Court Opinion

ID: 9527334
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 03:29:45.061962+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:25:44.299962
License: Public Domain

Hall, J.,
dissenting.
The suggestion of error in this case is directed solely to the action of the Court in entering a final judgment, which point is covered only in the last paragraph of the opinion originally entered herein which has been reported in 97 So. 2d 530, 536, and I respectfully dissent from the action of the Court in overruling the suggestion of error.
It must be remembered that the lower court decided this case on a motion filed by United to dismiss the bill, which motion was overruled, and this Court reversed that action holding that the motion should have been sustained, but the Court went further and instead of remanding the cause, it rendered a final judgment without giving Willmut an opportunity to amend its bill in an effort to obviate the holding of this Court. The case was never tried on the merits and the result is that this Court has entered a final judgment against the original complainant without any hearing on the merits. This is contrary to every concept of fairness and justice and contrary to what this Court said in the case of Ascher & Baxter v. Moyse & Company, 101 Miss. 36, 56, 57 So. 299:
*721‘ ‘ The lower court declined to enter into a consideration of the merits, hut dismissed the hill solely upon the ground that the complainants did not have the right to sue, upon the idea that the provisions of the Code of 1906 were repealed by the act of 1908. This court is strictly a court of review, and it is only in rare instances where the court will consider the merits of any controversy, unless passed upon in the lower court. Thompson v. Bank, 85 Miss. 261, 37 South. 645; Edwards v. Lumber Co., 92 Miss. 598, 46 South 69. A moment’s reflection will at once demonstrate the soundness of this rule. The parties to any litigation have the right to have matters of fact submitted to and passed upon by the jury or the chancellor, in whatever forum the cause is being tried, and the finding of facts in the court below by the proper authority will not be disturbed in this court unless it is manifestly wrong. The opportunities afforded to the lower court are so much better for the correct conclusions and findings upon all questions of fact than is this court. Here we have nothing but the naked record before us; there, in most cases, the parties themselves are in the presence of the court and testifying. The manner of testifying, and their appearance upon the witness stand, and many other things, are influential in determining the triers of fact.”
The holding of the majority is also contrary to what was said in Town of Utica v. State, ex rel. Rice, Attorney General, 166 Miss. 565, 579, 148 So. 635, on suggestion of error as follows: “On a former day of this term the judgment of the court below in this cause was reversed, and the cause was remanded to the circuit court for trial de novo. The appellant now suggests that upon reversal of the judgment of the circuit court a final judgment in its favor should have been entered in this court. This exact point was recently decided adversely to appellant’s contention in the case of McIntosh v. Munson Road Machinery Co. (Miss.), 145 So. 731; and consequently the *722suggestion of error, or motion to correct the judgment as it is erroneously styled, must he overruled. ’ ’
It is also contrary to what was said by Judge Griffith in the case of Brock, State Bank Commissioner v. Adler, 180 Miss. 126, 128, 178 So. 593, as follows: “Much as we sympathize with appellee as a result of the decision in Adler v. Interstate Trust & Banking Co., 166 Miss. 215, 146 So. 107, 87 A. L. R. 347, followed in the opinion delivered on December 13, 1937, 177 So. 523, we are bound to hold now that the controversy is at an end on its merits. We remanded the case that the trial court might adjudicate the damages on the injunction. Appellant now appears and expressly waives any claim for damages; and upon that basis a final decree will be entered here for appellant — but expressly disallowing damages for the wrongful issuance of the writ of injunction. Otherwise we could not enter any final decree as appellant has requested us to do.”
Willmut proposes certain allegations which it might make in the amendment which it desires to make and sets out these allegations in detail at pp. 17, 43 and 44, of its suggestion of error. There are many thousands of people indirectly interested in this case and over a million dollars is sued for, and I feel that in view of the number of people involved and the amount involved Willmut is entitled to its day in court and should not be kicked out on a final judgment based upon the pleadings.