Case Name: O'BRIEN v. WAYNE CIRCUIT JUDGE
Court: Michigan Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Michigan
Decision Date: 1902-06-03
Citations: 131 Mich. 67
Docket Number: Calendar No. 19,205
Parties: O’BRIEN v. WAYNE CIRCUIT JUDGE.
Judges: 
Reporter: Michigan Reports
Volume: 131
Pages: 67–68

Head Matter:
O’BRIEN v. WAYNE CIRCUIT JUDGE.
Mandamus — Equity Practice — Costs.
Mandamus, being a discretionary writ, will not be granted to vacate an order of the circuit judge disallowing costs on the dismissal of a bill in chancery, where the return of the circuit judge is ample justification for the denial of costs, although ’ the technical practice prescribed by rule has not been followed.
Mandamus by M. Hubert O’Brien to compel Joseph "W. Donovan, circuit judge of Wayne county, to vacate an order disallowing costs on the dismissal of a bill in chancery, in which relator was solicitor for the defendants.
Submitted May 7, 1902.
(Calendar No. 19,205.)
Writ denied June 3, 1902.
May & O’Brien, for relator.
Charles C. Stewart, for respondent.

Opinion:
Per Curiam.
The complainant's injunction having been dissolved on motion, his default for not serving a copy of the bill upon defendants' counsel was duly entered; and subsequently defendants' solicitor caused an order to be entered that the bill be dismissed, with costs, to be taxed. They were afterwards taxed at $20. A motion to vacate this order was denied, but upon a later application the circuit judge amended the order by disallowing costs. An application was then made in this court for a mandamus to compel the vacation of the later order.
The return of the learned circuit judge is an ample justification for the denial of costs, and there is nothing left of the relator's case, except the technical claim that the practice prescribed by rule has not been followed. We feel warranted in declining to consider this question, under the well-settled rule that mandamus is a discretionary-writ, and will not be granted where'abstract justice does not require it.
The writ is denied.