Engel v. Scheuerman
| Decision Date | 31 December 1869 |
| Citation | 40 Ga. 207 |
| Parties | JOSEPH ENGEL, plaintiff in error. v. ASHER SCHEUERMAN, defendant in error. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
Foreign Judgments. Conflict of Jurisdiction. Injunction. Before Judge Green. Spalding. Superior Court. August Term, 1869.
On the 17th of December, 1864, Scheuerman, in said county, sued out an attachment against Engel, returnable to February Term, 1865, of Spalding Inferior Court, for $5,000.
The basis of attachment was that an averment that Engel resided out of this State, though he did reside in this State. The claim was for that amount of bills upon the various banks of Georgia, Alabama, and South Carolina, which Scheuerman delivered to Engel to carry through the Confederate lines to New York, for Scheuerman\'s benefit. It was levied on Engel\'s storehouse, in Griffin, Georgia. Engel knew nothing of this till he returned from New York city to Griffin, in 1865, after the war. He filed his defense, the cause was tried, and in February, 1867, Scheuerman obtained a judgment against him for $1,430 00, besides interest and costs. Because of the great depreciation of said bank bills, and because $3,300 00 of them were forcibly taken from *him, by the pickets of the army, Engel was dissatisfied with the judgment, and sought a writ of error to the Supreme Court. The Judge refused to certify his bill of exceptions, because not presented to him in time. (See Engel v. Speer, 36th Georgia Reports, 258.) Thus said judgment became final. About the 1st of September, 1867, the sheriff having determined to sell Engel\'s property, to pay said judgment, Engel borrowed the money and paid it off, and the fi. fa. was receipted in full, by Scheuerman\'s attorney.
Before Engel left New York, to-wit, in July, 1865, Scheuerman sued Engel in the Supreme Court of the City of New York, for said identical demand, and held him to bail; Engel filed his defense thereto. After said payment, Scheuerman induced Engel to believe that said suit in New York was abandoned and would not be prosecuted further. But about the 25th of January, 1868, Engel's attorney in New York informed him by letter that said case was pending and being pressed to trial. In a few days after getting this information, and before it was possible to get the evidence of said payment to New York, said cause was tried and resulted in a judgment against him for $6,720 00, with $146 30 for costs. Scheuerman now says he did not get justice in the trial here, and is willing only to credit the New York judgment with said amount paid on the Georgia judgment, but will enforce the New York judgment against Engel and his securities for the balance. Engel has been a merchant for twenty years, and is dependent upon his credit in New York for success in business. The existence of that New York judgment is unjust for the reasons aforesaid, and annoys and injures Engel. Therefore, for these reasons averred in his bill, he prayed that Scheuerman, his agents, attorneys and solicitors, be enjoined from enforcing said New York judgment against Engel, or his securities, and that Scheuerman be decreed to satisfy the same.
The injunction was granted in March, 1868, by Judge Speer, the then Chancellor of Flint Circuit. Scheuerman's solicitors moved, before Judge Green, to dismiss said bill, upon the ground that the said Court had no jurisdictionover *the subject matter, and could not compel Scheuerman to refuse to collect a judgment of a New York Court, or to give a release or satisfaction thereof. Judge Green dismissed the bill and that is assigned as error.
Peeples & Stewart, for plaintiff in error, cited Hinse & Hobbs et al, v. Rawson, ante; 2 Paige's Ch. R., 402-4, 606; Story's Eq. Juris., secs., 899, 900; Ed. on Injunctions, 141-2; 3rd Vesey Jr., 170, 182; 5th Vesey Jr., 71; 3 Atkins, 589.
Doyal & Nunnally, Speer & Beck, for defendant.
The question presented for our consideration and judgment, in this case, is whether the complainant has the right, in a Court of Equity, to enjoin the defendant (he being a citizen of this State) from enforcing the collection of a judgment obtained by him, against the complainant, and his securities, in the Supreme Court of the City of New York, upon the statement of facts contained in the record. The defendant, Scheuerman, sued the complainant, Engel, in the Courts of this State, on a claim for $5,000 00, obtained a judgment thereon, which has been paid off and satisfied. Whilst the suit was pending in the Courts of this State. Scheuerman sued Engel, in the Supreme Court of New York, for the same identical claim, and held him to bail there. The complainant alleges in his bill praying for the injunction, that after he had paid off and satisfied the judgment obtained against him in...
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