149 Mass. 52 | Mass. | 1889
This court has, without doubt, the power to restrain a citizen of this Commonwealth, who is personally within its jurisdiction, from prosecuting a suit in the courts of a sister State or a foreign country, when justice and equity require it.
In Dehon v. Foster, 4 Allen, 545, and 7 Allen, 57, the court, at the suit of the assignees of an insolvent debtor, enjoined a citizen of this Commonwealth from prosecuting a suit in Pennsylvania against the debtor, in which his .property was attached, because the effect of allowing the suit to go to judgment would be to give the attaching creditor a preference over the other creditors, and to defeat the operation of the insolvent law. The doctrine of this case was reconsidered and reaffirmed in Cunningham v. Butler, 142 Mass. 47. Both of these cases proceed upon the ground, as stated by Mr. Justice Devens, that “ the act of the defendants, in causing the property of the insolvent debtors to be attached in a foreign jurisdiction, tends directly to defeat the operation of the insolvent law in its most essential features, to prevent a portion of the property of the debtors from coming to the assignees to be equally distributed among their creditors, and to obtain a preference for themselves; that the defendants, being citizens of this State, were bound by its laws, and could not be permitted to do any acts to evade or counteract their operation, the effect of which would be to deprive other citizens of rights which those laws were intended to secure.”
But the general rule is, that, where a case may be brought in either of two tribunals, that court which first obtains jurisdiction of the case retains it; and this extends, upon principles of comity, to cases of conflicting suits brought in the courts of sister States. This court, in the exercise of its judicial discretion, will not restrain the prosecution of such a suit unless a clear equity is made out, requiring the interposition of the court to prevent a manifest wrong and injustice, or a clear waiver of our laws which should govern the rights of the parties.
If these were all the facts, it would seem to be clear that there was no ground for claiming that this court could properly interfere by injunction to restrain Dunham from prosecuting his suit. He had the right to bring his suit in the State court. A suit to foreclose the mortgage could only be brought in South Carolina. The land mortgaged is there, and most of the contracts which affect the rights of the parties were made there. The tribunals of that State, whose laws govern the title to the real estate and the interpretation of the contracts, are the appropriate tribunals to determine the rights of the parties.
But it further appears that, in 1866, Mrs. Carson, to whom her children had assigned all their interest, brought a bill in equity in the Circuit Court of the United States for the District of South Carolina against McBurney and others, but in which Hyatt was not made a party, in which the prayer was that the
The plaintiff in the suit before us contends that it thus appears that there is a difference of opinion between the Supreme Court of the United States and the Supreme Court of South Carolina upon the merits of the controversy between the parties ; that the assignment to Dunham was colorable, and made for the purpose of enabling him to bring a suit in the State court which could not be removed to the United States court, and that these facts raise an equity in her favor which requires this court to enjoin Dunham from proceeding in his suit. It is the fair inference from the evidence in this case that Dunham desires to try his rights in the State court of South Carolina, because he supposes the decision will be favorable to him ; and it is equally plain that Mrs. Carson is anxious to try her rights in the Supreme Court of the United States, or in this court, for the reason that she expects a decision in her favor. But it does not appear that the transfer to Dunham was merely colorable. The justice of this court who heard the case has found that Dunham “ became the absolute owner of said bond and mortgage.” This being so, it is immaterial what his motives were
We are then brought to the question, whether the fact, if it be a fact, that the Supreme Court of South Carolina entertains views of the law which governs the rights of the parties differing from those held by the Supreme Court of the United States justifies us in restraining Dunham from the further prosecution of his suit in the State court. The law gives the parties a choice of tribunals. Why is not Dunham’s right to choose the South Carolina court as great as the right of Mrs. Carson to choose the United States court, or the courts of this Commonwealth? Reduced to its elements, the argument of the plaintiff is that we should interfere because there is danger that the Supreme Court of South Carolina will not rightly and justly decide the rights of the parties. We cannot yield to such an argument without a violation of every principle of inter-state comity. As we have said, the general rule of comity is that the court first acquiring jurisdiction shall retain it. In our judgment, it would be indefensible for the courts of this Commonwealth to restrain the prosecution of a suit pending in the court of a sister State, which has jurisdiction of the subject matter and of the parties, upon the ground that the decision of that court may differ from our own opinion, or from the decisions of other courts of equal authority. All the facts presented to us can be and are presented in the case pending in South Carolina, and it is presumed that the Supreme Court of that State will decide the case according to the law and the right.
For these reasons, without considering the merits of the controversy between the parties, we are of opinion that this bill cannot be maintained.
Bill dismissed.