B. L. E. REALTY CORPORATION, A CORPORATION, APPELLANT,
v.
MARY WILLIAMS COMPANY, INC., A CORPORATION, AND H. E. PRICE, ET AL., APPELLEES

Fla. | 1931-04-20
Whitfield, P.J., and Terrell, J., concur., Buford, C.J., and Ellis and Brown, J.J., concur in the opinion and judgment.
101 Fla. 254 Florida Supreme Court (1931) Positive Treatment
Cited by 47 cases

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Synopsis

The appellate court reversed a lower court's decision to grant a temporary injunction and deny a motion to dissolve it. The court found the underlying creditor's bill lacked equity because the plaintiff had not obtained a judgment at law and the suit did not meet statutory requirements for a creditor's bill before judgment.


Holding

Yes, the lower court erred. The creditor's bill lacked equity because the plaintiff had not reduced its claim to a judgment at law and failed to meet the statutory prerequisites for such a suit before judgment.


Key Quotes

“A creditor’s bill is one brought by a creditor who has secured judgment at law, and has in vain attempted at law to obtain satisfaction,’ and who sues in equity for the purpose of reaching property which cannot be reached by execution at law.”

This quote defines the traditional basis for a creditor's bill, emphasizing the necessity of a prior judgment.

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Facts & Procedural History

The plaintiff filed a creditor's bill seeking an injunction to prevent defendants from disposing of property. The injunction was granted without notic…

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Opinion of the Court
Davis, J.

Davis, J.

This is an appeal from two interlocutory decrees, the first of which granted a temporary injunction without notice and the second of which denied a motion to dissolve the injunction granted. Defendants in the suit were The Venice Company, The Venice Realty Corporation, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and the B. L. E. Corporation.

Only the B. L. E. Corporation, the appellant here, appeared at the hearing or joined in the application to dissolve the injunction which was against all the defendants and restrained them jointly and severally from in any manner selling, assigning, transferring, conveying or disposing of or attempting to sell, assign, transfer, convey or dispose of any or all property, real, personal and mixed, owned by the defendants or any of them in Sarasota County, and from removing or selling or undertaking to remove, sell or withdraw from the jurisdiction of the Court any or all of the personal property including bank deposits owned by them or either of them, located in said county and State.

The theory of .the suit seems to have been that the bill filed was in the nature of a general creditors bill for the benefit of complainants and such other creditors as might join in the suit.

*257A creditor’s bill is one brought by a creditor who has secured judgment at law, and has in vain attempted at law to obtain satisfaction,’ and who sues in equity for the purpose of reaching property which cannot be reached by execution at law. The nature, purpose and scope of such bill is to bring into exercise the equitable power of the Court to enforce satisfaction of a judgment by means of an equitable execution because execution at law cannot be had. Armour Fertilizer Works v. First Nat. Bank, 87 Fla. 436, 100 So. 362.

A creditor’s bill may not be maintained in this State unless there is either a judgment at law obtained or a suit at law pending against the defendant in such bill. Adams Brewing Co. v. Bowman, 92 Fla. 509, 109 So. 583.

It is only by virtue of Section 5035, C. G. L., 3229 R. G. S., that such a creditor’s suit can be maintained in Florida before the claims of indebtedness of the persons filing the same shall have been reduced to judgment. Cates v. Allen, 149 U. S. 451, 37 L. Ed. 804; Post v. Roach, 26 Fla. 442, 7 So. 854.

It is also by the statute made necessary that there shall have been a suit brought at law in the proper court for the collection of a claim of indebtedness against the defendant. The mere institution of a suit at law for damages not involving a claim of indebtedness does not, under our statute, by its very terms, warrant a creditor’s suit or the granting of extra-ordinary relief therein, such as an injunction or receiver.

It is also well settled that in any suit in chancery in such creditor’s bill the complainant shall allege in his bill every fact, clearly and definitely, that is necessary to entitle him to relief, and if he omits essential facts therefrom, or states such facts therein as show that he is not *258entitled to relief in a court of equity, lie must suffer the consequences of his so doing. Godwin v. Phifer, 41 So. 597, 51 Fla. 441.

It is also the rule that before granting a temporary injunction or restraining order without notice, the Court should be satisfied that a clear case therefor is made by the bill, and also that it' has been clearly' made to appear that it is a case of urgent necessity and one in which irreparable mischief or injury will be produced, if the injunction or temporary restraining order is denied. If it is plainly apparent that the bill is without equity, an injunction should not be granted, but if granted, it should be dissolved at the .earliest opportunity by the Court, and the bill ordered dismissed. Builders Supply Co. v. Acton, 47 So. 822, 56 Fla. 756.

Tested by the foregoing rules the bill of complaint in this case is plainly without equity and the injunction granted on it should have been dissolved upon appellant’s motion therefor.

The injunction was granted on the idea that a certain organization known as the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, by and through the other named corporations, became the purchaser and developer of certain large areas of land in Sarasota County, known as the Venice Development, in connection with the acquisition, operation and management of which various obligations had been incurred and were still owing and unpaid aggregating many thousands of dollars, some of which obligations were contracted in the name of the defendant, B. L. E. Corporation, which had been sued at law for fifty thousand dollars damages; that the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers was about to cease its activities in the State of Florida and withdraw its physical assets, in the name of these other *259named corporations, from Sarasota County and from the State to defeat the claims of creditors of said Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, and its alleged subsidiary corporations.

No relief by way of a decree such as would be appropriate in a creditor’s bill is prayed, and the main object of the suit appears to be to procure an injunction to hold all the affairs of the several defendants in status quo until complainant could try a suit at law against the B. L. E. Corporation for fifty thousand dollars damages, the only detail of which seems to be a declaration on the common counts filed in the suit at law with a copy of the cause of action attached showing merely, “To Mary Williams, Inc., B. L. E. Realty Corporation, Venice, Florida, Money payable $50,000.00.”

This court is committed to the doctrine that no person has the right to maintain a bill in equity unless the suit brought falls within some acknowledged head of equity jurisprudence, (Richman v. Whitehurst, 73 Fla. 152, 74 So. 205) and since it does not appear that the bill in the instant case conforms to this rule, the decrees appealed from must be reversed and the cause remanded with directions to dismiss the bill of complaint.

Decree reversed and cause remanded with directions to dismiss the bill.

Whitfield, P.J., and Terrell, J., concur.

Buford, C.J., and Ellis and Brown, J.J., concur in the opinion and judgment.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By (24 total)

  • Effie Smith Nichols v. Bodenwein, 107 Fla. 25 (Fla. 1932)
    …that it does no't appear that complainants had obtained a judgment at law, or that a suit at law instituted by them was pending against the defendants, or any of them. Sec. 5035, Compiled General Laws, 1927; B. L. E. Realty Co. vs. Mary William Co., 101 Fla. 254, 134 So. 47. See also George E. Sebring Co. vs. O’Rourke, 101 Fla. 885, 134 So. 556; Willis vs. Fowler, 102 Fla. 35, 136 So. 358. Under the pleadings a rescission of the contracts and cancellation of the notes given by Effie Smith Nichols must be j…
  • Dixie Music Co., Inc. v. Pike, 135 Fla. 671 (Fla. 1938)
    …ely to, have such result.’ Godwin v. Phifer, 51 Fla. 441, 41 So. 597, 600, and other cases cited therein.” See also in this connection Town of North Miami v. Travis & Co., 118 Fla. 879, 160 So. 360; B. L. E. Realty Corporation v. Mary Williams Co., 101 Fla. 254, 134 So. 47; Gillespie v. Chapline, 59 Fla. 500, 52 So. 722; Builders Supply Co. v. Acton, 56 Fla. 756, 47 So. 822. The bill of complaint is not sworn to. However, L. J. Cushman, attorney for plaintiff, appended to the bill his affidavit, as to the…
  • Weinstein v. Yoram Aisenberg, 758 So. 2d 705 (Fla. 4th DCA 2000)
    …acknowledged head of equity jurisprudence.’ ” Action Elec. & Repair, Inc. v. Batelli 416 So. 2d 888, 889 (Fla. 4th DCA 1982) (quoting Acquafredda v. Messina, 408 So. 2d 828, 829 (Fla. 5th DCA 1982) (quoting B.L.E. Realty Corp. v. Mary Williams Co., 101 Fla. 254, 134 So. 47, 50 (1931))). Many cases explain this rule by focusing on the absence of two of the elements that a plaintiff must establish in order to obtain injunctive relief. Numerous cases have held that a party seeking an injunction in Florida “m…
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