Gaines v. Caldwell George Latta Gaines v. Caldwell Rugg

Citation13 S.Ct. 611,37 L.Ed. 432,148 U.S. 228
Decision Date20 March 1893
Docket NumberNo. 12,No. 13,12,13
PartiesGAINES et al. v. CALDWELL, as Judge of the United States Circuit Court, and GEORGE G. LATTA. GAINES et al. v. CALDWELL, as Judge of the United States Circuit Court, and D. C. RUGG. Original. Original
CourtUnited States Supreme Court

N. M. Rose and G. B. Rose, for petitioners.

John McClure and A. H. Garland, opposed.

Mr. Justice BLATCHFORD delivered the opinion of the court.

These cases grow out of what is known as the 'Hot Springs Litigation,' phases of which are reported in Hot Springs Cases, 92 U. S. 698; Rector v. Gibbon, 111 U. S. 276, 4 Sup. Ct. Rep. 605; Lawrence v. Rector, 137 U. S. 139, 11 Sup. Ct. Rep. 33; and Goode v. Gaines, 145 U. S. 141, 12 Sup. Ct. Rep. 839. Goode v. Gaines covered also 14 other cases, one of which, Rugg v. Gaines, is involved in No. 13 original, and another of which, Latta v. Gaines, is involved in No. 12 original.

The case involved in No. 13 original was a bill in equity filed by William H. Gaines and Maria, his wife, in the circuit court of the United States for the eastern district of Arkansas, against D. C. Rugg and George W. Barnes, in which a decree was entered by that court on November 11, 1887, on the report of a special master. The decree overruled the exceptions of the defendant Rugg to the report, and decreed that there was due to the plaintiffs for rent, according to the terms of a certain lease, from the date of the award to the date of the filing of the bill, $1,016.38. That there was due to them since that date, and until the filing of the master's report, for the rental value of the property, and interest, $811.68; and for the amount of rent to the date of the decree, $245; amounting in the aggregate to $2,073.06; from which were to be deducted the amount due the defendant Rugg for taxes paid, and interest, $298; the amount of purchase money paid by him to the United States for the land, and interest $158.40; and the present value of the improvements, $500. Those sums amounting in the aggregate to $956.40, which taken from the $2,073.06, left the sum of $1,116.66, which the court found to be the balance due to the plaintiffs; and it decreed that the plaintiffs recover from Rugg $1,116.66 and all costs of suit, and have execution therefor; that the plaintiffs recover from the defendants the possession of lot 14 in block 77 in the Hot Springs reservation, Garland county, Ark.; that a writ of possession issue; that serving a copy of the decree should be the writ; and that the special master be allowed $100 for his services as such. The decree further declared that the defendant Rugg prayed an appeal to the supreme court of the United States, which was granted, and it ordered that on his filing a bond in $3,616.66, and a bond for costs for $250 the decree be superseded pending the appeal. Maria Gaines, one of the appellees, subsequently died; and it was ordered that Albert B. Gaines, her executor, and seven other persons, her sole devisees and legatees, be made appellees. The case was argued in this court on April 18, 1892, and decided May 2, 1892; and the decree of this court was that the decree of the circuit court be reversed, each party to pay one half of the costs in this court. The mandate of this court, dated May 24, 1892, recited its decree, and ordered that the cause be remanded to the circuit court 'for further proceedings to be had therein in conformity with the opinion of this court,' and commanded the judges of the circuit court 'that such further proceedings be had in said cause, in conformity with the opinion and decree of this court, as, according to right and justice, and the laws of the United States, ought to be had, the said appeal notwithstanding.'

The bill of complaint of Gaines and his wife, which was filed May 23, 1884, against Barnes and Rugg and two other defendants, alleged, in substance, that under the laws of the United States governing the entry and sale of lands in the reservation at Hot Springs, Ark., they were entitled to enter and purchase lot 14, in block 77, in Hot Springs; that the Hot Springs commission, through a mistake of law, permitted Barnes, assignee of Mary Waldron, who had entered upon and held said lot as tenant of the plaintiffs, to enter the lot in his own right, over the application to enter it lawfully made by the plaintiffs; that, by virtue of that error, Barnes, as assignee of the tenant, had procured a patent for the lot from the United States; and that Rugg had succeeded to the title of said tenant and Barnes. The bill prayed that the defendants might be held to be trustees for the benefit of the plaintiffs; that an account be had of the rents received by the defendants on the lot, and a decree be made for such rents, and for the possession of the lot; and for all other proper relief. On December 6, 1884, Rugg filed his answer to the bill, setting up various defenses. On November 10, 1886, the bill was dismissed as to the defendants other than Barnes and Rugg.

On the hearing of the case the circuit court found and decreed that the commissioners, by error and mistake of law, had awarded the right to purchase the lot to Barnes, who had sold it to Rugg, who had notice of the plaintiffs' claim to it; that under such erroneous ruling a patent had issued to Barnes. And the circuit court decreed that the title of Rugg to the lot be divested out of him, and be vested in the plaintiffs, and their heirs and assigns, forever; that a reference be made to a master to take an account of the rents on said lot, the taxes paid and improvements placed on it, with directions to report an account of the same; and that the plaintiffs recover all costs of suit. On a hearing on the report of the master, the final decree of November 11, 1887, was made, in the terms before stated. This court, in each of the 15 cases, including the two involved respectively in No. 13 original and No. 12 original, held that no error was committed by the circuit court in any matter relating to the title or possession of the lands, but that error had been committed in allowing to the plaintiffs, according to the account taken by the master, for rents which accrued before the bils were filed. It therefore reversed the decrees below, and remanded the several causes, with a direction for further proceedings in conformity with the opinion of this court, the costs in this court to be equally divided. The opinion is reported as Goode v. Gaines, 145 U. S. 141, 12 Sup. Ct. Rep. 839.

On the 1st of June, 1892, the mandates of this court in the two cases were presented to the circuit court, and were filed there and entered of record. On the same day, the plaintiffs in the Rugg Suit presented to the circuit court a petition accompanying the mandate, and praying for the entry of a decree that all the right, title, claim, and interest of the defendants in and to lot 14, in block 77, in the city of Hot Springs, be divested out of them, and be vested in the plaintiffs; that an account between the defendants and the plaintiffs be stated in accordance with the directions contained in the mandate; that, in taking the account, the defendants be charged with the rental value of the lot from May 23, 1884, (the day the bill was filed,) or during such portions of that time as they had kept the plaintiffs out of the possession thereof, down to the date of the proposed decree, with interest on the same from the end of each year at 6 per cent. per annum,—no additional rent, however, to be charged to the defendants by reason of any improvements placed upon the lot by them; that the plaintiffs be charged with all taxes paid by the defendants on the lot from the day the bill was filed, with interest on the same from the time of such payments until the date of the decree at 6 per cent. per annum, and also with the present value of all improvements placed by the defendants upon the lot, as the same might appear at the date of the decree, and with the sum of $120 paid by the defendants to the United States for the lot, with interest on the same at 6 per cent. per annum from January 1, 1882; that the defendants pay all the costs of the plaintiffs in the cause in the circuit court; that the plaintiffs have execution therefor as at law; and that the special master proceed to state an account between the parties according to the terms of the decree, and, to that end, take testimony, in writing, of all witnesses produced, and report the same, with his proceedings and findings, to the court. On the 21st of December, 1892, the plaintiffs filed in the circuit court a petition praying for a writ of possession, commanding the marshal to put them in possession of the land mentioned in the decree.

On the 6th of January, 1893, Rugg filed in the circuit court his exceptions to the proposed decree filed by the plaintiffs on June 1, 1892. Those exceptions embraced the propositions which are set forth in the margin.1 On a hearing on the petition and exceptions, before the court, held by Judge Caldwell, one of the circuit judges, an order was entered on January 7, 1893, which stated that 'the court is of the opinion that said exceptions are well taken, and that the defendant herein should be allowed, if he so elects, to take further testimony in support of his said exceptions, by way of defense to the title to the land in controversy, and that this cause should be set down upon the issues formed by the pleadings and exceptions aforesaid as to the title to said lands. It is, therefore, ordered, that said exceptions be sustained, and that said decree prepared as aforesaid be not entered; but, as the plaintiffs announce their purpose to apply to the supreme court of the United States for a writ of mandamus to compel the entry of said decree as prepared by the plaintiff's solicitors, and the court being willing to expedite the said proposed proceeding, it is further ordered that said proposed decree and the petition of the plaintiffs for the entry thereof be...

To continue reading

Request your trial
119 cases
  • United States ex rel. Epton v. Nenna, 68 Civ. 461.
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York
    • October 5, 1970
    ...707 (1969). Assuming this to be so, it makes no difference. This court is bound by the principles stated in Gaines v. Rugg, 148 U.S. 228, 244, 13 S.Ct. 611, 617, 37 L.Ed. 432 (1893): "As to the suggestion that the views adopted by this court in a case * * * decided * * * after the present c......
  • Cleveland v. Ward
    • United States
    • Texas Supreme Court
    • June 9, 1926
    ...El Paso, 51 Tex. Civ. App. 321, 112 S. W. 816; St. Louis, etc., Ry. Co. v. Smith (Tex. Civ. App.) 99 S. W. 171; Gaines v. Rugg, 148 U. S. 228, 243, 13 S. Ct. 611, 37 L. Ed. 432. Mr. Spelling correctly states the rule as "In order that the existence of another remedy shall constitute a bar t......
  • Thornton v. Carter
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit
    • February 6, 1940
    ...U.S. 464, 465, 1 S.Ct. 568, 27 L.Ed. 302; In re Washington, etc. R. Co., 140 U.S. 91, 11 S.Ct. 673, 35 L.Ed. 339; Gaines v. Rugg, 148 U.S. 228, 243, 13 S.Ct. 611, 37 L.Ed. 432; In re Sanford Fork & Tool Co., 160 U.S. 247, 255, 16 S.Ct. 291, 40 L.Ed. 414; In re Potts, 166 U.S. 263, 267, 17 S......
  • Rhodes v. Houston
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of Nebraska
    • September 8, 1966
    ...L.Ed. 1052; Ex parte Dubuque & P. R. Co., 1 Wall. 69, 17 L.Ed. 514; Stewart v. Salamon, 97 U.S. 361, 24 L.Ed. 1044; Gaines v. Rugg, 148 U.S. 228, 13 S.Ct. 611, 37 L.Ed. 432. In this respect a motion for a new trial or a petition for a rehearing stands upon the same ground as a bill of revie......
  • Request a trial to view additional results

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT