Bass v. Nelms
Bass v. Nelms
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
The questions necessary to be considered in this case are somewhat obscured by the large mass of matter in which they are encompassed.
The complainant relies upon a series of acts commenced in 1868, and terminating in 1872, with which Nelms, the defendant, is intimately connected, charged in his bill to have been conceived in fraud, and contrived to defraud him of the quarter-section of land, the subject of controversy.
Eagan sold the land to Bass in 1862, for a cash payment, and two instalments, of $255 each, at one and two years; represented by notes at ten per cent interest. It appears from an exhibit, that, in 1869, Eagan obtained a decree in
Under that decree, Nelms, the defendant, bought the land, and, instead of paying the money to the commissioner, presented the notes, and had entered upon them as a credit the amount of his bid.
The complainant further alleges that, by imposition, threats, and fraud, he was induced by Nelms, in 1872, to give the notes and trust-deed which Tipler, the trustee, is about to enforce by a sale of the land.
To the relief sought by the bill, the defendant Nelms interposes several matters in bar: —
First, that Bass, in 1870, filed a bill to enjoin the decree foreclosing the vendor’s equity and to restrain a sale, in which he claimed that, at the time the decree was rendered, he had been declared a bankrupt, by reason whereof he had been absolved from the debt and lien. That injunction, on motion, was dissolved.
Nelms insists that filing the bill and obtaining the injunction released all errors in the decree, under the statute. Code 1871, sect. 1047. And, further, that Bass cannot in this suit bring forward matters to avoid that decree which were then known to him, and which were not then set up in opposition to it. He ought, also, then to .have complained that he did not have notice of the suit, and that the return on the summons was false. He ought then to have preferred the objection that Ragan was a mere nominal complainant, and was asserting a lien for assignees who had none, and whose real
The consequence of obtaining an injunction extends no further than to release ■ errors which might be assigned to the judgment in the appellate tribunal, but does not preclude the party from assailing the judgment for matters de hors the record, — as, that the judgment was obtained by fraud.
A party will not be permitted to split up his cause of suit, and litigate one part at one time, and another in a subsequent litigation. Especially ought this rule to be enforced in suits of injunction against the execution of decrees and judgments. If there existed several reasons why the decree of 1869-should not have been enforced, it behooved Bass to have combined them all (then Jcnown to him) in the bill which he filed that year. He must then have had knowledge that the subpoena had not been left with his wife, and that the return was false; Whether he then knew that Ragan had prosecuted that suit for the benefit of the assignees of the notes, he neither affirms nor denies in the bill now before us. He ought in this bill to have explained on that point.
But was it necessary that he should have been a party to the foreclosure suit? The complainant alleged that he had been declared a bankrupt, and that L. Ragan had been appointed his assignee. The fourteenth section of the Bankrupt Law vests in the assignee of the bankrupt all the ‘ ‘ personal and real estate,” “and all property conveyed by the bankrupt in fraud of his creditors.” As of the date of his application, the bankrupt is divested of all his estate, real and personal, and choses in action, except so much as may be-exempt to him, and property held in trust and beneficially belonging to others. The title to the quarter-section of land in question, at the time this bill was filed, had passed out of Bass, and he had no interest in it, unless to claim an exempt homestead. But that claim, if it had been asserted, would have failed, because the debt was for the purchase-money. Evidently, Bass had fallen into the error that the adjudication that he was a
It may be that the assignee in bankruptcy asserted no right to the land in the foreclosure suit, because there would be nothing left after that debt was made out of the land; or, if any thing, it would be covered by the homestead right; or, if that suit failed altogether, the land would be absorbed by the exemption.
But if Bass had satisfactorily proved that the foreclosure suit was conceived and prosecuted as a fraudulent device to set. up a lien, when none really existed, in favor of the beneficial owners of the notes, and if he were not at all embarrassed in this litigation by a failure to set up in his injunction suit of 1868 all the objections (which then existed and were known to him) to the foreclosure decree and its execution, he has condoned the frauds and covin of which he complains in this suit, by the compromise arrangement which he made with Nelms in 1872.
It is entirely competent and meritorious for a party who has been seeking redress in the courts from the consequences of the fraudulent practices of his adversary to enter into negotiations and come to a settlement with him. Although he might succeed, by prosecuting the litigation, in obtaining full relief, yet if he agrees ■ to abandon litigation, and comes upon terms of adjusting the matters in controversy, if the contract is fairly made, he is bound by it. Nor will he be permitted to reopen the matters of former difference, unless he can clearly and satisfactorily show that he was entrapped into the contract, by duress, or such fraudulent practices as will avoid it. Field v. Weir, 28 Miss. 69; Edwards v. Roberts, 7 Smed. & M. 555; Hanson v. Field, 41 Miss. 712.
Bass is proved to have been an illiterate man, but not of intellect so feeble as to be the easy victim of imposition. It has been proved that Bass and Nelms, throughout this protracted litigation, have been at enmity, and that Nelms had no influence over him.
But it is further insisted by the appellant that it was error to dismiss the bill, — that it ought to have been retained until the last day of the next succeeding term, under sect. 1048 of the Code. Commenting on the scope of the statute, in Maury v. Smith, 46 Miss. 83, the court said it was “intended to secure to a complainant an opportunity of amending his bill, or supporting it by proof,” etc.
But where the motion to dissolve has been submitted long after the parties have come to an issue, and they have availed of full opportunity to take testimony, and have presented all the evidence that either party desired or could attain, and where the only relief sought, or that could be granted, would be to
Bass made no suggestion that he desired to take more testimony, or make any improvement or addition to his case.
The decree is affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- J. M. Bass v. William Nelms
- Cited By
- 9 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- 1.' Injunction. Release of errors in judgment. Sect. 1047, Code 1871. Sect. 1047 of the Code of 1871 provides that, “ when an injunction shall be granted to stay the execution of a judgment at law, in whole or in part, the issuance of such injunction shall operate as a release of all errors in the judg- ’ ment, in the same manner as if the party had signed and sealed a release of such errors.” Under-this section, the issuance of the injunction only operates as a release of such errors as might be assigned against the enjoined judgment, in this court, and not of matters de hors the record, — as, that the judgment was obtained by fraud. 2. Same. Successive bills. Splitting up cause of suit. A defendant in a decree, having several grounds of objection against it, and having first enjoined its execution upon some of those grounds, is not permittecl, after the dissolution of such injunction, to enjoin the execution of the decree upon the other grounds known to him at the time of filing the first bill; and if his second bill contains any ground not known to him at the time of filing the first, it must show that fact. The rule that a party cannot split up his cause of suit, and litigate Qne part at one time and the other at a subsequent time, is especially applicable in suits for injunction against judgments and decrees. 8. Chanckby. Pleading. When bankrupt a necessary party. By an adjudication of bankruptcy the bankrupt loses all interest in his' land, except where he is entitled to a homestead exemption; and when the land is bound for the purchase-money thereof, he is only entitled to claim a homestead after the purchase-money has been paid, or to claim the surplus money over süch payment; and, therefore, a decree in a suit to enforce the vendor's lien against the land of the bankrupt will not be disturbed because he was not made a party-to the proceedings, where the land did not sell for enough to pay the purchase-money due thereon, the bankrupt, in such case, having no . interest in the litigation. 4. Estoppel. Fraud cannot be complained of after an adjustment. A complainant is not entitled to relief against the fraudulent practices of th® defendant, if, after the occurrence of the transactions charged to be fraudulent, he has adjusted the matters in dispute with his adversary, and made a contract of settlement thereof, which was .fairly entered into. In such case, the complainant is considered as having condoned the fraud charged. 5. Chancery. Practice. Dismissal of bill and injunction at same time. Sect. 1048 of the Code of 1871 provides that, “when an injunction shall be dissolved, the bill shall stand dismissed of course, unless sufficient cause is shown against its dismission at the next succeeding term of the court, and the clerk shall enter such dismission on the last day of the term.” It is not error, under this section, for the court to dismiss a bill at the same time an injunction is dissolved, where the parties had come to an issue and taken proof on both sides before the motion to dissolve was made, and where the only relief that could be granted was a perpetuation of the injunction. In such case, the suit is regarded as disposed of on its merits, unless the complainant should apply for leave to amend his bill, or to take further proof, and to have the injunction reinstated: The object of the statute was to give the complainant an opportunity to make such application.