192 Iowa 46 | Iowa | 1920
The case is not before us on the merits, and the ultimate question whether, under the applications, the policies, and the by-laws, the rates could be raised, is not yet before us, unless, as we understand appellants to contend, this question may and should be now determined, as a matter of law. Appellees contend, on the other hand, that there are questions in the case as now presented which may not be so determined; that they are entitled to a hearing on the merits; and that the temporary injunction should be continued until final hearing. The issues as now presented, and as stated by counsel, are whether appellees were, in the first instance, entitled to the issuance of a temporary injunction; and second, whether, upon the face of the petition, answer, and affidavit on behalf of plaintiffs, the appellees are entitled to a continuance of the temporary injunction. The grounds of the motion to dissolve .were:
“First. Because said injunction was improperly and improvidently issued.
“Second. Because, upon the face of the petition and answer herein, plaintiffs are not entitled to injunctive relief.
“Third. Because, upon the pleadings filed herein, said temporary injunction is contrary to law.
“Fourth. Because the issues raised by the pleadings herein have all been adjudicated, and such former adjudication is a bar to the granting of injunctive relief here.”
The pertinent facts, stated as briefly as may be, under the very voluminous record, are, substantially, that the Modem Brotherhood of America is a fraternal beneficiary association, incorporated under Title IX, Chapter 9, of the Code of 1897. It has a ritualistic form of work. Its laws are made and its affairs 'controlled by its supreme lodge conventions. Appellee Sweeney became a member in 1898, Sandvig, in 1900, and Heis-inger and Detrick, in 1903. Their contracts of insurance contain an agreement 'that they will be bound, not only by the by-laws which were in force at the date of their application for membership, but by those which may be thereafter lawfully enacted. Their applications are a part of the certificates. Appellants allege that, prior to 1911, the society found that the rates of assessment were inadequate to enable it to meet its
In December, 1912, one Brown and another member of appellant society instituted an action in Clinton County, Iowa, against the defendant society and its officers, to enjoin the enforcement of said rates; and the decree entered therein in June, 1913, was favorable to the defendants. Appellees contend that this decree was collusive, fraudulent, and void, for that an attorney’s fee of $1,000 was paid plaintiffs’ attorney in that case, out of the trust fund of the society, and that no exceptions were taken to said decree, and that it was agreed, prior to the entry of said decree, that no exceptions should be taken, and that no appeal should be taken. But since appellants do not rely upon that decree as an adjudication, we shall not go into further detail as to it. At the convention of the supreme lodge, in August, 1915, the by-laws were again amended, extending to the members who had failed to transfer under the by-laws of 1911, three additional options. In December, 1914, one Bills and others brought an action at law in the district court of Linn County, against the defendant society and its officers. Thereafter, and on December 30, 1915, after the convention and proceedings of August, 1915, an amendment to the petition was filed, defendants filed answer thereto, and the cause was transferred to the equity calendar. The decree entered therein, dismissing the petition, is pleaded and relied upon by defendants as an adjudication of the questions involved in this case. It is alleged that the same ques
On September 18, 1916, N. P. Carl and others brought action in the district court of Linn County against this association and others, on behalf of themselves and others similarly situated, asking that the appellant society and its officers be enjoined from putting the higher rates in force, on substantially the same grounds as relied upon by appellees in the instant case; and the issues tendered by the answer of defendant were substantially the same as herein, except that, in the Carl case, the defendants pleaded the first, or the Brown case, as well as the Bills case, as an adjudication. In that case, the plaintiffs filed a reply, controverting the answer of the defendants, and particularly the alleged adjudications, pleading the invalidity thereof because of fraud, collusion, and secret agreements, without the consent of these plaintiffs or those of the society similarly situated, and setting out the facts in detail, and further, that there was no authority from the supreme convention or its rales, to compromise or settle any suits brought by the members of the organization. Defendants in that case filed motion to strike portions of plaintiffs’ reply. Plaintiffs Carl and others had attached to their reply certain interrogatories, to be propounded to the defendants’ officers, to which defendants filed exceptions. The defendants filed a motion to submit their pleas in bar, which recites, among other things, that plaintiffs, in their petition, complain of certain irregularities; and that, in response thereto, defendants answer and set forth all matters relating thereto, in regard to conventions, adjustment of rates, enactment of bylaws and amendments; and that all such questions were adjudicated in the Brown and Bills cases, referred to in the defendants’ pleadings; and that, if such pleas of final adjudication
Mason v. Messenger, 17 Iowa 261, cited by appellants, was an action to recover real estate. Plaintiff offered in evidence a certified copy of a partition decree of the real estate, which had been rendered in another county. Defendant objected, and offered to prove that the decree was obtained by fraud and collusion. The objection was sustained. This court said, after reviewing and distinguishing numerous cases, that:
“Neither of these cases, then, are in conflict with the general rule that the proceedings of a court having jurisdiction over the cause and the parties cannot be questioned collaterally, apd are absolutely binding until set aside by the tribunal in which they occurred, or regularly reversed on error.”
In Smith v. Smith, 22 Iowa 516, defendant offered to prove that the judgment against him in another county was “rendered upon a pretended cause of action which never justly subsisted, and was fraudulently procured.” The offer was rejected, and we said:
“It was not competent to thus attack the judgment collaterally, when it was offered as an instrument of evidence °only,s in this case. If a judgment can be attacked for fraud in any case, it can only be by a direct proceeding.”
To the same effect, see Burlington & M. R. R. Co. v. Hall, 37 Iowa 620, and Commercial St. Bank v. Pierce, 176 Iowa 722, 730. In the Pierce case, an entire stranger to the judgment, who was not bound, sought to set aside a judgment. In that ease, at page 730, the court quoted with approval from another ease, that:
“Judgment obtained in an action by ordinary proceedings shall not be annulled or modified by any order in an action by equitable proceedings, except for a defense which has arisen or been discovered since the judgment was rendered. * * * If the court, entering a judgment, has jurisdiction to render it, the enforcement of it will not afterwards be restrained merely because it is an improper or unjust judgment. The remedy of the aggrieved party is by appeal, or writ of error, or some other direct proceeding.”
These are all the Iowa cases cited by appellants on this
In Mahoney v. State Ins. Co., 133 Iowa 570, at 577, 578, we said:
“Generally speaking, the fraud which renders a judgment void, as distinguished from voidable, goes to the method of acquiring1- jurisdiction, * * * or to the fraudulent creatjpn of a cause of action. As a rule, these matters are equivalent to jurisdictional questions, and courts have generally so treated them. Where, however, the fraud in the trial of the ease consists in the production of evidence which is claimed to have been false, or any other form of fraud against which the injured party might have protected himself at the [former] trial, ‘it is not sufficient, according to the prevailing view in this country, to constitute a defense.”
The only other Iowa case cited by appellant at this point is Edmundson v. Independent Sch. Dist., 98 Iowa 639, 644. In that case, we said that it was clear that there was not sufficient evidence of fraud or collusion to justify a court in setting aside the order of affirmance in the Supreme Court. The court said further that the judgment would not be void unless made for a certain purpose named, and that it was an attempt to attack the judgment collaterally, which could not be done. On the other
We shall cite some other cases. In Williamson v. Williamson, 179 Iowa 489, at 494, we said:
“A void judgment is no judgment at all, and no rights are acquired by virtue of its entry of record."
It was said at the same page that the method most commonly used to vacate a judgment was by motion in the court where the judgment was rendered, because this practice was simple, speedy, and effective. It is said in some of the cases, though perhaps in some of them it was not necessary to so say, that such was the only remedy; but there are many cases holding, and it seems to be generally held, that it is the general practice to permit an independent action in equity. 15 Ruling Case Law 738, 760, 855, 857; De Louis v. Meek, 2 G. Greene 55; Ralston v. Lahee, 8 Iowa 17; Harshey v. Blackmarr, 20 Iowa 161. Of course, this does not mean that a party may appeal from one court to another of equal jurisdiction to review errors or irregularities, or try the case over again, if there has really been a trial of the case on the merits. As said, the theory is that a judgment procured by fraud is no judgment at all. 15 Ruling Case Law 760, supra, states that fraud is the arch enemy of equity, and that a court of equity will relieve against a judgment obtained by imposition or fraud; and some of our own eases are cited to sustain the proposition. An execution issued under a void judgment is itself absolutely void, and its enforce
“If tbe judgment be void for want of jurisdiction in the court pronouncing it, of either of the parties or of the subject-matter, it may, of course, be attacked at any time or in any proceedings whereby it is sought to be enforced; and the same may be true as to any fraud which renders it void, and not simply voidable. ’ ’
In Haddock v. Haddock, 201 U. S. 562, at 627 (50 L. Ed. 867, at 893), it was said:
“The rule is well settled that, while a judgment or decree may sometimes be impeached for fraud, it can only be for a fraud extrinsic to the cause, as that the judgment was collusively obtained to defraud some other person; and that it.cannot be impeached by either of the parties thereto by reason of false testimony given at the time or which must have been given to establish the plaintiffs’ case * * *”
A definition of collateral attack, with the citation of many cases, will be found in 15 Ruling Case Law 838; and at page 839, direct attack is distinguished. At page 768, same volume, it is said that fraud is largely a conclusion of law, and that, in order to move a court of equity, it is generally necessary that the facts relied upon should be set forth in reasonable detail. Stewart Lbr. Co. v. Downs, supra, at page 424. If the unsuccessful party was, by fraud, prevented from having a trial, it will authorize the setting aside of a decree or judgment. Kwentsky v. Sirovy, supra.
We think the fraud alleged and relied upon by appellees is set out with sufficient detail, and this applies also to appellants’ contention as to the fraud alleged by appellees in their amendment to petition, in regard to the method and purpose of securing the amendment to the by-laws. We refer to this at this point, so that it will not be necessary to refer to it later in the opinion. In this connection, we may as well say here that the amendment to the petition alleged that the defendant society and its officers and directors are oppressively, wrongfully, illegally, and fraudulently attempting to increase the rates of assessment under the policies of plaintiffs and those similarly situated, and illegally and fraudulently attempting to change the
We are unable to see how appellants can be prejudiced by continuing the temporary injunction in force until such trial. We have held, in Hayes v. Billings, 69 Iowa 387, Huskins v. McElroy, 62 Iowa 508, and other cases, that where, as here, the answer does not deny all the allegations of the petition, but sets up an affirmative defense by way of avoidance, the. injunction will not be dissolved on motion, but will be continued to the hearing. And in Bankers Surety Co. v. Linder, 156 Iowa 486, 500, it is said (citing cases) that, fraud being charged, the filing of an answer in denial was not sufficient ground for dissolving the writ. Under the record, but for the injunction, plaintiffs would be automatically suspended, and other consequences would follow, to their injury, which, we think, within the meaning of the law, is irreparable.
Other questions are argued. From the showing made, we think the temporary injunction was not improvidently made. Cases are cited by appellants, for the most part in regard to old line insurance policies, holding that the plaintiffs would have several remedies at law. Some other questions may be argued; but, since we have reached the conclusion that the temporary injunction should be continued until the final hearing on the merits as to the fact questions heretofore discussed, we deem it unnecessary to discuss the other questions.
We reach the conclusion that, under the entire record, we ought not to reverse and vacate the temporary injunction. The judgment is, therefore, — Affirmed.