Brown v. Beckham

50 F. Supp. 313, 1943 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2623
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Kentucky
DecidedJune 14, 1943
DocketNo. 586
StatusPublished

This text of 50 F. Supp. 313 (Brown v. Beckham) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brown v. Beckham, 50 F. Supp. 313, 1943 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2623 (W.D. Ky. 1943).

Opinion

MILLER, District Judge.

This action was filed by the plaintiff, Prentiss M. Brown as Administrator Office of Price Administration, to require the defendant, William T. Beckham, as Clerk of the United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky, to issue a general order of attachment against the defendants in a prior action brought by the same plaintiff (Action No. 584) without requiring the plaintiff in said prior action to execute an attachment bond. The matter is before the Court on defendant’s motion to dismiss the complaint.

In the prior action referred to, No. 584 in the United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky,' the plaintiff as Administrator Office of Price Administration sued the Cummins Distilleries Corporation, its officers, directors and stockholders, totaling some fifty odd defendants for $6,798,101.57, being treble the amount by which the sale price of 51,694 barrels of Bourbon whiskey exceeded the maximum price established therefor by maximum price Regulation No. 193 in violation of the Emergency Price Control Act of 1942. The suit was filed pursuant to the provisions of Section 205(e) of the Act, 50 U.S.C.A.Appendix § 925(e). The complaint was verified and alleged facts authorizing the issuance of an attachment and garnishment under Section 194 of the Civil Code of Practice of Kentucky. Section 198 of the Kentucky Civil Code of Practice provides “the order of attachment shall not be issued by the clerk, until a bond has been executed in his office by one or more sufficient sureties of the plaintiff to the effect that the plaintiff' pay to the defendant all damages which he may sustain by reason of the attachment, if the order be wrongfully obtained, not exceeding double the amount of the plaintiff’s claim.” The District Court Clerk, proceeding under the provisions of Rule 64 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, 28 U.S.C.A. following section 723c, which provide for the issuance of attachments in the manner provided by the law of the state in which the District Court is held, called on the plaintiff for the bond required by Section 198 of the Kentucky Civil Code in double the amount of the plaintiff’s claim. The plaintiff contended that no bond was required of him as an officer or agency of the United States and declined to execute one. Upon the Clerk continuing to refuse to issue the attachment without the execution of a bond this action was brought to compel him to do so.

The question is controlled primarily by Rule 64 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which reads 'as follows: “Rule 64. Seizure of Person or Property. At the commencement of and during the course of an action, all remedies providing for seizure of person or property for the purpose of securing satisfaction of the judgment ultimately to be entered in the action are available under the circumstances and in the manner provided by the law of the state in which the district court is held, existing at the time the remedy is sought, subject to the following qualifications: (1) any existing statute of the United States governs to the extent to which it is applicable; (2) the action in which any of the foregoing remedies is used shall be commenced and prosecuted or, if removed from a state court, shall be prosecuted after removal, pursuant to these rules. The remedies thus available include arrest, attachment, garnishment, replevin, sequestration, and other corresponding or equivalent remedies, however designated and regardless of whether by state procedure the remedy is ancillary to an action or must be obtained by an independent action.”

The plaintiff admits that under the state practice a bond would properly be required of any plaintiff except the United States or an officer or agency thereof. He has i [315]*315referred to no Kentucky statute or Kentucky decision giving him the exemption claimed, but relies upon 28 U.S.C.A. § 870 and that part of Rule 64 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure which provides that the state procedure is subject to any existing statute of the United States to the extent to which it is applicable. This position is apparently supported by the five following federal cases: United States v. Bryant, 1884, 111 U.S. 499, 4 S.Ct. 601, 28 L.Ed. 496; United States v. Oilman, 1879, 3 MacArthur 73, 23 Int.Rev.Rec. 294; United States v. Kinney, D.C.E.D.Pa. 1920, 264 F. 542; United States v. McIntosh, D.C.,E.D.Va. 1932, 57 F.2d 573; United States v. Pacific Forwarding Co., D.C.W.D.Wash. 1934, 8 F.Supp. 647.

Those decisions hold that although Section 870 of 28 U.S.C.A. apparently deals with damages and costs in matters on appeal, yet its terms are broad enough to cover any process in law issuing from a district court. The section specifically provides that in such matters “no bond, obligation or security shall be required from the United States, or from any party acting under the direction aforesaid, either to prosecute said suit, or to answer in damages or costs.” Except for the developments of the last few years Section 870 of 28 U.S.C.A. and the decisions referred to would be considered as controlling and decisive in this case. It will be noticed, however, that all of the cases referred to were decided before the adoption of the new Federal Rules of Civil Procedure which became effective in September 1938. Rule 1 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provides that they will govern the procedure in the district courts of the United States in all suits of a civil nature. Accordingly, I am of the opinion that the case is controlled by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and by subsequent legislative enactments rather than by Section 870, 28 U.S.C.A. relied upon by the plaintiff. It is therefore necessary to briefly analyze the specific rules which would seem to apply.

Rule 62 deals with the automatic stay of execution for ten days after the entry of a judgment, and for a stay on a motion for a new trial, on an injunction pending an appeal and on an appeal from a final judgment. Subsection (d) dealing with a stay upon appeal provides for the giving by the appellant of a supersedeas bond to be approved by the Court.

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Related

United States v. Bryant
111 U.S. 499 (Supreme Court, 1884)
United States v. McIntosh
57 F.2d 573 (E.D. Virginia, 1932)
United States v. Pacific Forwarding Co.
8 F. Supp. 647 (W.D. Washington, 1934)
United States v. Kinney
264 F. 542 (E.D. Pennsylvania, 1920)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
50 F. Supp. 313, 1943 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2623, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brown-v-beckham-kywd-1943.