Clark v. Chandler

66 F. 565, 13 C.C.A. 635, 1895 U.S. App. LEXIS 2665
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedFebruary 4, 1895
DocketNo. 206
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 66 F. 565 (Clark v. Chandler) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Clark v. Chandler, 66 F. 565, 13 C.C.A. 635, 1895 U.S. App. LEXIS 2665 (9th Cir. 1895).

Opinion

GILBERT, Circuit Judge.

The steamship Willamette Valley, a vessel of the United States, and enrolled at the office of the collector of customs at the port of Yaquina, in Oregon,' was the property of the Oregon Pacific Railroad Company, a corporation established under the laws of the state of Oregon. The western terminus of the railroad was at Yaquina, and the steamship was employed in connection with the road in transporting passengers and merchandise between that port and the port of San Francisco. In October, 1890, in a suit commenced in the circuit court of the state of Oregon for Benton county to foreclose a certain mortgage upon the property of said railroad company, a receiver of the property of said corporation, including the steamship in question, was appointed by the court. The receiver, acting under the orders of said court, continued to operate the road, and the steamship in connection therewith, in the manner in which the same were operated before the receivership. In the regular course of the business of the steamship she was supplied by the libellant with coals, at the port of San Francisco, of the value of $7,781.75, and for the coal so furnished at that port she was there libeled. It was stipulated by the parties to the libel that the coals mention.ed in the libel as furnished to the steamship were in fact so furnished; that the value thereof was as stated in the libel, and that they were furnished at the request of the blaster of said steamship, for the use thereof and on the credit of said steamship; and that they were necessary for the navigation of said vessel in the business in which she was then engaged. Upon this stipulation of facts the district court held that a maritime lien inured to the benefit of the libelant, which was enforceable in said proceeding.

Upon the appeal from that decree it is contended upon behalf of the appellant — -First, that the steamship, being in the charge and control of a receiver, was not liable to be sued or seized in any court; and, second, that even if such right of seizure or action existed, it could not be exercised without the permission of the court which had jurisdiction over the receiver and controlled his action.

In considering these questions, which are believed to be new, reference must be had to some of the underlying principles of law governing receivers and the law maritime. The powers of a receiver are bounded by the territorial limits of the court under whose authority- he is appointed and acts. Within that territory the possession by the receiver of the property placed under his control will be respected by all other courts, and his possession may not be disturbed by process issued out of any court. Taylor v. Carryl, 20 How. 583; Freeman v. Howe, 24 How. 450; Ellis v. Davis, 109 [567]*567U. S. 485, 3 Sup. Ct. 327; Covell v. Heyman, 111 U. S. 176, 4 Sup. Ct. 355; Borer v. Chapman, 119 U. S. 587, 7 Sup. Ct. 342; Byers v. McAuley, 149 U. S. 608, 13 Sup. Ct. 906. The reason of the rule, as expressed in Covell v. Heyman, is that to disturb property in the possession of the receiver upon process from another court ‘‘would be to invade the jurisdiction of the court by whose command it is held, and to violate the law which that jurisdiction is appointed to administer.”

But the rights which a receiver may enjoy without that jurisdiction are purely those which may be conceded by the courts of the foreign jurisdiction. His right to sue in such foreign jurisdiction concerning the property of his trust, although it has been denied in some slates, is usually respected. But this right is always subjected to the limitation that the receiver will not be permitted to use the foreign court to the detriment of the citizens of the state to which it belongs. If the person, firm, or corporation whose asseis are placed in the hands of such receiver owed debts in the foreign state, the courts of that state will protect the right of resident creditors to attach and levy upon any property of such nonresident debtor which may be found within that jurisdiction, so long as the same has not been reduced to the actual possession of the receiver, and will protect their right to first satisfy (heir demands out of such property, rather than relegate them to a foreign tribunal for the enforcement thereof. Hunt v. Insurance Co., 55 Me. 298; Hurd v. City of Elizabeth, 41 N. J. Law, 1; Runk v. St. John, 29 Barb. 585; Catlin v. Silver-Plate Co., 123 Ind. 477, 24 N. E. 250; Bank v. McLeod, 38 Ohio St. 174. But if, upon the other hand, the receiver should first obtain the possession of said property before an attempt is made to subject the same to the payment of domestic debts, or if, as in this case, in the prosecution of the business which he is appointed to conduct, or otherwise, he should take any of the property of his trust into the foreign jurisdiction. his possession and right of possession will be respected in the foreign tribunal, even as against the rights of creditors there residing, who may attempt: to subject the same to the satisfaction of debts created before the receivership. Chicago, M. & St. P. Ry. Co. v. Keokuk Northern Line Packet Co., 108 Ill. 317; Pond v. Cooke, 45 Conn. 126; Cagill v. Wooldridge, 8 Baxt. 580; Killmer v. Hobart, 58 How. Pr. 452. This rule of comity is denied, however, in California, where it is held that a resident creditor may attach property which has been in the actual possession of a foreign receiver, and is afterwards brought within the state. Humphreys v. Hopkins, 81 Cal. 551, 22 Pac. 892.

But the decisions establishing the immunity of the receiver’s possession of the property brought by'him into a foreign jurisdiction refer solely to the attempted enforcement of demands that: existed before the property was taken under the control of the court. In the case at bar the property of the receiver is not seized upon such a demand. The libelant is not here seeking to enforce a lien that attached to the vessel while in the possession of her owners, but one that arose in the regular course of the business [568]*568assumed and undertaken by the receiver. The steamship was obliged to and did incur an indebtedness in the port of San Francisco. The credit was given upon the faith of the vessel. The maritime lien of one who furnishes such supplies to a vessel in a foreign port is universally recognized. Heretofore no exception has existed to the rule that requires its enforcement, save in the case of supplies furnished to a vessel belonging to the government. In such a case a principle of public policy which underlies all government intervenes to deny the right of any person to seize the property of the government. But shall another exception be recognized, and shall the fact that the vessel is in charge of a receiver •when in her home port exempt her from the rule that otherwise would obtain, and will a court of admiralty, within whose jurisdiction the lien was incurred, and whose jurisdiction is foreign to that of the receiver’s court, deny the right of the lienor to proceed in rem against the vessel for the enforcement of Ms lien? We find no satisfactory ground for so holding. When a receiver, under the order of his court, takes a vessel, the property of his trust, out of the jurisdiction of the court, and sends her into a foreign port under the charge of a master, he places her in the position of all other vessels engaged in like business. It is our judgment that in so doing he subjects her to the same conditions that other vessels are subject to.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Northwest Marine Works v. United States
307 F.2d 537 (Ninth Circuit, 1962)
United States v. The Liberty Ship Audrey II
185 F. Supp. 777 (N.D. California, 1960)
The Herbert L. Rawding
55 F. Supp. 156 (E.D. South Carolina, 1944)
Thompson v. Oil Refineries, Inc.
22 F. Supp. 277 (W.D. Louisiana, 1937)
Oakes v. Lake
290 U.S. 59 (Supreme Court, 1933)
Oakes v. Lake
62 F.2d 728 (Ninth Circuit, 1933)
New York Dock Co. v. Steamship Poznan
274 U.S. 117 (Supreme Court, 1927)
The Owego
289 F. 263 (W.D. Washington, 1923)
In re Porterfield
138 F. 192 (N.D. West Virginia, 1905)
The Jonas H. French
119 F. 462 (D. Massachusetts, 1902)
Chandler v. The Willamette Valley
76 F. 838 (N.D. California, 1896)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
66 F. 565, 13 C.C.A. 635, 1895 U.S. App. LEXIS 2665, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/clark-v-chandler-ca9-1895.