209 N.W. 537 | Minn. | 1926
The present action is one to recover interest received by defendant after plaintiff commenced an action against him in which she obtained judgment for the payment of $5,684 and for the recovery of certain real property. The case was tried without a jury. The court found that on October 11, 1919, plaintiff commenced the action in which she recovered the judgment above mentioned; that the action was brought to recover bonds, mortgages and money held by defendant as special administrator of the estate of Irene B.C. Wilcox; that the trial was concluded on March 1, 1921, and resulted in an *59 order for judgment in plaintiff's favor for a specific sum of money; that plaintiff's attorney caused judgment to be entered for the sum specified, plus interest subsequent to the date of the commencement of the action; that thereafter defendant moved that the judgment be amended by deducting the amount added for interest; that the motion was granted and the judgment amended accordingly; that plaintiff abided by and acquiesced in the order amending the judgment, and that she was concluded thereby and could not maintain the present action. Upon these findings a judgment of dismissal was entered and plaintiff appealed.
In the brief submitted in plaintiff's behalf, it is said that the present action was brought on the theory that, after the first action was begun, defendant received interest on notes, bonds and mortgages which belonged to plaintiff, and that, when the securities were awarded to her, the income therefrom actually received by defendant was held by him under a constructive trust in her favor, which gives her a right of recovery in this action. Todd v. Bettingen,
Counsel for defendant replies that plaintiff had but one cause of action; that it was enforceable in the first suit; that a single cause of action cannot be split into several parts and an action brought upon each, Vineseck v. G.N. Ry. Co.
The rule that a former judgment, even though erroneous, is conclusive upon the parties, if the court had jurisdiction over them and over the subject-matter in litigation, is well settled. To take plaintiff's case out of the field of operation of the rule, State of Wisconsin v. Torinus,
The general rule in actions at law is that the rights of the parties are determined as of the time of the beginning of the action. Eide v. Clarke,
In her first action plaintiff asked for the specific performance of her contract with Mrs. Wilcox. We held that the relations between the two were analogous to those of the parties to an ordinary land contract; that a trust attached to the proceeds of the sale of Mrs. Wilcox's first homestead, and that plaintiff had the right to follow the proceeds into the hands of the defendant and charge him as a trustee holding the same for her use and benefit. In view of this ruling and under the authorities cited, we see no reason to doubt the power of the court to decree in the original suit the payment to plaintiff of the income from the trust estate which was or should have been received by defendant while the suit was pending.
In actions to compel the vendor to perform an ordinary contract for the sale of land, it has been held that the vendor is a trustee holding the legal title for the benefit of the vendee and must account to him for the rents and profits of the land, which he received or might have realized by due diligence, if it appears that the vendee was kept out of possession by the wrongful acts of the vendor. Smith v. Gibson,
Under all the circumstances we think plaintiff was concluded by the judgment finally entered when all of the issues litigated in the first action were disposed of and that the case does not fall within the exception to the application of the general rule in respect to the effect of a former adjudication, which was noted in State of Wisconsin v. Torinus, supra.
Even though plaintiff's right to the income from the trust estate after she commenced the first action was not litigated in the original action, it might have been, and the rule of Klinkert v. Streissguth,
Judgment affirmed. *62