Collins v. Sinclair

Citations

• 51 Ill. 328

Syllabus

<p>1. Assessment of damages on dissolution of an injunction—of the proper measure thereof. Upon a suggestion of damages on the dissolution of an injunction, the assessment shouldrest upon equitable grounds, and should not exceed the damages actually sustained.</p> <p>2. So, where a lessee of premises sued out an injunction against a prior lessee of the same premises, whose term had expired, to prevent him from harvesting a crop of rye which he had sown while he was in possession, and the complainant harvested the rye himself, the court, upon the hearing, properly found that two-thirds of the rye belonged to the defendant, and dissolved the injunction: Held, that upon a suggestion of damages, the court, in ascertaining the value of the two-thirds of the rye, should allow the expense of harvesting the entire crop, which the defendant would have had to pay.</p> <p>3. Same—allowance of attorney's fees. Upon an assessment of damages in such a case, which involved only two-thirds of twenty acres of rye, and attended with no special difficulty or unusual litigation, the sum of $176.00 was considered unreasonable as an attorney’s fee, for a single lawyer or firm, to be allowed to the defendant.</p> <p>4. Nor can the defendant in an injunction be permitted to lay the foundation for large damages against the complainant, by employing an unnecessary number of counsel.</p> <p>6. Same—allowing defendant's own expenses. Neither are the defendant’s own expenses a proper subject of allowance upon such an assessment.</p>