George Sutherland

“ If the decree had contained a provision that the petitioners were entitled to a deed to be executed by a trustee, there can be no doubt that upon the reversal of the decree they could have been required to execute a deed back. If the trustee had refrained from executing a conveyance and had been compelled by a separate decree to fulfill what appeared to be his duty, only a narrow view of the remedial powers of equity would discover in the separate decree a decisive element of difference. ”

“ What was taken from the respondent under the shelter of this reversed decree and because of its coercive power was the possession of a tract of land. The effect of a judgment in this action of ejectment will be to re-establish his possession and put him where he was before. The quality of the remedy is to be determined by the end to be achieved, and not by any label, whether restitution or ejectment.
A system of procedure is perverted from its proper function when it multiplies impediments to justice without the warrant of clear necessity. ”

“ In every other forum the reasons for passing the decree are wholly immaterial and the subsequent reversal of the judgment upon which it is predicated can have no other effect than to authorize the party aggrieved to move in some proper proceeding, in the court of its rendition, to modify it or set it aside. ”

“ The respondent, in order to prevail, must uphold three propositions. He must show: (1) That he is entitled to restitution of any property interests lost to him by force of the erroneous decree; (2) that in losing possession under the judgment of ejectment he suffered a loss that was caused by the decree; (3) that the present action of ejectment is, irrespective of its name, an action for restitution, and an appropriate remedy to put him back where he was at the time of the ouster. ”

“ The codifiers did not mean that a party who has recovered in ejectment shall be more immune from restitution than one in any other form of action. A different question would be here if the persons resisting restitution were not the immediate parties to the suit, but strangers acquiring an interest in the property in reliance on the judgment. As to strangers so situated the remedy of restitution has been excluded since ancient days. ”

“ In 1922, Thomas Walker filed a bill of interpleader in the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, naming as defendants these petitioners (or their predecessors) and this respondent, for the purpose of having determined, as between them, the ownership of money then in the hands of Walker, which he had collected as rentals from certain real property. ”

“ And the mischief which would follow the establishment of a precedent for so disregarding this salutary doctrine against prolonging strife would be greater than the benefit which would result from relieving some case of individual hardship. ”

“ Thereafter, and pending an appeal from that decree to the District Court of Appeals taken without a supersedeas, petitioners brought an action in ejectment against respondent to recover the real estate from which the rents had been derived. The title which they asserted in that action rested upon the same provisions of the Holmes will as were involved in the interpleader suit; and petitioners pleaded and relied upon the decree in that suit as having conclusively established the construction of these provisions in their favor. ”