40 Wash. 601 | Wash. | 1905
The complaint alleges that, on the 29th day of October, 1903, the board of county commissioners of King county, state of Washington, made and entered into a certain agreement with one H. H. Eaton. The substance of the agreement is to the effect, that the commissioners would employ said Eaton to act as special attorney and counsel to assist in recovering real property situate in said county, and any interest therein of which any person may have died seized, not having devised the same and leaving no husband, wife,
The amended complaint also alleges that the said H. H. Eaton is not the owner of said warrants at the present time; that the names of the true owners are unknown to the plaintiff, and that, after diligent search and inquiry, plaintiff has been unable to learn the names of the owners of said warrants. The petition prays, that the treasurer be enjoined and rer strained from paying in any manner any of said warrants; that said warrants and each of them be declared illegal and void, and of no effect or force, and he declared to be no right, lien, or debt against King county or the state of Washington. A demurrer was interposed to this complaint on the grounds, (1) that there is a defect of parties defendant, and (2) that said complaint did not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action. There were other proceedings and pleadings in the case, but we have stated sufficient upon which to base a decision. The demurrer was overruled and judgment entered perpetually enjoining the treasurer from paying the warrants.
We will not enter into a discussion of the alleged invalidity of the agreement recited in the complaint, for the reason that a question is presented at the threshold which seems to us to be decisive of the case, and that is, that there was a defect of parties defendant. It is a rule of law, as old as the law itself, that a court cannot adjudicate the rights of parties who are not actually or constructively before- it, with an opportunity to- defend or maintain their rights in the action. In this case the holders and owners of the warrants, not having been made parties to the action, the court has neither jurisdiction of the persons or the thing. If it had either, there might be some basis upon which it could proceed. But it is inconceivable what effect a judgment would
“There are sufficient real controversies in all countries, between real parties in interest, to be litigated in the courts of justice, without resorting to fictitious controversies between nominal parties, or between parties whose interests may all be on the same side.”
In that case, in an action for an injunction to perpetually enjoin a city and its officers and certain county officers from levying or collecting any taxes to pay interest on certain city bonds, and to have the bonds declared null and void, it was held that the bondholders were necessary parties, and that the action could not be maintained without also making them parties. That the judgment would be void and of no effect was decided by this court in Stallcup v. Tacoma, 13 Wash. 141, 42 Pac. 541, 52 Am. St. 25, where, after discussing other questions which had been raised in an action brought to determine the legality of certain bonds, the court said:
“Such being their character, the court would', it seems to us, be doing an idle and vain thing in decreeing them invalid. Such a decree could have no binding force as against strangers to the record;”
citing Mallow v. Hinde, 12 Wheat. 193, 6 L. Ed. 599, where the court said:
“Ho court can adjudicate directly upon a person’s right, without the party being either actually or constructively before the court;” and Shields v. Barrow, 17 How. 130, 15 L. Ed. 158, where it is said that the court can make no decree
“Sitting as a court of equity we cannot, in the light of these well-settled principles, escape the consideration of the question whether other persons who have an immediate interest in resisting the demand of complainant are not indispensable parties or, at least, so far necessary that the cause should not go on in their absence. Can the court proceed to a decree as between the state and the Southern Pacific Company, and do complete and final justice, without affecting other persons not before the court, or leaving the controversy in such a condition that its final termination might be wholly inconsistent with equity and good conscience?”
In Savage v. Sternberg, 19 Wash. 679, 54 Pac. 611, 67 Am. St. 751, it was held that a party or officer was not bound by a void injunction or order of the court, and would not be punished for its violation, approving the rule laid down in Stallcup v. Tacoma, supra; citing from Freeman on Judgments (4th ed.), § 117, where that author says:
“A void judgment is, in legal effect, no judgment. By it no rights are divested. From it no rights can be obtained. Being worthless in itself, all proceedings founded upon it are equally worthless. It neither binds nor bars any one. All acts performed under it and all claims flowing out of it are void. The parties attempting to enforce it may be refsponsible as trespassers.”
If that be true what an idle action it would be on the part of the court to pass upon the validity of the warrants sought to be enjoined in this case, when the judgment which the court would enter would have no legal effect and bind no one.
“If the want of jurisdiction over either the subject-matter or the person appears by the record, or by any other admissible evidence, there is no doubt that the judgment is void.”
In Graham v. Minneapolis, 40 Minn. 436, 42 N. W. 291, a demurrer for defect of parties was held properly sustained where the complaint showed on its face that a third party named owned the claim the payment of which was sought to be enjoined. Says the opinion:
“The plaintiff alleges that on the 10th day of September, 1881, the cértificate was, for value received, assigned to De Motte, and that he is now the owner and holder thereof, . . . In equity practice, before the code, the general rule was that you must have before the court all whose interests the decree may touch, because they are concerned to resist the demand, and in order to avoid the necessity of trying the case in halves. . .. In this case it is clear that De Motte is specially interested in the controversy touching the validity of the claim, and is entitled to be heard upon that matter. And the defendant is also interested in being protected from future litigation. But a judgment against it alone would not bind De Motte or end the controversy.”
In Bradley v. Gilbert, 155 Ill. 154, 39 N. E. 593, where it was sought to- enjoin the issuance and payment of certain county orders, on the ground that the action of the county commissioners directing their issuance was illegal, it was held that the county was a necessary defendant. It is certain that the reasoning of the court in sustaining this contention would apply equally in this case in favor of holding that it was necessary for the owners of the warrants to be made parties to the action. The court said:
“ ‘It is a well established rule, in equity, that all persons are to be made parties who have any legal or equitable interest in the subject-matter and result of the suit/ The numerous authorities in support of this rule need not be cited.”
The judgment of the court will be reversed, and the cause remanded with instructions to sustain the demurrer to the complaint.
Mount, O. J., Fullerton, Rudkin, and Hadley, JJ., concur.