Brown v. Solary

Citations

• 37 Fla. 102

Syllabus

<p>1. The basis for equitable interference in the -removal of a cloud from the title to real estate is that a deed or other instrument,, apparently valid, but void in fact, may be vexatiously ’or injuriously used against the rightful owner, after the evidence to invalidate it has been lost, and the owner being in possession, can not immediately protect his right by any legal proceeding. In such case a court of equity will grant relief and direct the deed or instrument to be delivered up and cancelled.</p> <p>2. A court of equity grants relief by injunction against a trespass-on real estate when the threatened injury can not be adequately compensated in damages at law, or where under the circumstances of the case injured party has no adequate remedy at law. The foundation for the jurisdiction in such cases is, in general, the irreparable nature of the injury, the inadequacy of pecuniary compensation, the destruction of the estate in the character in which it has been enjoyed, or the prevention of a multiplicity of suits.</p> <p>3. The question of title and possession enter into the consideration in cases of trespass as well as when an instrument is sought to be removed as a cloud upon title, and in cases of trespass the complainant’s title must be admitted, or legally established,, and the nature of the injury must be irreparable. The decision in the case of Woodford vs. Alexander, 35 Fla. 333, 17' South. Rep. 658, is disapproved. The application of the law to the facts of that case was erroneous, and the decision should not be followed.</p> <p>4. The mining and taking of phosphate rock from the soil of land valuable chiefly on account of the phosphate amounts to a destruction of the estate in the character in which it has been enjoyed, and the injury resulting therefrom is of such an irreparable nature as to authorize a court of equity to enjoin it on proper bill by the real owner.</p> <p>5. When a court of equity has, by virtue of its original or concurrent jurisdi