Injunction Against Other Proceedings

There is a little known branch of caselaw that divorcing clients and attorney’s need to be aware of.  I have had this issue come up in a case before and it saved my client a lot of money.  This branch of law is also applicable to cases outside of family law. 

Here is the scenario.  Parties file for divorce.  Divorce drags on for years for a variety of reasons.  Other party in the mean time moves off and files for divorce after establishing residency in a second state.   Question:  Is it a race to the finish or do you have a remedy to stop the other party from doing that?

Mississippi courts have "held that a citizen of a state may be enjoined from prosecuting against another citizen of that state an action in a foreign jurisdiction for the purpose of evading the law of his own state." Ballard v Ballard, 24 So.2d 335, 337 (Miss. 1946) (citing Fisher v P. Mutual Life Ins. Co., 72 So. 846 (Miss.1916)). "[T]his rule applies, although the suit enjoined has been commenced in another state before the injunction issues." Fisher v Pac. Mut. Life Ins. Co., 72 So. 846, 848 (1916).

In the case of Poole v. Mississippi Publishers Corporation,  208 Miss. 364, 44 So.2d 467 (Miss. 1950), the Mississippi Supreme Court held that a Court of equity in one state may and in a proper case will restrain its own citizens, or other persons within the control of its process, from prosecuting actions or proceedings in other states or foreign countries. The general rule is that the Court of Chancery has the power to restrain a party within its jurisdiction from bringing suit abroad.  It went on to hold in the opinion that a State Court may prevent a citizen under its jurisdiction from doing inequity from maintaining a Federal Court suit in a distant jurisdiction when a convenient and suitable forum is at the resident's door step if the matter of venue is not covered by an Act of Congress. This case went on to hold that the injunction was correctly granted and the action of the Chancery Court was affirmed in so doing as the Appellant had filed an answer.

These cases appear to authorize the use of an injunction against the opposing party and I have been successful in making this argument before.  This is something to consider and something to advise a party of if they are waiting about filing an action with a party in another state.