Parker v. Bond

5 Mont. 1
CourtMontana Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 15, 1883
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 5 Mont. 1 (Parker v. Bond) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Montana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Parker v. Bond, 5 Mont. 1 (Mo. 1883).

Opinion

Wade, O. J.

This is an action upon an injunction undertaking issued in the case of A. L. Fenner against Van Brocklin & Mallett, represented herein by Nahum Parker, administrator, plaintiff. The complaint alleges in substance that on the 16th day of November, 1874, in an action brought by A. L. Fenner against Van Brocklin & Mallett, a temporary restraining order was issued, and an undertaking executed by the defendants herein, in the sum of $1,000, given in favor of the defendants therein to cover any damages that might result to them in case it should be finally determined that the injunction or restraining order was wrongfully issued, which undertaking is set forth in full and made a part of the complaint. The complaint further alleges that such proceedings were had in the action that it was finally decided and adjudged that the plaintiff therein was not entitled to said injunction; “ that in having said injunction dissolved, and in and about defending the same in said court, these plaintiffs were compelled to and did employ counsel, and were necessarily compelled to pay, lay out and expend the sum of $200 in and about the employing and paying said counsel;” “that the damages in other respects sustained by these plaintiffs, by reason of the said injunction, amounts to the sum of $800, and interest thereon from the date of the dissolution of said injunction.”

[9]*9Mallett, one of the plaintiffs, died before judgment was entered, and the action was continued in the name of Van Brocklin, as surviving partner. Van Brocklin died after the entry of judgment in his favor for the full amount covered by the penalty of the undertaking, and before the motion for a new trial had been heard, and thereupon Nahum Parker, the plaintiff, was appointed administrator of the estate of Van Brocklin, and the action was thereafter prosecuted in his name.

The appellants contend, among other things, that the complaint does not state a cause of action as to the $800 claim for damages, or for any damages, except as to the $200 alleged to have been paid out as attorneys’ fees; that this defect in the complaint may be taken advantage of at any time, and that as to the $200 claim there is no proof to support it. Second, that the complaint does not support the judgment. Third, that the damages assessed were not alleged.

The respondents in answer say that if the complaint did not state a cause of action, the defendant should have demurred, and that if incompetent evidence was received at the trial, no exceptions were properly saved thereto.

A jury having been waived by the parties, the cause was tried before the court upon the evidence before that time taken, reduced to writing and reported by a referee. At the taking of the testimony, the defendants, by their counsel, objected to very much of the evidence, and, among the rest, to any proof of special damages under the allegations of the complaint, and asked the referee to pass upon their objections, which he refused to do, but noted the defendants’ objections in his report of the testimony.

The testimony, as taken by the referee, together with the several objections of the parties thereto, was argued by counsel, and upon the close of the argument of counsel for the defendants, he asked the court to pass upon [10]*10the competency or incompetency of the evidence produced on the trial; but the court, in considering the evidence, failed to sustain or overrule the several objections as they appeared in the record.

After the rendition of the judgment, counsel for the defendants asked the court to enter an order upon each and several the objections made to the testimony and matters of evidence in the case, which by the court was refused, and the defendants duly excepted.

After the rendition of the judgment in favor of the plaintiff, the defendants filed their motion for a new trial, for the following among other reasons: First, that the court erred in considering any evidence of damages, other than that pertaining to attorneys’ fees, under the pleadings in the action, and against the objections of the defendants. Second, that the court erred during the trial of the cause, sitting as a jury, in not ruling upon the objections of the defendants to the competency and admissibility of evidence taken before the referee, thereby depriving the defendants of their privilege of excepting, during the trial, to the ruling of the court upon any particular objection, but considered all the evidence taken by the referee against objections of the defendants. Third, that the evidence is insufficient to justify the findings in this, that the evidence shows that the sum of $200 was paid to all the attorneys for all their services in the case, which included their services for procuring a dissolution of the injunction at chambers, and the trial of the case on its merits at the term; and fourth, that the proof of special damages was wholly incompetent under the allegations of the complaint and the pleadings.

The statement on motion for a new trial having been settled, the motion was overruled, to which action of the court the defendants duly excepted, and appealed from the judgment and from the order overruling their motion for a new trial.

1. The allegation of the complaint as to damages other [11]*11than that in relation to attorneys’ fees is general, and is as follows: “That the damages in-other respects sustained by these plaintiffs, by reason of the said injunction, amounts to the sum of $800, and interest thereon from the date of the dissolution of said injunction.” This allegation is entirely insufficient to authorize the proof of, or to support a judgment for, special damages. In order to authorize proof of special damages they must be alleged. The defendants are entitled to notice. The allegation and proof must correspond. No special damages having been alleged in the complaint, none ought to have been proved on the trial; and none having been alleged, the complaint cannot be made to support a judgment for special damages. Dabovich v. Fmeric, 12 Cal. 172, 180; Stevenson v. Smith, 28 Cal. 102; L. T. & Co. v. S. & W. W. R. Co. 41 Cal. 565; Potter v. Froment, 47 Cal. 165; Wilson v. Davis, 1 Mont. 199; Baldwin v. Western R. Co. 4 Gray, 333; Adams v. Barry, 10 Gray, 361; Parker v. City of Lowell, 11 Gray, 358; 2 Greenl. Ev. sec. 254, and cases cited; Sedg. Meas. Dam. (5th ed.) secs. 675-7; Wood’s Mayne on Damages (1st Am. ed.), secs. 749-752; 1 Chitty’s Pl. 398; 1 Estee’s Pl. 191, secs. 113, 114.

Under this general allegation of damage the court heard testimony as to special damages, and found as matter of fact that the plaintiff had been damaged in the sum of $164, the same being the value of the time lost by one of the plaintiffs, during the time' he was prevented from work on account of the non-user of water mentioned in the injunction writ; also in the further sum of $100, being the amount expended by plaintiffs in opening their pits and drains which had been filled up with sand and debris during the pendency of the injunction, and which plaintiffs, by reason of not being able to use the water mentioned in said writ, were unable to keep out of said pits and ditches; also in the further sum of $500, the same being the value of the wrater, and its use to the plaintiffs during the time they were restrained [12]*12from its use.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State v. Hansen
Montana Supreme Court, 1981
Ragen v. Weston
Montana Supreme Court, 1981
State Ex Rel. Morgan v. State Board of Examiners
309 P.2d 336 (Montana Supreme Court, 1957)
Rogers v. Rogers
209 P.2d 998 (Montana Supreme Court, 1949)
Bunston v. Labbitt
277 P. 419 (Montana Supreme Court, 1929)
McDermott v. American Bonding Co.
179 P. 828 (Montana Supreme Court, 1919)
Nichols v. Board of Commissioners
76 P. 681 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 1904)
Horn v. Holt
75 P. 680 (Montana Supreme Court, 1904)
Balte v. Bedemiller
60 P. 601 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1900)
Creek v. McManus
32 P. 675 (Montana Supreme Court, 1893)
Quirk v. Clark
7 Mont. 231 (Montana Supreme Court, 1887)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
5 Mont. 1, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/parker-v-bond-mont-1883.