Hooper v. Patterson
Hooper v. Patterson
Opinion of the Court
Action upon two injunction bonds to recover $5,000 damages alleged to have been sustained by plaintiff’s intestate, by reason of the injunctions. The plaintiff had judgment for $500, with interest thereon from February 29, 1884 (the date of filing original complaint), until the date of judgment, May 4, 1889, and costs, taxed at $188.20. The defendants appeal from the judgment, and from an order denying their motion for a new trial. The appeal from the judgment should be dismissed, as it was not taken until September 23, 1891—more than two years after the entry of the judgment.
1. It is contended for appellant that neither of these findings is justified by the evidence. I think this point should be sustained. The evidence not only fails to show that Burke or his administrator ever paid any attorneys’ fees for services in procuring a dissolution of either injunction, but positively shows that no such fees were ever paid, and, furthermore, shows that the estate of Burke was not liable for any such fees at the time the amended complaint, on which the case was tried, was filed, for the reason that no claim for any such fees was ever presented for allowance to the administrator of Burke, or to the probate judge. The plaintiff was appointed and qualified as administrator of Burke more than four months prior to the filing of the original complaint herein, and nearly two years before the filing of the last amended complaint; and it appears that notice to the creditors had been duly published by the administrator. Substantially all this appears from the testimony of Thomas V. O’Brien, a witness for plaintiff, who appears to have been the
2. Appellant also makes the point that the court erred in allowing interest on the damages, and I think this point is well taken. The liability of the defendants, if any, arose from a contract; but the amount of the damages could not have been estimated or ascertained by means of the contract; nor does the contract furnish any data useful as a factor in estimating the damages. Therefore, the damages were unliquidated and uncertain, and could only be made certain by proof and adjudication on the trial, or by a settlement between the parties: Coburn v. Goodall, 72 Cal. 509, 1 Am. St. Rep. 75, 14 Pac. 190; Heald v. Hendy, 89 Cal. 632, 27 Pac. 67.
I think the appeal from the judgment should be dismissed; but that the order denying a new trial should be reversed, and a new trial granted. But inasmuch as it appears that the attorneys for defendants refused to accept an offer of plaintiff’s attorneys to consent to an order granting a new trial, made at the time notice of defendants’ motion for a new trial was served, I think the appellant should pay the costs of the appeal.
We concur: Temple, C.; Haynes, C.
For the reasons given in the foregoing opinion, the appeal from the judgment is dismissed and the order denying a new trial is reversed and a new trial granted. Costs of appeal to be paid by appellant.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.