Case Name: Same v. Same
Court: Michigan Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Michigan
Decision Date: 1869-10-05
Citations: 19 Mich. 130
Docket Number: 
Parties: Same v. Same.
Judges: 
Reporter: Michigan Reports
Volume: 19
Pages: 130–131

Head Matter:
Same v. Same.
Parties: Laches. Where a party to a bill in equity for a partition consents that it may be dismissed as to him, it not being alleged that his consent had been obtained through fraud or mistake, or that the partition took him by surprise, and there having been ample time for him to make his application in the Court below, the appellate Court will not arrest the proceedings to afford him relief.
Heard and decided October 5.
The opinion having been delivered in this cause,
Messrs. J. J. Speed and Theo. Romeyn presented a pe tition on behalf of Milton H. Butler praying that the cause be remitted to the Court below "with leave to the petitioner to apply to be made a party, and that a final decision and decree be deferred until such application could be heard.
It appears from the petition and the record, that Mr. Butler claims an interest in a portion of the property partitioned, derived from one of the parties defendant; that he was originally made a party, but consented to the bill being dismissed as to him at the solicitation of the counsel for the complainants, who did not wish the partition suit complicated with any controversy as to the validity of Mr. Butler’s title; but the partition having been made in entire disregard of that title, and there being some question whether his rights were not injuriously affected, he prays leave to come in and assert them.
D. 0. Holbrook and 6r. V. H. Lothrop, contra.

Opinion:
The Court
denied the prayer of the petition. Without
stopping to consider whether the appellate Court has the power to grant the relief prayed, it is plain that petitioner has slept too long upon his rights to have any claim for the interposition of the Court. He has known of the proceedings from the beginning; he does not claim that his consent to the dismissal of the suit was obtained through fraud or mistake, and if the partition made by the commissioners was unwarranted, or took him by surprise, there was ample time for him to make the proper application for relief while the cause remained in the Court below.