First National Bank v. Missouri Glass Co.

152 S.W. 378, 169 Mo. App. 374, 1912 Mo. App. LEXIS 395
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 31, 1912
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 152 S.W. 378 (First National Bank v. Missouri Glass Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
First National Bank v. Missouri Glass Co., 152 S.W. 378, 169 Mo. App. 374, 1912 Mo. App. LEXIS 395 (Mo. Ct. App. 1912).

Opinion

REYNOLD'S, P. J.

(after stating the facts).— Prom the evidence in this case it is clear that our Missouri statutes condemning pools and trusts, now chapter 98, Revised Statutes 1909, and which in section 10,307 provides, that “any purchaser of any article or commodity from any individaul, company or corporation transacting business contrary to any provision of the preceding sections of this article shall not be liable for the price or payment of such article or commodity, and may plead this article as a defense to any suit for such price or payment,” does not apply to this transaction; for that article, by the first section of it, section 10,298, Revised Statutes 1909, limits its application to transactions “in this State.” That it relates solely to transactions in this State has been de[388]*388cided by our court in the case of National Lead Co. v. Grote Paint Store Co., 80 Mo. App. 247, where at page 272 it is said: .“All that the statute requires to be shown to afford such a release (from obligation to pay the debt), in addition to the proof of the illegal character and purpose of the plaintiff corporation already referred to, is evidence that the indebtedness sued for grew out of the transaction of its business in the State.” That decision has never been departed from, nor its correctness challenged. The same rule is recognized in the Federal court of this jurisdiction in the case of Hadley-Dean Plate Glass Co. v. Highland Glass Co., 74 C. C. A. 462, l. c. 464, where it is further said: ‘‘ The contract was for the sale of glass to be manufactured by the vendor in Pennsylvania and delivered to the vendee in Missouri, and therefore directly related to interstate commerce.” In State ex. inf. Attorney General v. Standard Oil Co., 218 Mo. 1, l. c. 458, 116 S. W. 902, it is held that in order to bring into operation our laws against pools and trusts the transaction must be carried on in this State. Judge .’Woodson, in his opinion, which, so far as this point is concerned, appears to have been concurred in by all the court, makes this very forceful illustration (1. c. 459): “It goes without saying that if the contract or conspiracy is entered into and formed in another State, or foreign country, then the parties thereto could not be punished under the laws of this State for entering into and forming the conspiracy, any more than a man could be punished here for stealing a horse in another State; but if he should bring the stolen horse into this State, then he could be punished for the latter act under the laws of this State, for the obvious reason that the illegal act committed in the foreign State would follow the man and horse into this State, which would enter into and form an illegal element in his possession of the horse, and thereby subject himself to the penalties of our law. The same is true with [389]*389reference to commodities sold in violation of onr antitrust laws. It is wholly immaterial where the unlawful conspiracy was entered into, or the means by which it was formed, if, as a matter of fact, the commodities are sold in this State in pursuance to such conspiracy-then the vendors are violators of our law and are punishable as such.” And at page 463, Judge Wood-son, summing up the conclusions of the court as to the acts of usurpation by the Standard Oil Company and its acts in violation of our statute concerning pools and trusts, has specifically set out that the acts of selling were done in this State; that by the conspiracy entered into the defendant corporation there had sought to limit and control trade in this State, to prevent competition in this State, and the conclusion was that the respondent in that case, by means of the pool, trust and combination, etc:, had fixed, controlled and maintained prices to dealers in this State; had controlled and limited the trade of refined products of petroleum in this State, had controlled, limited and prevented competition in this State.

As there is no evidence in the case before us that the purchases and sales under consideration were made other than in Pennsylvania and that the transaction is one involving interstate commerce, a subject over the regulation whereof the laws of the United States, Congress having acted, are exclusive and supreme, the question for our determination here is whether this transaction, pertaining as it does to interstate commerce, was unlawful under what is known as the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. (26 S. at L. 209, 7 Fed. Stat. Ann., p. 336.]

Preliminary to the consideration of this, we are met with the question as to whether, conceding that these contracts and this transaction involved violated the Sherman Act or Law, we have jurisdiction to apply it here as to these contracts, the law violated not being that of the State of Missouri but of the United [390]*390States. As that question was not discussed or touched upon in any manner in the briefs of counsel, we directed that it he briefed and argued orally, not only in this case-, but also in Westmoreland Specialty Co. v. Missouri Glass Co., 169 Mo. App. 368, 152 S. W. 387, in which it was claimed that the same question arose. We have decided that case along with this, as will be seen by reference to the report of it, and refer to it to be read with this case and as covering some points not here discussed. Pursuant to that direction of the court, counsel for the appellant here and counsel for the appellant in Westmoreland Specialty Co. v. Missouri Glass Co., as well as counsel for the trustees in bankruptcy, have not only argued this matter orally but submitted briefs on that question.

Counsel for the Westmoreland Company argues in support of the contention that the enforcement of the rights created by the congressional act was intended to be restricted to the federal courts; that the Sherman Act contains nothing suggestive of a concurrent jurisdiction in the State courts; that the act itself not only impliedly but expressly restricts the enforcement of the rights which it creates to the federal courts, referring to sections 4 and 7 of the act. In support of this Carlisle v. Missouri Pacific Ry. Co., 168 Mo. 652, l. c. 656, 68 S. W. 898, is cited. There it is said that when an act creates a new liability or gives a right of action and at the .same time prescribes the means by which, or the court in which, the right is to be enforced,.resort cannot be had to any other means or court than that prescribed. This, it is claimed, was approved in Wabash Railroad Co. v. Sloop, 200 Mo. 198, l. c. 218, 98 S. W. 607; in Copp v. Louisville & Nashville R. Co., 43 Lou. Ann. 511; in Voorhies v. Frisbie, 25 Mich. 476, and Missouri River Telegraph Co. v. First National Bank of Sioux City, 74 Ill. 217. State ex rel. v. Associated Press, 159 Mo. 410, l. c. 466, 60 S. W. 91, is also relied upon. There at page [391]*391466 our Supreme Court said: “There is one remaining point to be considered and that relates to the antitrust laws. So far as concerns those of Illinois they are not of force in this State, and as to those of the United States, they must be enforced in another form.” Newell v. National Bank of Somerset, 12 Bush (Ky.), 57, is cited as being to the same effect.

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Related

Pulp Wood Co. v. Green Bay Paper & Fiber Co.
147 N.W. 1058 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 1914)
Westmoreland Specialty Co. v. Missouri Glass Co.
152 S.W. 387 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1912)

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Bluebook (online)
152 S.W. 378, 169 Mo. App. 374, 1912 Mo. App. LEXIS 395, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/first-national-bank-v-missouri-glass-co-moctapp-1912.