Brown v. Trousdale
| Decision Date | 02 February 1891 |
| Citation | 34 L.Ed. 987,11 S.Ct. 308,138 U.S. 389 |
| Parties | BROWN et al. v. TROUSDALE et al |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
[Statement of Case from pages 389-394 intentionally omitted] T. W. Brown, for appellants.
D. M. Rodman, for appellees.
Mr. Chief Justice FULLER, after stating the facts as above, delivered the opinion of the court.
The main question at issue was the validity of the bonds; and that involved the levy and collection of taxes for a series of years to pay interest thereon, and finally the principal thereof, and not the mere restraining of the tax for a single year. The grievance complained of was common to all the plaintiffs and to all whom they professed to represent. The relief sought could not be legally injurious to any of the tax-payers of the county, as such; and the interest of those who did not join in or authorize the suit was identical with the interest of the plaintiffs. The rule applicable to plaintiffs, each claiming under a separate and distinct right, in respect to a separate and distinct liability, and that contested by the adverse party, is not applicable here; for, although as to the tax for the particular year, the injunction sought might restrain only the amount levied against each, that order was but preliminary, and was not the main purpose of the bill, but only incidential. The amount in dispute, in view of the main controversy, far exceeded the limit upon our jurisdiction, and disposes of the objection of appellees in that regard.
As the plaintiffs sought to restrain the collection of taxes already levied, and any further levies by the county judge, and also a decree adjudging the invalidity of the bonds, the sheriff, who was about to enforce the collection, and the county judge, were necessary parties to the bill as framed, as were the bondholders, whose interests were directly affected. There is nothing to show that the latter were so numerous as to render it impossible to bring them all before the court, and we need not discuss the proper course to be pursued in such a contin- gency. The plaintiffs made two of the bondholders residing in Kentucky, representing, the one the original, and the other the new, bonds, parties defendant, and averred that they did not know the names of the other holders of the bonds, and asked for notice to be given to the unknown bondholders. Before that notice had been directed by the court, or the names of the other bondholders had been ascertained and steps taken to bring them in, the two non-resident bondholders voluntarily became parties to the proceedings, and thereupon the case was removed upon their application. And while the two Kentucky bondholders, on the day of the order of removal, withdrew the motion to dissolve and the demurrer, so far as they were parties thereto, and declared that they had no defense to make to the bill, because, as alleged in their affidavits, they believed that the justice of the cause was with the plaintiffs...
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...the relief of the whole class, the aggregate interest of the whole class constitutes the matter in dispute.” Brown v. Trousdale, 138 U. S. 389, 11 Sup. Ct. 308, 34 L. Ed. 987. The great importance of the case, involving as it does so vitally the organic law of the state and the relationship......
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