Wells v. Collins
Wells v. Collins
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
The chancellor sustained a demurrer to this bill, and the complainant appealed.
The defendant Collins assigns as one cause of demurrer to his bill that the.court had no jurisdiction of the cause, the jurisdiction belonging exclusively to the chancery court of Lauderdale county. But the bill is filed for a partnership settlement between complainant and Collins of a business begun and carried on in Gibson county, and to enforce the collection of a debt originating in that county, alleging that Collins is a non-resident of the State. By the Code, sec. 4311, sub-sec. 4, bills against non-residents may be filed in the (chancery) district in which the cause of action arose. And by sec. 4307, if the suit is properly instituted, attachments, injunctions, and all other process known to the court, and necessary to attain the
The second cause assigned is that the court has no jurisdiction to enjoin or in any manner restrain the proceedings in the chancery court of Lauderdale county. But if this were so, it would only be a ground for dissolving the injunction, not for dismissing the bill, as to the main subject-matter of which and the parties the jurisdiction, as we have seen, is clear. The injunction, however, is not as broad as the demurrer assumes. It does not in terms enjoin the parties from proceeding to prosecute the suit in the chancery court of Lauderdale county to final deree, but inhibits the transfer of the judgment attached, and the payment of the amount due thereon until the further order of the court. If the injunction was intended to interfere with the prosecution of the suit, it was improvidently granted. For Collins had the right to pursue his action to a successful conclusion, if entitled to it, and complainant, who acquired only a lien on the judgment by his attachment, should not be permitted to deprive him of the benefit of the action. All that the complainant could justly claim was to impound the fund pending his suit, and, if. successful, to appropriate the proceeds to the satisfaction of his debt. This end would be- attained by enjoining the parties' defend
The remaining cause of demurrer is that the claim of the complainant is barred by the statute of limitations. This bill was filed April 2, 1880. It alleges that the firm of Collins & Wells .was never formally dissolved, but ceased to do business in 1873 or 1874. If dissolved after April 2, 1874, the only limitation applicable to the character of claim would not have attached. The- presumption in this State is in favor of the pleader, and the doubt as to the time of dissolution, if that were the test, would enure to the complainant’s benefit. But the bill further alleges that there never has been any partnership settlement, and the statute in such cases does not apply: Bolton v. Dickens, 4 Lea, 569.
The • defendant Steele also ' demurrers .to the bill, relying upon the first and second causes assigned by his co-defendant. They are equally unavailing in his behalf. He also insists that he is neither a necessary nor permissable party, because, although the demurrer does not say so, he is merely the agent of Collins his co-defendant. But the bill, and his own demur-reiy which on this point speaks somewhat loudly, shows
The decree must be reversed, the demurrer overruled, and the cause remanded for further proceedings.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- J. J. Wells v. E. S. Collins
- Status
- Published