Fisk v. Henarie

32 F. 417, 1887 U.S. App. LEXIS 2135
CourtUnited States Circuit Court
DecidedOctober 26, 1887
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 32 F. 417 (Fisk v. Henarie) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Circuit Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Fisk v. Henarie, 32 F. 417, 1887 U.S. App. LEXIS 2135 (uscirct 1887).

Opinion

Deady, J.

This action was removed to this court from the state.circuit court for the county of Multnomah, on the petition of the defendants, Daniel V. B. Henarie and Eleanor Martin and James M. Donahue, Annie Donahue, and Mary Ellen von Schroeder, the executors of the last will and testament of Peter Donahue, deceased, filed July 30, 1887, together with their bond, in form and effect as required by law, and the affidavit of said Henarie and Eleanor Martin to the effect that they and each of them have reason to and do believe “that, from prejudice and local influence,” the affiants and said executors “will not be aide to obtain justice in said state court, or in any other state court to which said defendants, under the laws of the state of Oregon, have the right to remove the same, on account of such prejudice and local influence.” The plaintiff' now moves to remand the case to the state court for substantially the reasons following: (1) The application for removal was not made in time, or before the trial in the state court. (2) The affidavit does not state the facts showing the existence of “local prejudice or influence.” (3) The removal papers were not served on the plaintiff. (4) The petition and accompanying papers do not show a case for removal. The motion concludes with a denial of the existence of the alleged “ prejudice and local influence,” and asks the court to examine into the truth of the affidavit asserting the same and the grounds thereof; and to that end the plaintiff offers to read the affidavits of sundry persons who state that they do not believe in the existence of such prejudice or local influence.

It appears from the record that this action was commenced in Wasco county on November 30, 1883, against Daniel Y. B. Henarie, Peter Donahue, Eleanor Martin, Thomas S. Martin, Edward Martin, and John D. Wilcox, to recover a commission of 10 per centum, amounting to $60,000, on the alleged sale of a tract of land belonging to said parties, [419]*419known as the Dalles military road grant, containing about 600,000 acres, and situate in the counties of Wasco, Grant, and Baker, in Oregon. The first three of the defendants were then residents and citizens of California, and the latter three of Oregon. Service of the summons was had on the Oregon defendants, and they appeared and answered. Thereafter, on February 2, 1884, publication of the summons was ordered in the case of the California defendants, who, on August 21, 1884, appeared and answered. The answers of the defendants controvert the allegations on which the plaintiff bases his demand, and contests his right to recover anything from them or either of them on any sale of said lands.

On September 1, 1884, the plaintiff replied to the answers, and on the tenth of the same month, on the application of the defendants, the place of trial was changed to Multnomah county, it appearing that none of the parties lived in Wasco county, and that the Oregon defendants, as well as the plaintiff, lived in Multnomah county. Afterwards the case was tried with a jury in the circuit court for said county, who, on April 15, 1885, found a verdict, under the direction of the court, for the defendants, on -which there was a judgment for costs in their favor; which judgment was, on January 11, 1886, reversed by the supreme court, and a new trial ordered, that resulted on May 21, 1886, in a verdict for the plaintiff for the sum of §60,000.

On May 18th, the death of the defendant Peter Donahue was suggested, and his executors, James M. Donahue, Annie Donahue, and Mary Ellen Schroeder, substituted as defendants. Afterwards, the case was heard on the motion of plaintiff for judgment, and the motions of the defendants for a new trial, and a judgment notwithstanding the verdict, and on June the 30th the first motion was denied and the latter allowed, on the ground' that the complaint did not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action; and thereupon judgment was entered for costs in favor of the defendants; which judgment was, on October the 20th, reversed by the supreme court, and the case remanded for further proceedings according to law. On December the 18th the circuit court allowed the motion for a new trial, and set aside the verdict, from which order the plaintiff appealed to the supreme court, which appeal was, on April 18, 1887, dismissed, and thereafter the ease was again submitted to a jury, who, being unable to agree, were, on July the’ 15th, discharged without finding a verdict.

The act of March 2, 1867, (14 St. 558,) gave right of removal of a suit from a state court to a national one, “in which there is a malmverntj between a citizen of the state in which the suit is brought and a citizen of another state,” on the affidavit of the latter, “whether lie bo plaintiff or defendant,” that ho has reason to believe and does believe that, from prejudice or local influence, he will not he able to obtain justice in such state court; provided, be files a petition for such removal “at any time before the final hearing or trial of the suit.” Section 639 of the Revised Statutes contains a compilation of the statutes on the subject of removals passed prior thereto. Subsection 3 thereof took the place of the act of 1867. In its compilation the word “controversy” was dropped, and the [420]*420right of removal limited to a “suit between a citizen of the state,in which it is brought and a citizen of another state;” and the petition and affidavit were required to be filed at any time “before the trial or final hearing of the suit.” By the act of March 3, 1875, (18 St. 470,) section 639 of the Revised Statutes was repealed, except subsection 3 thereof. The last two clauses of the section, regulating the manner of removal, were also held to remain in force for the prtrpose of removals under said subsection, the same not being provided for in the act of 1875. Railway v. Bates, 119 U. S. 467; 7 Sup. Ct. Rep. 285. The act of March 3, 1887, (24 St. 552,) purports to be amendatory of that of 1875, “and for other purposes.”

Considering the importance of the subject, and the high character of the body that enacted it, to say the least, it is a very unskillful and slovenly piece of legislation. It contains (sections 5 and 6) a general repealing clause “of all laws and parts of laws in conflict” with itself, and several special ones, and sundry saving clauses in which no mention is made of section 639 of the Revised Statutes. But section 2 of the act contains subsection 3 of said section in a modified form, and so far repeals the latter by implication. It reads as follows:

“And where a suit is now pending, or may be hereafter brought, in any state court, in which there is a controversy between a citizen of the state in which the suit is brought and a citizen of another state, any defendant, being such citizen of another state, may remove such suit into the circuit court of the United States for the proper district, at any time before the trial thereof,

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Bluebook (online)
32 F. 417, 1887 U.S. App. LEXIS 2135, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fisk-v-henarie-uscirct-1887.