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Metadata
Title |
Stella E. Clinton by her next friend, Henry C. Clinton v. James E. Courtney, et. al. lawsuit |
Object Name |
Record, Judicial |
Catalog Number |
2017.FIC.2391 |
People |
Allen, Josiah G., Sr. Billheimer, John C. Clinton, Henry C. Clinton, Stella E. Courtney, Frances Courtney, George W. Courtney, James E. Courtney, Joseph G. Courtney, Levi M. Dobbs, John Downey, John Durment, Charles R. Haig, Asa Hastings, Elmer E. Hastings, Joseph Hastings, Milton S. Jolliff, Leander Lee, Clement E. Mumaw, Abraham Mumaw, Laura Padgett, Arnold J. Slimp, Thomas D. Williams, Willard Q. |
Scope & Content |
Stella E. Clinton by her next friend, Henry C. Clinton v. James E. Courtney, et. al. lawsuit, Daviess Circuit Court, Cause 8814, May Term 1895. Action to collect judgments entered against James E. Courtney, Levi M. Courtney and Charles R. Durent by the Daviess Circuit in 1895 for $3,500. Plaintiff claimed the defendants after the jury verdicts were returned fraudulently transferred real estate in Daviess County, Indiana to the defendants named in this lawsuit to prevent the land being sold to pay the $3,500 judgment. Notes and mortgages were given by the current landowners to the judgment defendants in return for transferring the land. Plaintiff asked that the mortgages and notes be set aside. After the jury verdict for $3,500, Mr. Courtney appealed to the Indiana Supreme Court and the verdict was reversed and Mr. Courtney was granted a new trial. In an opinion written by Justice Wiley dated December 14, 1897, the Court did not believe the testimony of Stella E. Clinton and ruled, as a matter of law, the jury's verdict of $3,500 was "punative (sic) and vindictive" based on "unconscious prejudice" in favor of Ms. Clinton. She testified that Mr. Courtney refused to marry her while she was pregnant and insisted she have an abortion. She claimed he arranged for her to see Charles R. Durment (spelled "Derment" in the Court's opinion) who gave her medicine in an unsucessful attempt to induce an abortion. When the medicine did not work, Durment inserted "instruments" in her vagina and womb which did not induce an abortion. Durment again gave her more medicine, but this did not result in an abortion. Justice Wiley was skeptical that Ms. Clinton could undergo such treatment without causing an abortion or serious physical harm to her. Justice J. Black dissented without writing an opinion. No mention is made in any of the pleadings about the birth or condition of the child. |
Collection |
Daviess County Circuit Court Records |
Search Terms |
Daviess County Circuit Court Records Indiana Supreme Court |