Court Opinion

ID: 9827881
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-01 17:54:21.209569+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:42:38.244753
License: Public Domain

On Motion for Rehearing.
[3] Upon a re-examination of the affidavits contained in the record, we have reached the conclusion that we erred in our former opinion herein in holding that the evidence sustained the finding that appellee Ira Bratton, in whose favor'the judgment in the suit of forcible entry and detainer was rendered, and who alone can procure the enforcement of said judgment and could be held responsible for the damages plaintiff would suffer thereby, is solvent in the sense that he could be made to respond to the damages plaintiff would likely suffer by the enforcement of said judgment. The affidavits as to his solvency only show that his “Det worth”.is $300. Giving the fullest effect to these affidavits, they only justify the conclusion that he has property over and above his indebtedness of the value of $300. It is not shown of what the property consists, nor whether it is exempt from forced sale.
The verified petition shows that the rental value of the premises is $500 per year, and if, as a matter of fact, defendant Bratton has property subject to execution of the value of $300 plaintiff, pending a final trial of his suit, which ,in all reasonable probability could not be had within a year, would, if he established his title to the property, lose at least a considerable portion of the rents due therefor. On the other hand, by .requiring plaintiff to give a bond in the sum of $1,000, the defendant Bratton can be protected from any loss that he is likely to sustain by an injunction restraining the execution of the judgment in the forcible entry and detainer suit. Such being the facts under the rule of “balance of convenience” followed in our former opinion, plaintiff is entitled to have the enforcement by said defendant of a writ of restitution in the forcible entry and de-tainer suit enjoined pending an adjudication of the question of title, unless the fact that plaintiff wrongfully entered upon the premises, which at the time of such entry was in the possession of defendant Bratton, will deny him the right to the equitable remedy of injunction.
[4] We do not think the equitable rule that “he who seeks equity must come'with clean hands” requires that, in every case in which a plaintiff has been guilty of wrong, he must be denied any protection by a court of equity. It seems to us that the modern rule of “balance of convenience” stated in our former opinion, and which has been recognized and enforced by the higher courts of this state in injunction proceedings, when in a particular case it conflicts with the rule first stated, .should be followed rather than *22the rule which denies any protection to one who has himself done wrong. This is evidently the spirit of the rule of “balance of convenience” and is more in harmony with the ever-widening principles of equity jurisprudence. We think the cases cited and discussed in our former opinion support this application of the rule to the facts of the instant case.
It follows from these conclusions that the motion for rehearing should be granted, and our former judgment herein set aside; and it has been so ordered. It is further ordered that the judgment of the court below, denying appellant an injunction against appel-lee Bratton, be reversed, and judgment here rendered; that upon appellant’s giving a bond in the sum of $1,000, payable and conditioned as required by law and approved by the clerk of the trial court, a writ of injunction shall issue from said court restraining appellee Ira Bratton from enforcing or attempting to enforce, pending the final trial of this suit, the judgment in the forcible entry and detainer suit described in plaintiff’s petition. That portion of the judgment refusing a mandatory injuriction ousting ap-pellee Bratton from that portion of the premises in controversy now occupied by him is affirmed.