Sharp v. Kennedy

13 Tenn. App. 170, 1930 Tenn. App. LEXIS 133
CourtCourt of Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedApril 12, 1930
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 13 Tenn. App. 170 (Sharp v. Kennedy) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sharp v. Kennedy, 13 Tenn. App. 170, 1930 Tenn. App. LEXIS 133 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1930).

Opinion

*171 THOMPSON, J.

The complainant, Dr. Sharp, filed this bill against J._A. Henry and others to enjoin the levy of an execution issuecTonji$5,000 judgment of the Circuit Court which had been rendered in favor of said Henry and others against Sharp. The ground of the bill was that the judgment had been obtained through fraud. An injunction, as prayed, was issued, but later the Chancellor"dissolved the injunction, dismissed complainant’s bill, rendered judgment in favor of Henry and others against complainant and the sureties on the injunction bond for the judgment and interest and costs of the law case (including costs of the Circuit Court, Court of Appeals and Supreme Court) and rendered judgment against complainant and the sureties on his cost bond for the costs of the present cause. The complainant has appealed to this Court and has assigned errors.

On May 5, 1927, J. A. Henry, his wife, Mary A. Henry, and their eight children lived on the northwest side of the Niles Perry Road. Their mail box was on the southeast side of said road. On said date the United States rural mail carrier drove his car to said mail box and blew his horn to indicate to the Henrys that he had a package for them which was too large to be put in their mail box. Mrs. Henry crossed the road to the mail carrier’s car and received the package. As she Was re-crossing the road on her return trip home, she was struck by Dr. Sharp’s car which he was operating along said road. She died within a few hours from the injuries thus sustained.

J. A. Henry, for his own use and benefit, and for the use and benefit of his said eight children, instituted a suit in the Circuit Court against Dr. Sharp to recover damages for the unlawful killing of his deceased wife.. The jury rendered a verdict in his favor for $5,000, and costs. Pinal judgment was rendered on this verdict and Dr. Sharp appealed to this Court (Court of Appeals) where the judgment of the Circuit Court was affirmed. Dr. Sharp then filed a petition for certiorari but the same was denied by the Supreme Court. Thereafter an execution was issued and went into the hands of Jim Kennedy, Sheriff of Monroe County, who was about to levy it on the property of Dr. Sharp when he filed the bill in this cause against said Kennedy, J. A. Henry, the eight children, C. E. Wagoner, E. E. Watkins and M. H. Gamble, the last three^ of whom were attorneys of record for J. A. Henry and in whose favor a lien had been declared on said $5,000 recovery.

It was alleged in the bill that the principal allegation of negligence contained in the declaration in the law cause Was that Dr. Sharp, was running at a speed of 45 or 50 miles per hour; that since the affirmance of said judgment in the law cause by the appellate court, complainant, Dr. Sharp, had for the first time been able to *172 learn facts showing that frand had been perpetrated upon him by the said J. A. Henry and his children in the obtaining of said judgment; that in the trial of said law cause the one material witness upon the vital issue of the speed of Dr. Sharp was said J. A. Henry who swore positively at said trial that Dr. Sharp was driving his car at a speed of forty to forty-five miles per hour and that in this false and fraudulent testimony he was supported by certain members of his family who joined with him in a deliberate conspiracy to falsify the facts and to impose liability upon complainant, Dr. Sharp, upon the alleged ground that complainant was driving his car at an unlawful rate of speed at the time and place of said accident.

The bill further alleged that after the said J. A. Henry and his children thought that said judgment had become final by its af-firmance in the appellate courts they began to talk to friends and neighbors and to admit the falsity of their said testimony; that said J. A. Henry had expressly admitted that he falsified the true facts on the witness stand and that complainant was driving his car at only 10 or 15 miles per hour, and had boasted that notwithstanding said fact he had been able to obtain a judgment against complainant for $5,000. It was further alleged that said Henry and his children knew that complainant was not operating his car at an unlawful rate of speed; that they joined in a deliberate fraudulent conspirac3'-among themselves to offer perjured testimony upon this vital material issue which was the determinative factor therein, and as a direct and necessary result of said fraudulent testimony they had obtained said judgment; that said facts had been admitted by J. A. Henry since the judgment had been affirmed.

It was further alleged that upon the trial of the law' cause the only witnesses offered upon this most material issue, the rate of speed which complainant was making, were the complainant and the members of his family and J. A. Henry, and the members of his family, and that complainant and the members of his family testified that complainant was driving at a rate of speed of 12 or 15 miles per hour and that Henry and some of the members of his family testified that complainant was driving at a speed of 40 or 45 miles per hour; that it w'as therefore of vital importance in the trial of said law cause to obtain the testimony of disinterested witnesses on this material issue; that complainant had made long, careful and diligent search in his efforts to locate such witness who knew the speed of complainant’s ear but had been unable to locate any such witnesses; that since the affirmance of the case by the appellate courts and since said Henry had begun to exult over his victory, complainant had learned for the first time that said J. A. Henry had agreed to pay one Joe Smith $50 if he would refrain from testifying in said law cause and would keep secret the fact that he was an eye witness *173 to the rate of speed that complainant was making, which the said Joe Smith represented to have been only 10 or 15 miles per hour; that as a result of said offer by said Henry the said Joe Smith, together with his companion, Orville Turpin, concealed from complainant this vital and necessary testimony which otherwise complainant would have obtained and produced at said trial so that he could have shown by wholly disinterested witnesses the material fact that he was driving at a speed of only 10 or 15 miles per hour, which he could have done but for the fact that defendant, Henry, had promised the payment of said sum of money for the keeping secret of said testimony; and that as a result of said promise to pay said testimony was thus fraudulently concealed from complainant.

The bill also alleged that the entire proceeding in the law cause was a preconceived design to impose unjust liability upon complainant through fraud and chicanery; that said Henry and his family j knew that complainant was in no fault or wrongdoing with reference] to said accident, and that the said Mary A. Henry had admitted to him before she died that it was all her fault and that complainant was in no way to blame for said accident.

The bill further alleged that complainant was a citizen and resident of Monroe County, Tennessee; that said Henry and his family resided in Loudon County, Tennessee; that for the purpose of carrying out their fraudulent conspiracy to impose unjust liability upon complainant they invoked the aid of one J. J.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
13 Tenn. App. 170, 1930 Tenn. App. LEXIS 133, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sharp-v-kennedy-tennctapp-1930.