Sims v. Goodwyn
Sims v. Goodwyn
Opinion of the Court
By the Coicrt.
delivering the opinion.
Napoleon B. Goodwyn, one of the defendants, commenced an action of trover, in Coweta Superior Court, against Nancy Goodwyn, the other defendant and his mother, for the recovery of certain negroes, and after much litigation, succeeded in recovering judgment against her for the value of said negroes and their hire, amounting, in the aggregate, to the sum of ten thousand dollars, eight thousand of which could be discharged by the delivery of the negroes.
By reference to the report of that case in 20 Geo. 420, and 29 Geo. 225, where all the facts and grounds of that recovery are represented at large, it will be seen that the title of Napoleon B. rested on the following facts: The negroes, or those from which these now in controversy sprung, were levied and sold at sheriff’s sale, in the State of Virginia, on the 6th of May, 1829, as the property of Burwell P. Goodwyn, the husband of one and father of the other of defendants, when they were bid off by one Oliver, for the defendant in execution, Burwell P. Goodwyn, who paid the price at which they were sold at that sale. The possession of the negroes were unchanged, but, for some purpose, a title for the negroes was made to Mrs. Elizabeth Goodwyn, the mother of Burwell P., and in 1830, she, by her will, bequeathed them- to her grandson, Napoleon B. — she never having had possession of them, but the negroes continued in Burwell Goodwyn’s possession up to his death, in 1835.
.It is objected to the grant of this injunction by the defendant, Napoleon B., that the demand of complainant is stale. It certainly can not be so as to him; for he never has had the possession of the property, so that the statute of limitations could run as against him. And that is a sufficient reply to that obj ection.
It is also said that the common law remedy of the complainant is adequate and complete, but it is not so, on account of the insolvency of Napoleon B.; besides, no action can be had against him until he gets the property, and when he does that, it is perfectly possible that the process of the Court could neither reach him or the property. That’s the case made in the bill. Nor would any common law remedy, even if Napoleon B. was responsible and solvent, fully meet and pn> tect the rights of all the parties in interest. The complainant might possibly be protected, if Mrs. Nancy Goodwyn could respond to both actions, and a recovery in each; but this she is not able to do, and if she could, it would be inequitable to so compel her.
The injunction must be allowed on complainant giving the bond required by the statute.
JUDGMENT.
Whereupon, it is considered and adjudged by the Court, that the judgment of the Court below be reversed, upon the ground that the Court erred in refusing to sanction the injunction prayed for in this bill. On condition that complainant gave the bond required by the statute in such case, the injunction should have been granted.
Reference
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- SIMS v. GOODWYN
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