Bryan v. May
Bryan v. May
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court :
Whilst the general rule in respect of the necessary parties to a suit in equity is well established and understood, difficulties constantly occur in its application to the facts alleged and the relief prayed in particular cases. One of these difficulties presents itself in this case and in several aspects. In so far as the decree of dismissal may have been founded on the failure of complainant to make the remaining devisees and legatees of John F.> May parties to his bill, we are not prepared to give it our approval. Whilst interested in the property and in the rents and revenues that may be collected for distribution as provided in the will, the right of each is to a certain and separate interest or part. The others have no common interest with the defendant in the object of the bill, and it is not seen how, upon the facts alleged, their interests can be affected, in any material sense, by granting the relief prayed against the defendant. Persons so situated are not indispensable parties. Story Eq. Pl., Secs. 72, 207, 207a, 212; Adams Eq., p. 315 ; Shields v. Barrow, 17 How. 130, 139; Hubbard v. Burrell, 41 Wis. 365; Wendell v. Van Rensaelaer, 1 John. Ch. 344, 349.
Nor is it apparent to us that the object of the bill necessarily demands a construction of the will, in which others are interested, in such sense as to require that they should be made parties. It seems to be that incidental construction merely, which is involved in many bills of the kind, viz., whether it is reasonably apparent that there is any interest in the defendant upon which a court of equity might operate as prayed.
Without undertaking to construe the will, we think that if the defendant has an equitable interest in the land de-. vised, subject to certain contingencies that are named in the will, there seems to be no sound reason why the same, whatever it may be, should not be sold, if necessary, in satisfaction of the unpaid judgment. The objection that a sale of
Still, however, on account of the detriment that might be sustained, a court of equity may well be reluctant to decree a sale under such circumstances as long as another and apparently as satisfactory remedy may be found for the creditor’s relief. Therefore, as the bill discloses what is apparently a speedier and more efficacious means for the satisfaction of the judgment, it is not necessary to determine finally whether the defendant has such an interest in the real estate, under the will, as would justify a decree for its sale. That question may come before us again, in the event of the failure of the other remedy, and will therefore be left open until such time.
The hill shows that the monthly revenues of the estate amount to $1,200, two-thirds of which are for distribution among the children of the testator, provided the mortgages referred to have been paid, a fact which may be reasonably inferred from the lapse of time. The difficulty with the
In view of this mode of relief, as well also of the other, the bill was still fatally defective in omitting to join Sarah Maria May, the executrix of the will and co-trustee with defendant of the estate thereunder, as a party defendant. Story Eq. Pl., Secs. 207, 207a; 1 Daniell Ch. Pr. 192, 193 and 247.
The fact that the bill was directed substantially to her co-trustee in his own right, and formally only as trustee, emphasized the necessity for making her a party.
As regards the incumbrance of Victorine M. Learned, under the allegations and prayers of the bill, we are of the opinion that she is not a necessary party. In the first place, any liability of defendant to her whatever depends upon a contingency that may never happen. In the second place, the amount of the possible liability is uncertain, for the penalty of the appeal bond is no certain criterion. For both these reasons it could neither be discharged nor provided for, and hence, it was proper for complainant, who does not deny the bona fides of the instrument, to pray that the sale might be made subject thereto. Hagan v. Walker, 14 How. 29, 37; Jerome v. McCarter, 94 U. S. 734, 736; Clark v. Bradley Company, 6 App. D. C. 437, 442. If its existence should increase the difficulty of realizing upon the interest, at a judicial sale, the fault is with the defendant, and its' result cannot be visited upon the complainant.
For the omission to make the executrix and co-trustee a party, the bill was rightly dismissed, though the same
To subserve the ends of justice, the decree will be modified so as to read as dismissed without prejudice, and, as so modified, affirmed, with costs; and it is so ordered. The complainant will therefore be free to. file another bill joining therein the said Sarah Maria May as executrix and trustee, and any other trustee that may have been substituted for William May in the event that the power so to do, conferred by the will, shall have been exercised in the interval. And therein may be retained the prayer for sale, &e., in the event that the remedy against the fund, first to be pursued, should prove insufficient.
What has been said herein above in respect of the necessity of joining the remaining children of John F. May is in application to the faets as they appear in the bill. If there should be any special reason why they ought to be made parties, it may be made to appear by plea.
Modified and affirmed.
On November 5, 1896, Mr. Sands, on behalf of the appellant, filed a motion for a modification of the decree in this case.
On November 10, 1896, the motion was granted, Mr. Justice Shepard delivering the opinion of the Court:
The motion of appellant, entitled a motion for modification of the decree rendered, in so far as it prays that the decree below may be reversed with costs, in order that he may amend his bill, is a motion for a rehearing, and to that extent is overruled.
The court below did not err in dismissing the bill for the want of a necessary party defendant, and as plaintiff did not ask leave to amend, so far as the record shows, he is in no attitude to complain that injustice was done him.
In consideration of the fact, however, that the record does
Reference
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- BRYAN v. MAY
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- Syllabus
- Equity Pleading and Practice ; Creditor’s Bills ; Parties ; Sequestration. 1. The devisees other than the one whose interest is sought to be reached are not necessary parties to a creditor’s bill to reach and subject to satisfaction of a judgment at law the interest of one of the devisees under a will appointing him as co-trustee with the testator’s widow, who is also executrix, and which directs that a certain portion of the rents, issues and profits of the trust fund shall be distributed among the devisees named, including himself. 2. The co-trustee under such will is, however, a necessary party defendant; and failure to join her as such will render the suit fatally defective. 3. The difficulty in the way of arriving at the value of and realizing a just and adequate price for the equitable interest of a judgment debtor in lands devised, subject to certain contingencies named in the will, is not a ground for refusing to decree the sale of such interest; but a court of equity will be reluctant to decree a sale under such circumstances where another satisfactory remedy may be found for the creditor’s relief. 4. Where, therefore, a judgment debt may be satisfied within a reasonable time by means of sequestration of the judgment debtor’s portion of the revenues of an estate under a devise of property in trust for the distribution of the rents and profits between the debtor and the other devisees, such means should be resorted to until exhausted or shown to be unavailable before pressing, for a decree of sale of his interest. 5. One to whom a judgment debtor conveys his equitable interest in an estate under a will to indemnify her against any loss she may incur as surety on an appeal bond in which the debtor is principal, is not a necessary party to a creditor’s bill praying a sale of the debtor’s interest subject to the rights of the surety.