Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Corp. v. Porter

• Decision Date: 08 April 1969
• Docket Number: No. 18902,18902
• Citation: 252 S.C. 478,167 S.E.2d 313
• Parties: TRANSCONTINENTAL GAS PIPE LINE CORPORATION, Respondent, v. S. V. PORTER, Lee Porter, Ray Porter, Katherine P. Hambright, and Ruth P. Hull, Appellants.
• Court: South Carolina Supreme Court

Page 313

167 S.E.2d 313

252 S.C. 478

TRANSCONTINENTAL GAS PIPE LINE CORPORATION, Respondent, v. S. V. PORTER, Lee Porter, Ray Porter, Katherine P Hambright, and Ruth P. Hull, Appellants.

No. 18902.

Supreme Court of South Carolina.

April 8, 1969.

Melvin L. Roberts, York, for appellants.

Robinson, McFadden & Moore, Columbia, Hall & Hall, Gaffney, for respondent.

LEWIS, Justice.

This is an appeal from an order of the lower court granting a temporary injunction restraining the defendants from interfering with the exercise of an alleged right of plaintiff to lay and construct a pipeline, in addition to its existing lines, across lands over which it had been previously granted an easement. The question to be decided is whether the lower court erred in granting the temporary injunction.

Under the provisions of Section 10--2055 of the 1962 Code of Laws, a temporary injunction may be granted 'when it shall appear: (1) By the complaint, that the plaintiff is entitled to the relief demanded, and such relief, or any part thereof, consists in restraining the commission or continuance of some act the commission or continuance of which, during the litigation, would produce injury to the plaintiff.'

The two essential conditions to the granting of a temporary injunction were thus stated in Childs v. City of Columbia, 87 S.C. 566, 568, 70 S.E. 296, 297, 34 L.R.A.,N.S., 542: 'First, the complaint must allege facts which appear to be sufficient to constitute a cause of action for injunction; and, second, on the entire showing from both sides it must appear, in view of all the circumstances, that the injunction is reasonably necessary to protect the legal rights of the plaintiff pending the litigation.'

It is well settled that, in determining whether a temporary injunction should issue, the merits of the case are not to be considered, except in so far as they may enable the court to determine whether a prima facie showing has been made. When a prima facie showing has been made entitling plaintiff to injunctive relief, a temporary injunction will be granted without regard to the ultimate termination of the case on the merits. Alderman & Sons Co. v. Wilson, 69 S.C. 156, 48 S.E. 85.

Injunctive relief, under the foregoing section, is a matter that rests in the sound discretion of the judge to whom application is made and, as stated in Alston v. Board of Health, 93 S.C. 553, 77 S.E. 727, 'while a judge, at chambers, cannot Finally decide anything as to the merits, he can and ought to look into the merits, whether they present issues of law or fact, and Consider them to the extent necessary to enable him to exercise his discretion wisely.'

We have held that a temporary injunction may properly issue to protect rights acquired under an easement. Darlington Oil Company v. Pee Dee Oil & Ice Company, 62 S.C. 196, 40 S.E. 169; Alderman & Sons Co. v. Wilson, supra, 69 S.C. 156, 48 S.E. 85; Marion County Lumber Co. v. Tilghman Lumber Co., 75 S.C. 220, 55 S.E. 337.

The question then is whether plaintiff made a prima facie showing for injunctive relief. The matter was heard by the lower court upon the pleadings, affidavit of plaintiff's agent, and exhibits setting forth other litigation between the parties relative to the exercise by plaintiff of its claimed rights under the easement. In reviewing the order of the lower court, we confine our review of the facts solely to those considered necessary to a decision of the foregoing question.

The complaint states a cause of action solely for injunction. It alleged that, on February 9, 1950, the defendant, S. V. Porter, and his wife, executed and delivered to the plaintiff, Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Corporation, a right of way and easement across a 120 acre tract of land in Cherokee County, authorizing the laying and construction of Pipelines thereon, with the right, from time to time, to lay 'one or more additional lines of pipe' approximately parallel to the first; and that for...