Beckwith v. Malleable Iron Range Co.

207 F. 848, 1913 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1358
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Wisconsin
DecidedAugust 7, 1913
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 207 F. 848 (Beckwith v. Malleable Iron Range Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Beckwith v. Malleable Iron Range Co., 207 F. 848, 1913 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1358 (E.D. Wis. 1913).

Opinion

GEIGER, District Judge

(after stating the facts as above). [1] The Court of Appeals, in disposing of' the matter which was presented to it, and in ruling that the situation was covered by equity rule No. 63, observed that, the status of an infringer of a patent being recognized as that of a trustee ex malificio, the rules respecting the burden of proof as announced in Westinghouse Co. v. Wagner Co., 225 U. S. 604, 32 Sup. Ct. 691, 56 L. Ed. 1222, 41 L. R. A. (N. S.) 653, and Garretson v. Clark, 111 U. S. 120; 4 Sup. Ct. 291, 28 L. Ed. 371, are not inconsistent with the applicability of such equity rule, and concludes that “it cannot be open to question that patent accountings are within the general provision of equity respecting the remedies of accounting, and that equity rule No. 79 (new rule No. 63) is both applicable thereto and mandatory in its requirements.” Re Beckwith (C. C. A.) 203 Fed. 45.

Equity rule No. 63, thus held to be controlling, reads as follows:

“All persons accounting before a master shall bring in their respective accounts in the form of debtor and creditor; and any of the other parties who shall not be satisfied with the account so brought in shall be at liberty to examine the accounting party viva voce, or upon interrogatories in the master’s office, or by deposition as the master shall direct.”

It has been suggested that, intermediate the commencement and termination of the proceedings before the master, the court ought not to give directions respecting the course of the procedure. Ordinarily this is true, but, in view of the history of the case and the importance of the question as one of practice, I have concluded to entertain the application and determine it as seems right and consonant with the remedy of accounting as the same is to be followed under the rule.

What, then, is the correct practice to be pursued before a master under the rule in question, taken in connection with the accompanying [851]*851rule No. 62 (198 Fed. xxxvi, 115 C. C. A. xxxvi), relative to the powers o£ the master? This latter rule reads as follows:

“The master shall regulate all the proceedings in every hearing before him, upon every reference; and. he shall have full authority to examine the parties in the cause, upon oaih, touching all matters contained in the reference, and also to require the production of all books, papers, writings, vouchers, and other documents applicable thereto, and also to examine on oath, viva voce, all witnesses produced by the parties before him, or by deposition, according to the acts of Congress or otherwise, as here provided, and also to direct the mode in which the matters requiring evidence shall be proved before him, and generally to do all other acts and direct all other inquiries and proceedings in the matters before him, which he may deem necessary and proper to the justice and merits thereof and the rights of the parties.”

It may be observed that rule 63, formerly rule 79, is identical in language with the sixty-first rule of the English chancery practice which was in existence in 1842, when the equity rales which were in force in this country prior to the adoption of the recent new rules were adopted. The English rules, or “new orders,” as they were called, were adopted in 1828 and worked many changes in the then English chancery practice, not the least of which was respecting the taking of accounts before masters. It had been the custom to require eacn and every item in the accounting to he proven under proceedings involving tedious interrogation and examination of items of account, whether admitted or disputed. The change wrought by the new rule is commented upon by Mr. Smith in his work on, Chancery Practice, vol. 2, p. 114, referred to by the Supreme Court of the United States in Thomson v. Wooster, 114 U. S. 104, 5 Sup. Ct. 788, 29 U. Fid. 105, as “the most authoritative work on English Chancery Practice in use in March, 1842, when our equity rules were adopted.” The author says:

“The 61 ST. O. (new orders) directs all parties accounting before the master to bring in their accounts in the form of debtor and creditor. This account is prepared as an affidavit; the body of the affidavit containing a verification of the accuracy of the schedules, in which are contained the details of the account. This affidavit is a substitution for an examination, which was the manner of accounting before the new orders. By the alteration, interrogatories and the certificates allowing them are saved, together with the excess of expense of an examination beyond that incurred in preparing an affidavit. If the parly does not bring in the account within the time fixed, he is proceeded against in the same manner as a party not putting in his examination.
“When the account is brought in, if any of the parties are dissatisfied with it, they are at liberty to examine the aceouniing party upon interrogatories, or as die master shall direct. 61 N. O. The manner of exhibiting these interrogatories will be explained in treating on that subject. In disputed accounts, this examination becomes so much of course that i believe it is found, in such cases, that it is cheapest and best to exhibit interrogatories in the first instance.
“The debtor and creditor account when sworn to is left in the master’s office, and a warrant on leaving the same is taken out and served on the clerks in court of the opposite parties, who take copies of the same. As the debtor and creditor account, whether exhibited, annexed, or scheduled to the affidavit, is sworn to, the master cannot proceed upon that document, as it would be improper for him to alter or vary it.”

[852]*852It 'therefore seems that one of the purposes of the new English rule ,was to eliminate the evils of' the former practice and to furnish a definite basis for thé proceedings before the master. That is, the rule is framed upon the theory that at the outset the accounting party will, obediently to the decree, bring in a statement of account embodying upon the one side the items with which he is properly chargeable and upon the other the items claimed to be allowed, just as any one, conceding that a relation of debtor and creditor exists between himself and another, will bring in a statement of what he conceives to be items of debit and items of credit. In this way the opportunity is at once afforded of ascertaining the real issues between the parties before the master upon the accounting; it is the means of limiting the trial before the master to disputed items. That this is the purpose of the rule is clearly indicated by its language, conferring upon the adversary the right to proceed as therein directed, in case he is not satisfied with the account.

Counsel for complainant has called attention to the language of Judge Seaman in the opinion filed upon the mandamus application:

“The-purpose ‘of requiring the accounting party to bring in his account in the form of debtor and creditor is to compel discovery from him as to the details of the transaction under investigation.’ 2 Bates on Fed. Eq. Brae. 759. See, also, 1 Pomeroy, Eq. Jur. 223-239.

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207 F. 848, 1913 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1358, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/beckwith-v-malleable-iron-range-co-wied-1913.