount than is found to be due from the principal; his liability cannot be extended beyond that of his principal. This follows from the very nature of the contract. Code, §2149 and citations. The course pursued [362]*362here was, to say the least, injurious to the surety, Ib., §2154. Although it did not appear from the contract that the complainant bore that relation to it, yet according to the allegations in the bill, the respondent knew that to be a fact, and irrespective of the form o,f the engagement, that is all that is material to the creation of the relation and to charge the creditor with all the duties and obligations arising therefrom, Ib., §2151. Admitting, as does the demurrer, the facts set forth in the bill, to say the least, the course pursued was an undue advantage taken'of the complainant, and to which, it must be apparent, he would not have subjected himself, unless he had been laboring under some gross misapprehension, or unless he had been misled by some mistake. These are issues of fact which should have been passed upon by the jury on the trial of the cause.

2. It is manifest that the judgment in question was, to say the least of it, highly irregular. We know of no law authorizing separate judgments rendered by different tribunals, against different defendants and at different limes, where they are joined in the same action. On the contrary, the rule is well settled that the verdict must cover the issues made by the pleadings. Code, §3559. But although the judgment be void for any cause, such as fraud, accident or mistake, this would not oust chancery of its jurisdiction to set it aside, provided that it was not occasioned by the negligence or fault of the complainant. Code, §3595. The allegation here demurred to charged that complainant was not negligent or at fault, but was honestly misled as to filing of his defence, and it does not seem to us (hat it was essential that he should have detailed in his pleadings all the facts' that led him into this error. The character of his defence was unmistakable, and must have been known to the respondent, whether it was so known to his attorney or not.

We think there was error in sustaining this demurrer and ordering the bill to be dismissed. The complainant [363]*363was at least entitled to have the execution of the judgment restrained until the termination of the suit against his principal, in order to ascertain by that final judgment the extent to which he was liable, as his undertaking was only collateral to, and his liability commensurate with, that of the other defendant in the common-law suit. If, for any cause, he failed to set up this defence, and judgment went against him, he was not precluded by that judgment, under our Code, §2149, from showing this fact and protecting himself, at least to this extent.

3. The fact that a judge pro hao vice rendered the judgment sought tobe enjoined, did not render him competent or authorize him to act in matters arising subsequent to that trial.

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Bluebook (online)
75 Ga. 358, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/norris-v-pollard-ga-1886.