58 Kan. 622 | Kan. | 1897
The measure of damages recoverable upon the injunction bond is the principal subject of dispute between the parties. According to the provi
“There was no stipulation in the bond that it should be sued on in a Federal court. While it is but natural and proper to suppose that the Federal tribunals would adhere to their former rulings, there is yet no guaranty to that effect in the contract. We, therefore, fail to perceive that the makers ‘ intended to create only such obligations as attached under the Federal jurisprudence.’ The interpretation of a contract belongs to the court before which it is pending. That being once settled by a superior and judicial authority, it is of no consequence what might be the interpretation in a different jurisdiction. It is settled in Missouri that attorney’s fees paid in the defense of an injunction suit may be recovered as damages in an action on the injunction bond ; and this, although the bond was given and the injunction obtained in a Federal court.”
“ Now a reference to the records of those cases shows that counsel fees were an element of damages in the demand as well as in the proof. Hence we feel authorized to conclude that the decisions which we have considered and consulted are not to be construed as excluding counsel fees as an element of damages in an action at law in a Federal court, and a fortiori in a Louisiana court, for the recovery of damages on a bond of injunction given in and by the order of a Federal court in an equity proceeding.”
In view of the authorities, we would not feel justified in departing from the rule established by the decisions of this court, and applying another to the case before us simply because the bond was given in a proceeding in one of the Federal courts.