Farley v. Kittson

Citations

• 120 U.S. 303
• 7 S. Ct. 534
• 30 L. Ed. 684
• 1887 U.S. LEXIS 1976

Syllabus

<p>At the hearing upon a plea m equity aucl a general replication, no fact is in issue but the truth of the mattei pleaded.</p> <p>Objections to the equity of the plaintiff’s claim, as stated in his bill, cannot be taken by plea.</p> <p>A plea in equity, though under oath, and negativing a material averment in the bill,'is no evidence in the defendant’s favor.</p> <p>A bill in equity to enforce a contract between the plaintiff and the defendants to purchase for tliein joint benefit the bonds, secured by mortgages, of' two railroads, of one of which the plaintiff was receiver, and of the.other general manager under the trustees in the mortgage, alleged that he performed the agreement on his part; that the defendants purchased the' bonds through an agent of the bondholders, and afterwards purchased the railroads under decrees of foreclosure, and entered iifto possession and made large profits, and refused to account to the plaintiff for his share; and that the plaintiff, pleading the negotiations for the purchase of the bonds, informed the agent of the bondholders of his interest, and at all times answered to the best of his knowledge and ability all inquiries of the bondholders or their agent, or of tire trustees or any person interested in tbe property, and always acted honestly and in good faith towards all such persons. The defendants filed a plea, averring that neither the agent nor the bondholders liad any notice of the plaintiff’s interest until after the sale of the railroads under the decrees of fore-. closure, and that the agreement sued on was a breach of Ms trusts as receiver and as manager, and did not entitle liim to, relief in equity. A general replication was filed, and at the hearing the truth of the fact averred in the plea was disproved, Held, that the plea must be overruled, and the defendants ordered to. answer the bill.</p>