Cochrane v. Iowa Beef Processors, Inc.

596 F.2d 254, 26 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 899
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedJanuary 5, 1979
DocketNos. 77-1988, 78-1008
StatusPublished
Cited by43 cases

This text of 596 F.2d 254 (Cochrane v. Iowa Beef Processors, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cochrane v. Iowa Beef Processors, Inc., 596 F.2d 254, 26 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 899 (8th Cir. 1979).

Opinions

WILLIAM H. BECKER, Senior District Judge.

These consolidated appeals are from a final judgment of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa1 granting a defense motion to dismiss for improper venue2 this diversity case which sounds in common law tort for alleged abuse of process cognizable under Iowa law, and generally under § 682 of the Restatement of Torts.

The plaintiffs (appellants) in the case are Lex Hawkins and John A. Cochrane, both of whom are practicing attorneys. Mr. Hawkins is a citizen of Iowa, residing in and practicing in Des Moines, in the Southern District of Iowa. Mr. Cochrane is a citizen of Minnesota, residing in and practicing in the City of St. Paul, and elsewhere, including the Southern District of Iowa.

The defendants in the case are two individuals and one corporation. The individual defendants, Edward W. Rothe and Lee Freeman, Sr., are citizens of Illinois. Like the plaintiffs, they are lawyers and practice in Chicago and elsewhere, including the Southern District of Iowa. One of their clients is the corporate defendant, Iowa Beef Processors, Inc. (Iowa Beef), which is a Delaware corporation having its principal place of business in Nebraska.

The suit arises from the fact that in early June 1977, Iowa Beef filed two suits in federal courts, one3 in the Northern Dis[257]*257trict of Iowa and one in the Southern District of New York, against a number of defendants, including Mr. Cochrane and Mr. Hawkins. Both complaints filed by Iowa Beef charged that in early 1977 the defendants, including Hawkins and Cochrane, conspired to obtain from the defendant Hughes A. Bagley, a former officer of Iowa Beef, and from the defendant Hans Aarsen, a former employee of Iowa Beef, confidential information about Iowa Beef’s operation and confidential documents; that disclosure of these documents would be damaging to Iowa Beef and would be helpful to Messrs. Cochrane and Hawkins in an antitrust action they were prosecuting in the Southern District of Iowa on behalf of an organization known as Meat Price Investigators Association (MPIA) in which Iowa Beef and other corporations were defendants; that the disclosures by Bagley violated not only his fiduciary duties to Iowa Beef but also the terms of a contract that had been entered into between him and Iowa Beef in connection with Bagley’s separation from his employment by Iowa Beef; and that the disclosures by Aarsen violated his fiduciary duties to his former employer. In these actions Iowa Beef sought damages, and declaratory and injunctive relief.

At or about the same time that it filed its suit in the Northern District of Iowa, Iowa Beef filed a similar suit against the same defendants in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. That suit was later dismissed by Iowa Beef after jurisdictional and venue questions were raised.

The plaintiff Hawkins contends that summons and discovery motions to produce documents in both of these actions were unlawfully served on him in the Southern District of Iowa causing injury to him in the Southern District of Iowa, where most of the documents were located in the office of MPIA.

The plaintiff Cochrane contends that summons and discovery motions to produce documents in both of these actions were unlawfully served on him in Minnesota causing injury to him in both Minnesota and in the Southern District of Iowa because most of the documents he was requested to produce were held in the Southern District of Iowa in connection with the related antitrust action he and Hawkins were prosecuting in the Southern District of Iowa.

While both of those suits were pending, Iowa Beef served on the plaintiffs motions to produce documents that were in the possession of the plaintiffs. While the motions requested that the documents be produced both at the office of Iowa Beef’s counsel in Sioux City, Iowa and at the office of Iowa Beef’s counsel in New York City, plaintiffs contend the principal injuries to both occurred in the Southern District of Iowa where most of the documents were located, and where Hawkins was served with the allegedly unlawful process.

The theory of the plaintiffs in this case is that while the filing of the suits in the Northern District of Iowa and the Southern District of New York by Iowa Beef were improperly motivated, the service of process therein, including summons and motions to produce, constituted abuse of process and tortious interference with prospective advantage. Plaintiffs contend the abuse of process injured both in the Southern District of Iowa, and injured Cochrane to a lesser degree in Minnesota. Plaintiffs claimed actual and punitive damages amounting to $24,000,000.00 and sought in-junctive and declaratory relief as well. They also asked for interest, costs, and a reasonable attorney’s fee.

From what has been said, it is clear that the district court had diversity jurisdiction of the case. The problem is simply one of venue. Since jurisdiction is based solely on diversity of citizenship, the resolution of the question of venue is governed by 28 U.S.C. § 1391(a). That section provides, subject to exceptions not here relevant, that where a [258]*258suit is filed in federal court on the basis of diversity of citizenship alone it must be filed either in the district in which all plaintiffs or all defendants reside, or in the district in which “the claim arose.”

In view of the citizenship of the parties which has been described, it is evident that venue in the Southern District of Iowa was proper only if plaintiffs’ claim “arose” in that district within the meaning of § 1391(a).

Apart from the venue question with which we are concerned, this case would not appear to be a particularly complicated one. However, it is an offshoot of extensive antitrust litigation involving the beef industry in this country. A number of suits have been filed under § 4 of the Clayton Act, 15 U.S.C. § 15, charging violations of §§ 1 and 2 of the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1 and 1px solid var(--green-border)">2. One of those suits was filed by Messrs. Hawkins and Cochrane on behalf of MPIA, which has been mentioned, against several defendants, including Iowa Beef, represented by Messrs. Rothe and Freeman, and another defendant identified as Spencer Foods, Inc.4 The filing of that suit and events leading up to it have unfortunately created much animosity which has extended to at least some of the lawyers involved in the litigation.5

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Bluebook (online)
596 F.2d 254, 26 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 899, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cochrane-v-iowa-beef-processors-inc-ca8-1979.