Trustees v. McClannahan

53 Ohio St. (N.S.) 403
Ohio Supreme Court·Decided October 29, 1895·Published

Opinion

Williams, J.

Action was brought in the court of common pleas of Vinton county, by the defendants in error, resident taxpayers of Swan township in that county, against the trustees of the township, who are the plaintiffs in error here, to enjoin the levy • of a tax to pay for a site and the building of a township house, the borrowing of money in anticipation of the tax, and payment for the site and building out of the general fund of [407]*407the township. The petition alleges, as the grounds of the injunction, that the trustees, who had already contracted for the site and the erection of the building at a cost of less than two thousand dollars, had not submitted the question of making the levy, to the electors of the township, at any election held therein, as required by section 1443, of the Revised Statutes; and, that there was no fund in the treasury of the township which could be used in payment for the building or site, when the contracts were made. The prayer of the petition is for a temporary injunction, and that on the final hearing the injunction be made perpetual. Upon the filing of the petition, an order was' granted by a judge of the court in which the action was brought, enjoining the defendants as prayed for in the petition, until the further order of the court. Afterward, before the same judge, the defendants, on notice to the plaintiffs, moved for the dissolution of that injunction, for the reasons, as stated in the motion, that the allegations of the petition were insufficient to authorize it, and also that they ymre not true; which motion was sustained, and the injunction dissolved; and from the order of dissolution the plaintiffs appealed to the circuit court. After the appeal was perfected, the operation of the order of dissolution was suspended, by two judges of the circuit court, until the appeal could be heard; and, issues of fact having been made up by pleadings filed in the action in the court of common pleas — the answer controverting material allegations of the petition and alleging some new matter which was denied by reply, the cause was placed on the trial docket of that court for the ensuing term, when the defendants asked to have the cause set down for trial. The court granted [408]*408the request; and thereupon, as shown by the record, on motion of the plaintiffs, the cause, so far as the same was pending in that court, was dismissed without prejudice to a new action, and judgment rendered against the plaintiffs for costs. At the following term of the circuit court, the defendants filed their motion to dismiss the appeal taken from the order dissolving the temporary injunction, and to strike the cause from the docket of that court, because the appeal took up nothing but the order of dissolution, and the plaintiffs after the appeal, had dismissed their action as above stated. Upon the hearing of that motion the court found the facts to be as herein set forth, hut overruled the motion, holding that the appeal took up-the whole case; and against the objection of the defendants, the court proceeded to a trial of the cause upon the-issues joined by the pleadings, at the conclusion of which judgment was given for the plaintiffs according to the prayer of the petition. A motion for a new trial, made upon the ground, among others, that the appeal should have been dismissed and the cause stricken from the docket, was overruled, .and a hill of exceptions duly allowed and filed showing the foregoing state of facts.

The question presented is one of some practical importance, namely, whether an appeal from an order vacating a provisional injunction in an action where the ultimate remedy sought is a perpetual injunction of like purport, has the effect of transferring the case to the appellate court for trial and judgment on its merits. It was said in Keyes v. Williamson, 31 Ohio St., 564, that the question is one about which there is a diversity of opinion; but none was there expressed by the court upon it, as that was unnecessary to the determination of the [409]*409ease; and. we are not aware of any decision of the court upon the question.

By the provisions of the civil code, an injunction may be the final judgment in an action, or a provisional remedy employed in the action; and the provisional injunction may be granted when it appears to be necessary to restrain, during the litigation, the commission or continuance of some act, respecting the subject of the action, which will render ineffectual the ultimate judgment demanded by the plaintiff. A party against whom such provisional injunction has been granted may, at any time before the trial of the action, apply to the court in which the action is pending, or to a judge of that court, to vacate or modify the same, either upon the petition and affidavits on which the injunction was allowed, on the ground that they are insufficient to warrant the injunction, or upon counter affidavits controverting the statements of fact on which it was obtained, or upon both of these grounds in the same application. An appeal may be taken to the circuit court, £ £ from an interlocutory order made by the common pleas court or a judge thereof, dissolving an injunction, in a case of which it had original jurisdiction; but such interlocutory order dissolving such injunction shall not be suspended by the appeal except by the order of the circuit court or two judges thereof in vacation, on reasonable notice to the adverse party. ” Revised Statutes, section 5226. The proper office of the provisional injunction is to prevent threatened irreparable injury, which should be averted, until opportunity is afforded for a full and deliberate investigation of the case at the trial, and, to preserve until that time, as far as possible, the condition of things existing when the injunction is [410]*410obtained, to the end that the rights of the parties as established by the final judgment rendered on the 'trial, may be secured to them by the enforcement of the judgment. In continuing such an injunction, by declining to sustain a motion for its dissolution, as well as in granting it in the first instance, the court or judge exercises a discretion which is controlled to some extent by a consideration of the consequences that are likely to follow, and will pursue that course which seems best calculated to subserve the ends of justice, and protect the interests of the parties; and while, in such case, the court or judge so far passes upon the sufficiency of the petition as to be satisfied a cause is made for the allowance of the injunction, that is not to be taken as a final adjudication by the court that the petition states a cause of action, or that in any way affects the right of the defendant to test its sufficiency in the usual way, by demurrer. As said by the Lord Chancellor, in Glascott v. Lang, 3 Myl. & Cr., 452-456, for the purpose of supporting an interlocutory injunction, “it is not necessary that the court should find a case which would entitle the plaintiff to relief at all events. It is quite sufficient if the court finds, upon the pleadings and evidence, a case which makes a transaction a proper subject of investigation in a court of equity.” And, on the other hand, it cannot properly be said that it has been determined by the court that the plaintiff cannot maintain his action, when the provisional injunction is dissolved on a motion made solely upon the petition and affidavits of the plaintiff; nor, that the case has been adjudged against him on the merits, when, the motion sustained is made upon the ground that the statements of fact in the petition and affidavits on [411]*411which, the injunction was procured, are untrue.

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Trustees v. McClannahan, 53 Ohio St. (N.S.) 403 (Ohio 1895).

53 Ohio St. (N.S.) 403 (Trustees v. McClannahan) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.