208 P. 938 | Mont. | 1922
prepared the opinion for the court.
This appeal is from a judgment for the defendants’ testator, following the sustaining of a demurrer to the amended complaint, the plaintiff having declined to further plead.
It appears from the amended complaint that the plaintiff was the lessee in two sheep-grazing leases for 483,928 acres of lands on the Crow Indian Reservation, for the term of five years from February 1, 1916, executed in behalf of the Crow Tribe of Indians by the superintendent of the Crow Indian
As said by Mr. Chief Justice Brantly, speaking for this court, in the case of Hicks v. Rupp, 49 Mont. 40, 140 Pac. 97: “The rule is well established in this jurisdiction, both by the statute and the numerous decisions of this court, that, if upon the facts stated, from any point of view, the plaintiff is entitled to relief, the complaint will be sustained.” (See, also, Marcellus v. Wright, 51 Mont. 559, 154 Pac. 714; Decker v. Decker, 56 Mont. 338, 185 Pac. 168; Wing v. Brasher, 59 Mont. 10, 194 Pac. 1106; sec. 9316, Rev. Codes 1921.)
The allegations of the amended complaint as to the motives which actuated the defendants’ testator in his conduct may be disregarded. “One possessing a right may enforce it notwithstanding his motive may be evil.” (MacGinniss v. Boston & M. Consol. Copper & Silver Min. Co., 29 Mont. 428, 75 Pac. 89; see, also, Bordeaux v. Greene, 22 Mont. 254, 74 Am. St. Rep. 600, 56 Pac. 218.)
The question to be determined is whether an action for damages can be maintained against a party who induces another to cancel his contract, other than a contract for personal service. No such right was known to the common
“Every person is bound, without contract, to abstain from injuring the person or property of another, or infringing upon any of his rights.” (Sec. 7573, Rev. Codes 1921.)
“Every person who suffers detriment from the unlawful act or omission of another may recover from the person in fault a compensation therefor in money, which is called damages.” (Id., sec. 8659.)
“For every wrong there is a remedy.” (Id., see. 8752.) Section 7579 provides that everyone is responsible for his willful acts.
In the case of Chesnut v. Sales, 49 Mont. 318, Ann. Cas. 1916A, 620, 52 L. R. A. (n. s.) 1199, 141 Pac. 986, this court said: “It is not the theory of our Code that substantial damage suffered by one through the fault of another shall be unredressed, but that in all such cases the damaged party shall have full compensation.”
The leases with the Crow Tribe were plaintiff’s property. If the defendants’ testator, wholly without justification, as appears from the amended complaint, caused the cancellation of the leases, under the circumstances alleged, he as effectually injured the property of plaintiff and infringed upon his rights as if he had robbed him of a large number of the sheep he was grazing on the lands. Our conclusion is that where a party, not in the exercise of a right reposing in him, induces another to break his contract, by any means whatever, he is responsible in damages to the other party to the contract.
While the ground for the conclusion reached in the case of Peek v. Northern Pac. Ry. Co., 51 Mont. 295, L. R. A. 1916B, 835, 152 Pac. 421, is not stated, the doctrine of that case cannot be distinguished on principle from this. (See, also, Palmer v. Israel, 13 Mont. 209, 33 Pac. 134.)
The weight of modern authority seems to be that an action such as this can be maintained. (Wheeler-Stenzel Co. v. American Window Glass Co., 202 Mass. 471, L. R. A. 1915F, 1026, 89 N. E. 28; Cumberland Glass Mfg. Co. v. De Witt, 120 Md. 381, Ann. Cas. 1915A, 702, 87 Atl. 927; London Guarantee Co. v. Horn, 206 Ill. 493, 99 Am. St. Rep. 185, 69 N. E. 526; Raymond v. Yarrington, 96 Tex. 443, 97 Am. St. Rep. 914, 62 L. R. A. 962, 72 S. W. 580, 73 S. W. 800; Kock v. Burgess, 167 Iowa, 727, 149 N. W. 858; Faunce v. Searles, 122 Minn. 343, 142 N. W. 816; Chipley v. Atkinson, 23 Fla. 206, 11 Am. St. Rep. 367, 1 South. 934; Raycroft v. Tayntor, 68 Vt. 219, 54 Am. St. Rep. 882, 33 L. R. A. 225, 35 Atl. 53; Schonwald v. Ragains, 32 Okl. 223, 39 L. R. A. (n. s.) 854, 122 Pac. 203; Angle v. Chicago, St. P. etc. Ry., 151 U. S. 1, 38 L. Ed. 55, 14 Sup. Ct. Rep. 240; American Malting Co. v. Keitel, 209 Fed. 351, 126 C. C. A. 277; Filler v. Joseph Schlitz Brewing Co., 223 Fed. 313, 138 C. C. A. 555; 1 Street on Foundation of Legal Liability, 346.)
One of the earliest American cases supporting the doctrine is Walker v. Cronin, 107 Mass. 555. We quote from the opinion: “The general principle is announced in Com. Dig. Action on the Case, A: ‘In all cases where a man has a temporal loss
The law of England as contained in the decisions is well set forth in the opinion by Mr. Chief Justice Gaines in the case of Raymond v. Yarrington, supra, as follows: “The first is the leading case of Lumley v. Gye, 2 El. & B. 216, which was decided in 1853. In that case the plaintiff, the lessee of a theater, sued the defendant, alleging that a certain singer had been engaged by the plaintiff to sing at his theater and none other, and that while she was under such contract the defendant maliciously induced and enticed her not to perform for him as she had agreed to do. Upon demurrer to the declaration it was held, by three of the judges, that it showed a good, cause of' action. Justice Coleridge, one of the four judges who sat in the case, dissented. Practically the same question came before the court in the ease of Bowen v. Hall, L. R. 6 Q. B. Div. 333. It was again held that an action would lie for inducing one under a contract of service to another to leave the service. Lord Coleridge, then the Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, dissented from the opinion of the majority.
“Again, in 1893, the ease of Temperton v. Russell, 1 L. R. 1893, Q. B. Div. 715, came up for decision. There the plaintiff was a contractor and builder and had made contracts with third persons to supply him with material to be used in his business. The defendants were a committee of certain trades unions; and for the reason that plaintiff would not comply with certain rules laid down by the unions, they induced those who had contracted to deliver him material to break their contracts, and also conspired to prevent others from entering into contracts with him. It was held that they were liable both for inducing a breach of the existing contracts and also for conspiring to prevent others from entering into contracts with the plaintiff.
“A similar ease came before the House of Lords in 1897. (Allen v. Flood, [1898] L. R. App. Cas. 1.) In that case the
“In Lumley v. Gye the contract was one for personal services, and the insistence of Mr. Justice Coleridge was that it was not actionable to induce the breach of such a contract except where it created the relation of master and servant in the technical and restricted sense of those terms. The majority, however, held that the rule applied to any contract for service. The decision therefore goes no further than to hold
“It seems to us, therefore, that the law is now settled in England that it is an actionable wrong knowingly to induce one to break his contract with another to the damage of the latter, and that it is also wrongful and actionable for two or more to accomplish such end by conspiring with each other.”
The following cases hold the action does not lie: Boyson v. Thorn, supra; Ashley v. Dixon, 48 N. Y. 430, 8 Am. Rep. 559; Jackson v. Morgan, 49 Ind. App. 376, 94 N. E. 1021; Land & Gravel Go. v. Commission Co., 138 Mo. 439, 60 Am. St. Rep. 560, 36 L. R. A. 804, 40 S. W. 93; Chambers & Marshall v. Baldwin, 91 Ky. 121, 15 S. W. 57, 12 Ky. Law Rep. 699, 34 Am. St. Rep. 165, 11 L. R. A. 545; Swain v. Johnson, 151 N. C. 93, 28 L. R. A. (n. s.) 615, 65 S. E. 619; McCluskey v. Steele (Ala. App.), 88 South. 367; Sleeper v. Baker, 22 N. D. 386, Ann. Cas. 1914B, 1189, 39 L. R. A. (n. s.) 864, 134 N. W. 716.
It remains to be determined whether the action will lie where the acts complained of are directed toward a public official, in this case the commissioner of Indian affairs, and the contract canceled by such official.
Defendants contend that the court cannot review the action of the commissioner in canceling the leases or inquire as to the reason for his action. The first contention may be dismissed with the statement that there is no apparent purpose in this cause to review the action of the commissioner. The second proposition cannot be maintained.
Speaking for the court in Lee v. Johnson, 116 U. S. 48, 29 L. Ed. 570, 6 Sup. Ct. Rep. 249 [see, also, Rose’s U. S. Notes], Mr. Justice Field said: “It is only when fraud and imposition have prevented the unsuccessful party in a contest from
So in this case, the extent of the inquiry will be to determine only whether the conduct of Barth, the defendants’ testator, affected the determination of the commissioner in canceling the leases.
Defendants say that the commissioner is presumed to have acted within his authority and rightfully in canceling the leases. There is no question about the first proposition as the leases by their terms expressly imposed upon that official the authority to cancel them for cause. As to whether his action was rightful is one of the issues to be determined on the trial of this case, should the allegations in the complaint in that behalf be controverted in the answer.
Defendants contend that representations made to the commissioner are privileged. This contention may be doubted, but if maintainable, like any other privilege, it may be waived. It is purely a matter for the court to determine on the trial of the case as a rule of evidence. Section 10536, Revised Codes of 1921, provides: “There are particular relations in which it is the policy of the law to encourage confidence and to preserve it inviolate; therefore, a person cannot be examined as a witness in the following cases: * * * 5. A public officer cannot be examined as to communications made to him in official confidence, when the public interests would suffer by the disclosure
Courts have power to have public records produced except “where it is contrary to public interest for the contents of the record or document to be made public.” (22 C. J. 959.)
Since the question in this case involves an officer of the United States, the views of the federal courts are illuminating.
The Totten Case was quoted and approved in the case of De Arnaud v. United States, 151 U. S. 483, 38 L. Ed. 244, 14 Sup. Ct. Rep. 374, but that case was determined on other grounds.
In the case of Firth Sterling Steel Co. v. Bethlehem Steel Co. (D. C.), 199 Fed. 353, Thompson, District Judge, E. D. Pennsylvania, ordered expunged exhibits, drawings of armor-piercing projectiles, which the Navy Department had ordered to be treated as confidential as containing military secrets. The suit was one for the infringement of a patent on the projectile. The ruling on the privileged testimony did not prevent a trial of the ease on its merits. ([C. C. A.] 216 Fed. 755.)
In the case of Kessler v. Best (C. C.), 121 Fed. 439, evidence, being archives of German consulate, was suppressed as privileged.
Our investigation has not disclosed any other case in the federal courts where the question of privilege has been directly determined.
In the case of White v. Nicholls, 3 How. 266, 11 L. Ed. 591, a prosecution for libel was maintained on a confidential letter written the President concerning a federal officer thereupon removed from office. The case of Howard v. Thompson, 21 Wend. 319, 34 Am. Dec. 238, was similar. In that case the letter was to the secretary of the treasury.
It may be that on the trial of this case the person who was commissioner when the leases were canceled will make a full disclosure of Barth’s connection therewith, and that the department will approve his doing so.
The illegality of the method by which evidence has been obtained does not affect its admissibility. (State ex rel. Samlin v. District Court, 59 Mont. 600, 198 Pac. 362; Firth
Counsel for defendants say in their brief that to persuade a sovereign power to commit a wrong does not constitute a tort, and cite in support thereof the case of American Banana Co. v. United States Fruit Co., 213 U. S. 347, 16 Ann. Cas. 1047, 53 L. Ed. 826, 29 Sup. Ct. Rep. 511 [see, also, Rose’s U. S. Notes]. This case goes no further than to apply the principle to an act committed within the territorial jurisdiction of a foreign power.
The cases cited in the fourth subdivision of the defendants’ brief are authority for the proposition that the remedy by injunction is available where the act of the officer is ultra vires. The principle has no application to this case.
"Where a public officer is given the power to cancel a contract, it would seem that where he does cancel it the mental processes would be much the same as in ease he canceled a contract as an individual, and the proof of influence by a third party would be the same in the one case as in the other.
The law of contracts is the same when applied to those of the federal government as when, applied to those of individuals. (39 Cyc. 743; Spofford v. United States, 32 Ct. of Cl. 452.) .
In the case of Faunce v. Searles, supra, the contract in question was breached by a school board, but apparently no objection was raised on that account.
To our mind there is no more reason for granting the right where the contract is breached by an official than where it is breached by an individual. The personal liability for damages might cause one to refuse to wrongfully cancel his individual contract at the instance of an intermeddler, while as an officer the absence of such liability might be the occasion of his committing the wrongful act. Those who occupy public office are no less susceptible to the influence of designing and unscrupulous persons because they are officers. Our governments, federal and state, are partisan. Public officers do not
We recommend- that the judgment appealed from be reversed and the cause remanded, with directions to overrule the demurrer to the amended complaint.
Per Curiam : For the reasons given in the foregoing opinion, the judgment appealed from is reversed and the cause is remanded to the district court, with directions to overrule the demurrer to the amended complaint.
Reversed.