Opinion ID: 853134
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The History of Joining Law and Equity Claims

Text: Trial Rule 38(A) is thus necessarily the starting point. The policy described by Rule 38(A) has existed in substantially the same form for over 120 years, commencing as a legislative enactment. See Rev. St. 1894, § 412; Rev. St. 1881, § 409 (nearly identical statutory forerunners of Trial Rule 38(A)). This legislative enactment and the later judicial rule have informed the historic understanding of the Constitution's meaning on the subject. Rule 38(A) and its statutory predecessors generally set out three principles. First, suits for which jurisdiction was exclusively equitable prior to June 18, 1852, are to be tried by the court. Second, issues of fact in all other suits are to be tried as the same are now triable. T.R. 38(A). Finally, when both equitable and legal causes of action or defenses are joined in a single case, the equitable causes of action or defenses are to be tried by the court while the legal causes of action or defenses are to be tried by a jury. Id. One of the earliest decisions on joinder of legal and equitable causes of action was Carmichael v. Adams, 91 Ind. 526, 1883 WL 5718 (1883), involving a mortgage foreclosure. The Court ruled that the defendant was not entitled to a jury trial on the amount of the note due. Id. at 528. In reasoning remarkably applicable to the case at hand, the Court stated: There could, in such a case as thisa suit upon a note and mortgagebe no decree without an ascertainment of the amount due on the note, and, therefore, the whole matter was necessarily for the decision of the court. In order to determine whether the plaintiff was entitled to the relief sought, it was absolutely necessary to ascertain that there was a debt secured by the mortgage, for, if there was no debt, there was nothing upon which the power of the court could be exercised. It was not possible to make a step of progress in the decree without settling the question of the defendants' indebtedness. Id. at 527. See also Evans v. Nealis, 87 Ind. 262, 263, 266-67 (1882) (in action to encumber specific property with judgment lien, a jury trial was proper only if verdict was advisory). In Hendricks v. Frank, 86 Ind. 278, 1882 WL 6464 (1882), a debtor conveyed his only unencumbered property to avoid payment to his creditors, and the creditors filed suit to rescind the conveyance. Id. at 279-80. The case was tried before a jury, to which a creditor objected. Id. at 282. This Court concluded that a jury trial was improper, endorsing the opinion of Supreme Court Commissioner John Morris, [3] who wrote, Upon the general subject of fraud courts of equity have concurrent jurisdiction with courts of law; but in a cause or suit to rescind a contract for fraud, [courts of equity] had, in June, 1852, exclusive jurisdiction. Id. at 283. Soon after Hendricks, we decided Brown v. Russell, 105 Ind. 46, 4 N.E. 428 (1886). There, Russell sought (1) to foreclose a chattel mortgage which secured certain promissory notes and (2) to collect the debt evidenced by the promissory notes. 105 Ind. at 47, 4 N.E. at 429. The trial was before the bench, and Brown appealed. The Court held that there was no error in the [trial] court's refusal of a jury trial. 105 Ind. at 55, 4 N.E. at 433 (citations omitted). [4] In Towns v. Smith, 115 Ind. 480, 16 N.E. 811 (1888), this Court considered another case instructive to the issue now before us. The suit involved an action on a promissory note and an action to set aside an allegedly fraudulent conveyance made for the purpose of avoiding the debt. 115 Ind. at 481, 16 N.E. at 812. The Court held: One feature of the case, it is true, was an action on a promissory note, and the relief demanded was merely of a pecuniary character. To that extent the proceeding resembles an ordinary action at law. In order to obtain final and more effectual relief, however, the suit combined a proceeding in the nature of a creditors' bill to set aside and cancel a fraudulent conveyance, which belongs exclusively to the procedure and jurisdiction of chancery. 115 Ind. at 481, 16 N.E. at 812. After Towns came Albrecht v. C.C. Foster Lumber Co., 126 Ind. 318, 26 N.E. 157 (1890), in which Foster Lumber sought to enforce a lien against Albrecht's property. In response, Albrecht asserted that Foster Lumber's notice of foreclosure was deficient and requested a jury trial. 126 Ind. at 319-20, 26 N.E. at 157. The trial court denied the request, and Albrecht appealed. This Court affirmed, holding that only a court of equity can foreclose mechanics' liens and liens on real property. 126 Ind. at 320, 26 N.E. at 157 (citations omitted). If the case history stopped here, our decision today would be relatively simple. We would hold that Songer and CCI had no right to a jury trial. Unfortunately, subsequent decisions and changes in the pleading system have muddied the waters significantly. Six years after Albrecht, this Court considered a similar issue. In Field v. Brown, 146 Ind. 293, 45 N.E. 464 (1896), Field filed a three-count complaint. The first sought recovery for money, the second sought an accounting, and the third alleged fraud in settlement agreements. 146 Ind. at 294, 45 N.E. at 464. Field requested a jury trial but was denied. The Court concluded that while the last two counts stated equitable claims, the first count was triable at law by a jury. 146 Ind. at 294, 45 N.E. at 464. Relying on a statute that is now Trial Rule 38(A), the Court held that the two equitable claims did not necessarily draw the third cause of action into equity. 146 Ind. at 295-96, 45 N.E. at 464-65; see also Abernathy v. Allen, 132 Ind. 84, 31 N.E. 534 (1892) (in suit to set aside two conveyances and order partition, defendants were entitled to jury trial on issue of partition). Nevertheless, the Field Court reaffirmed that where equity takes jurisdiction of the essential features of a cause, it will determine the whole controversy, though there may be incidental questions of a legal nature. [5] 146 Ind. at 295, 45 N.E. at 464 (emphasis added). The Court cautioned, however, that none of [our past holdings] can be construed as holding that numerous causes of action, stated in various paragraphs of complaint, may not be severed, and those of an equitable nature tried by the court, and those of a legal character tried by a jury. 146 Ind. at 295, 45 N.E. at 465. From this correct statement of law, Songer and CCI try to prove too much. They argue that the Court's statement that where equity takes jurisdiction of the essential features of a cause, it will determine the whole controversy is limited to one-count complaints. (See Appellants' Resp. to Amici at 4.) We disagree. As the U.S. Supreme Court said in Ex parte Milligan, 71 U.S. (4 Wall.) 2, 112, 18 L.Ed. 281 (1866), the terms cause and suit are interchangeable. The same is not necessarily true for cause and cause of action. [6] A cause, as noted, is a lawsuit. As illustration, lawsuits are assigned cause numbers to track their progress through trial and appeal. On the other hand, a cause of action is a legal theory of a lawsuit. See Black's Law Dictionary 213, 214 (7th ed.1999). Several causes of action can potentially be encompassed within a single cause. Thus, a single cause might consist of a contract cause of action and a tort cause of action. As such, Field `s holding is that where the essential features of a suit sound in equity, the entire controversy is drawn into equity, including incidental questions of a legal nature. The inverse must also be true. Where equity does not take jurisdiction of the essential features of a cause, a multi-count complaint may be severed, and different issues may be tried before either a jury or the court at the same proceeding. This is consistent with the language and spirit of Rule 38(A). The subsequent case of Sweigart v. State, 213 Ind. 157, 12 N.E.2d 134 (1938), supports this conclusion. In Sweigart, the State brought suit against Sweigart, Clerk of the Lake Circuit Court, seeking penalties for unlawful issuance of marriage licenses and a temporary and final injunction. 213 Ind. at 159, 12 N.E.2d at 136. The trial court issued the injunction, and a jury trial was held on the penalties. 213 Ind. at 160, 12 N.E.2d at 136. Sweigart appealed and alleged that he was entitled to a jury trial on the injunction as well. The Court held: The equitable relief prayed for in the complaint was separate and apart from the legal relief sought and was properly an issue for the court to try .... The fact that the plaintiff joins legal and equitable causes of action in a complaint does not deprive a defendant of the right to a trial by jury on the purely legal issues. 213 Ind. at 162-63, 12 N.E.2d at 137 (emphasis added). Sweigart and Field can therefore be read together and harmonized with past decisions. Where the essential features of a suit sound in equity, such that the equitable relief asked for is not separate and apart from the legal relief sought, the entire action is drawn into equity. And in the prior decisions from Carmichael to Albrecht, the Court adjudged the controversies as having essentially equitable features. [7]