14 Haw. 72 | Haw. | 1902
This is a proceeding in equity instituted by Kapiolani on May 7, 1896. The original complainant having since deceased, the administrators of her estate were substituted as parties complainant. Shortly prior to the date above named, the present respondent had brought an action at law against the original complainant wherein she claimed a certain sum of money as commissions for collecting for Kapiolani the sum of $41,484.73. The present suit was then commenced, a part of the relief prayed for being that the prosecution of the action at law be enjoined.
The material averments of the bill are, in brief, that in October, 1893, Kapiolani employed the respondent “as collector and clerk to collect her rents, settle and pay bills, pay her servants and generally to attend to her domestic financial concerns under the order and direction of the petitioner, and from time to time to make due and proper accounts thereof”; that respondent entered upon the performance of her said duties and continued therein until January, 1896, when she was discharged for the reason that she did not properly and faithfully, perform her duties; that respondent did not make a true and faithful return of all her collections; that, although requested so* to do, she has failed to render an account of her collections and disbursements; that she has produced certain books and memoranda which are erroneous and do not agree with subsequent claims and statements made by her and which she has refused to explain; that respondent has filed an action at law against complainant, now pending in the Circuit Court of the First Circuit, for compensation for services rendered in collecting the sum of $41,484.73 and that the books produced show that respondent has charged herself with only the sum of $34,153.18; that the accounts in the matter extend over a long period and are extended and complicated and involve the misconduct of the respondent. The prayer is for an accounting, for an order to respondent to produce all memoranda and papers relative to the matter and to
The bill was demurred to* on three grounds: (1) that the Court has no- jurisdiction of the subject matter of the action,. (2) that the complainant does not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action because the discovery sought can be-obtained in the action at law, and (3) that the complaint is ambiguous, unintelligible and uncertain. The Court below overruled the demurrer and, after the filing of an answer denying-material averments of the bill, appointed, on November 6th,. 1896, a referee, authorizing and directing him to examine the account presented by the respondent with her answer, to- examine-witnesses on oath, and to report his findings on said account.. The referee filed a report on May 20th, 1897, and -on the 7tb of August following a supplementary report. Upon a motion to confirm and upon exceptions, the court confirmed these reports with certain modifications -ordered by it, and also heard the evidence on and determined the question of the contract for compensation and of the complainant’s right to discharge the respondent. Finally, after reference to a Master to compute the amounts due between the parties upon the referee’s reports, and the court’s modifications and findings, a decree was entered, adjudging the sum of $84.05 to be due by the complainant to the respondent upon a settlement of all matters arising between them with reference to the services and transactions in question, making perpetual a temporary injunction theretofore issued restraining the prosecution of the action at law, and settling the matter of costs and fees. From that decree the case comes to this Court on appeal.
It is not sought on this appeal to have this Court review any of the findings of fact made by the referee or by the Court below. The main point relied upon in support of the appeal is that the demurrer should have been sustained on the ground of lack of jurisdiction, the argument being that under Section 3, Article 6 of the Constitution of 1894, in force at the date of the institution of these proceedings, the respondent was entitled
The applicable portion of the section of the Constitution referred to is as follows: “Subject to such changes as the Legislature may from time to time make in the number of jurors for the trial of any case, and concerning the number required to agree to a verdict and the manner in which the jury may. be selected and drawn, and the composition and qualifications thereof, the right of trial by jury in all cases in which it has .been heretofore used, shall remain inviolable except in actions for debt or assumpsit in which the amount claimed does not exceed one hundred dollars.”
The action at law, as appears from the records herein, was solely for compensation. Assuming that, under the facts and in view of the nature of the account, it would have been competent for the defendant in that case, in addition to matters of defense, strictly speaking, which it might have to the claim for compensation, to plead and prove by way of set-off the amount due her by Puahi of moneys collected and not accounted for, still it was not obligatory on her to do so. It would have been optional with the defendant in that action to follow one course or the other and if she had chosen to merely defend and not .plead a set-off, she would not have been barred by such failure to plead from subsequently suing in some appropriate proceeding for the amount of the set-off. The court of equity, then, in assuming jurisdiction to determine the state of the account between the parties with reference to the amounts collected and to those paid out by the respondent as agent, took jurisdiction of matters not then before the court of law.
Leaving aside, for the moment, the question of compensation, equity had jurisdiction to ascertain the state of the accounts
The question of the respondent’s liability for acts done by other agents during her illness was merely an incidental one, necessary to be determined in connection with and as a paro of the accounting. As to the lawfulness of respondent’s discharge and her right to compensation and the amount thereof, it is well settled that, if jurisdiction has once been properly assumed a court of equity will, as a general rule, retain it throughout the litigation until full justice has been done between the parties, even though in so1 doing, it may decide questions which, standing alone, would furnish no basis of equitable jurisdiction. See Bispham’s Eq., p. 53; 11 Am. & Eng. Encycl. Law, 2nd ed., 201; Bellinger v. Lehman, 103 Ala. 385 (15 So. 600); and McDaniel v. Lee, 37 Missouri 204-207. There was no necessity to remand the parties to a court of law for a determination of any of these questions.
Our courts of equity had this jurisdiction prior to> the promulgation of the Constitution of 1894. Under the circumstances stated, this was not a case where trial by jury could have been theretofore demanded as of right. Defendant has not been deprived by these proceedings of any constitutional right granted under the section referred to.
It is also contended by respondent in her brief that the Master
Other points suggested in oral argument have not been referred to in the brief and must be regarded as abandoned.
The decree appealed from is affirmed.