Gibbs v. Board of Aldermen
Gibbs v. Board of Aldermen
Opinion of the Court
delivered the omkioit of the court.
The Board of Aldermen of the city of Louisville were proceeding to investigate certain charges and specifications preferred against E. Ii. Gibbs, a park commissioner of that city, with a view of removing him from office if the charges made were sustained, when the latter, in a proceeding by motion, accompanied by a petition authorized by section 474 of the Civil Code, obtained a preventive order prohibiting that board from proceeding with the investigation until the motion was decided. The Board of Aldermen appeared to the motion, filed a demurrer to the petition, and upon the hearing the writ was denied. The applicant for the writ then prayed an appeal to this court and executed a supersedeas bond in the court below in the ordinary form. He now applies for a rule against the Board of Aldermen to show cause why they should not be- punished for contempt in disobeying the supersedeas, alleging their purpose to proceed with the investigation of the charges regardless of thesupersedeas. ■ ,
What was there for the applicant to supersede in the present inquiry? The court below had denied the writ and left the applicant without the relief sought. The intervening order was not, in fact, a writ of prohibition, but a command from the court to the Board of Aldermen to stay all proceedings until it could be determined whether or uot the plaintiff' was entitled to the writ.
The writ was not allowed to go, and the applicant, by a supersedeas, is attempting to obtain relief the court denied him. It is like superseding a judgment denying;
The entire question as to the retention of the injunction until the appeal is disposed of, is left to the discretion of the trial judge, who is familiar with the facts and thé parties, and can perceive the danger that may happen to the rights of the litigants if there is an entire suspension of the injunction during the pendency of the appeal.
The writ of prohibitioit is the order from the superior to the inferior court of limited jurisdiction, prohibiting the latter from acting in a matter out of its jurisdiction, and, by section 475 of tlie Code, the granting or the refusal of the writ is the final order, and when the final order is entered, the temporary preventive order has no longer any force in this or any other court, and the final order being a denial of the writ, the supersedeas affects only the question of costs. The preventive order ivas only intended to protect the litigants until the court could determine whether or not he was entitled to the writ of prohibition, and the court having denied the writ, the effect of a mere preventive order can not be revived by a supersedeas so as to make the writ of prohibition effective during the pendency of the appeal.
This court, in the case of injunctions; had some doubt as to the efficacy of the rule when established, and is not disposed to extend it by applying it to writs of prohibition, because a temporary order had been issued for the protection of tlie litigant until his case could be heard. He has applied for relief and it has been denied
The rule is refused.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Gibbs v. Board of Aldermen of Louisville
- Cited By
- 1 case
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- Published