44 F. 532 | U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Southern New York | 1891
This bill is filed in aid of an action at law, which the complainant alleges she is about to commence, upon a judgment recovered against the defendant in a state court of California on the 18th of November, 1873. Under the decision of the supreme court in Pennoyer v. Neff, 95 U. S. 714, this judgment was void, the summons having been served by publication only, in an action in personam. On the 6th of March, 1877, the defendant obtained a discharge in bankruptcy from the United States court for the district of California, he having been adjudged a bankrupt by said court September 30, 1869. This discharge, if there were no estoppel, would be a bar to the debt represented by the judgment. Boynton v. Ball, 121 U. S. 457, 7 Sup. Ct. Rep. 981.
The complainant contends that the defendant is estopped from denying the validity of the judgment and from relying upon the discharge as a defense, because in 1876, in the bankruptcy court, he obtained substantial benefits by.contending.that the judgment was valid and would not be barred by a discharge. The complainant insists that he should be held to the same position now, and prays for an injunction restrain