109 Tenn. 56 | Tenn. | 1902
delivered the opinion of the Court.
The object of this bill was to' enjoin the defendants from prosecuting separate suits against the complainant corporation to recover damages alleged to have been inflicted upon their property by the sulphurous smoke and noxious vapors emitted from the works of complainant. Demurrers to the bill were overruled by the chancellor, and defendants permitted to appeal. The court of chancery appeals reversed the decree of the chancellor, sustained the demurrers, and dismissed the bill. The cause is before this court on the appeal of the complainant from the decree of the court of chancery appeals.
The material allegations of the bill are that there are now pending against complainant in the circuit court, 21 separate suits brought by the defendants, and the amount of damages sought to be recovered aggregates over $42,000; that the gravamen of said suits is the alleged injury to timber standing on the respective tracts of land of defendants, alleged to have been caused by the smoke and gases emitted from complainant’s works; that defendants, in bringing these actions, unlawfully combined to vex, harass
It is further alleged, that, even assuming the naked legal right of defendants to be in some sense impaired, the matters involved form rather the basis of an equitable accounting, under proper orders, than grounds for- actions at law by a multiplicity of suits, seeking recovery of compensatory and punitive damages by the unmeasured and uncertain modes applicable to trials at law. It is, moreover insisted that inasmuch as the alleged right of action in said suits originates from the same cause, constituting, as insisted, a nui-. sanee, *a court of equity, exercising rightful jurisdiction, will intervene in order to prevent a multiplicity of suits, and stay, by injunction, actions at law, and administer relief in its own court, according as the parties may be entitled. As already stated, each of the defendants interposed a demurrer to this bill, assigning 12 different causes. The main assignment of demurrer is that a court of chancery has no jurisdiction of the matters and grievances alleged in the bill, and the same are purely cognizable in a court of law. The fourth ground of demurrer is that the bill is multifarious on its face, and seeks a joinder of parties whose interests are distinct, whose legal rights are distinct, and in which the recovery of one plaintiff does not depend upon the law and evidence of any other litigant; each plaintiff
The ninth ground of demurrer is that the discovery of title and quantity of estate owned by defendants, which is' sought in the bill, could have been accomplished at law. Moreover, it is claimed that defendants’ suits did not involve the title to land, but are personal actions, and not local actions. ' The tenth cause of demurrer is that the bill shows on its face that each defendant has brought his separate and distinct suit for himself, and that said suits are not at all brought by the same person or persons, holding in common or claiming title under a common grantor. The chancellor overruled the demurrers, holding they were to the whole bill. The court of chancery appeals reversed the action of the chancellor, sustained the demurrers, and dismissed the bill.
We will first notice the question of discovery. It will be observed that the present bill is sought to be
The jurisdiction in equity to compel discovery originated in the absence of power in courts of law to afford such relief by their own process, either by the oath of a party, or by the production of deeds, books and writings in his possession or under his control. 2 Beach, Mod. Eq. Jur., sec. 855. In this State for many years it has been the law that either party to a suit at law is entitled to a discovery from the other party of any matters material to the issue of such suit, in all cases where the same party would, by the rules of equity, be entitled to a discovery in aid of such suit. Acts 1847-48 and 1849-50, Shannon’s Code, sec. 5684; Bumpass v. Reams, 1 Sneed, 598, 599. But either party may now have the benefit of his adversary’s testimony as a witness, in the usual way, without resorting to either a bill or petition for a discovery, Weakly v. Miller, 1 Tenn. Ch., 527, 528. It is therefore very obvious that there was no necessity for complainant to go into a court of equity to compel a discovery of the matters alleged in the bill, as its remedy was ample and untrammeled in the
The remaining question is whether or not the bill may be maintained to prevent a multiplicity of suits. This question arose and was very thoroughly considered in the case of Tribette v. Railroad Co., 70 Miss., 182 (12 South., 32; 19 L. R. A., 660; 35 Am. St. Rep., 642), in a very vigorous opinion by Chief Justice Campbell. In that case it appeared that a number of different owners of property destroyed by fire from sparks emitted by an engine of the company severally sued in the circuit court to recover of the company damages for their respective losses by said fire, alleged to have resulted from the negligence of defendant. The company filed a bill in equity seeking to enjoin the prosecution of these suits upon the ground they all grew out of the same occurrence, and depend for their solution upon the same questions of fact and law, and to prevent multiplicity of suits, and the consequent harassment and vexation, the several plaintiffs were sought to have their different actions settled in one suit in equity.
The court declined to follow the text of Pomeroy in his work on Equity Jurisprudence, which apparently sanctioned the granting of the injunction, stating that, after careful examination and a full consideration, Mr. Pomeroy was not sustained in this conclusion an
The question is made, upon these allegations, whether several parties can lawfully enter into an agreement for all of them to sue an adversary, where there is no community of interest among them, without such a combination being subject to equitable interference by injunction to prevent multiplicity of suits and vexatious liti
For the reasons stated, the decree of the court of chancery appeals is affirmed.