Gainey v. Brotherhood of Railway & Steamship Clerks

34 F.R.D. 8, 7 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 850, 1963 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10420
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedOctober 30, 1963
DocketCiv. A. No. 32898
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 34 F.R.D. 8 (Gainey v. Brotherhood of Railway & Steamship Clerks) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gainey v. Brotherhood of Railway & Steamship Clerks, 34 F.R.D. 8, 7 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 850, 1963 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10420 (E.D. Pa. 1963).

Opinion

FREEDMAN, District Judge.

The defendants have moved for a stay of further proceedings until plaintiffs pay the costs in two previous ' actions. The defendant Brotherhood in addition seeks security for costs in the present action and a stay until such security is given.

The total costs taxed in the'first two actions against the plaintiffs and in favor of the defendant Brotherhood is $889.65 and in favor of the Railroad is. $862.20. Each defendant collected $125 on an appeal bond filed in the second case, so that net costs outstanding in favor of the Brotherhood is $764.65 and in favor of the Railroad is $737.20.

I

; The first action, begun in March’. 1959,' was a class action on behalf i.ofi-60.0> '‘tal-, leymen” to recover from the' Railroad about $1,750,000. back wages,' and from the Brotherhood the same amount as punitive damages together with a tefund of dues. The action was dismissed by Judge Lord, Jr., for failure to- exhaust administrative remedies existing, within the Union and provided by the collective bargaining agreement, and because the claims were subject to the exclusive-jurisdiction of the National Railroad Adjustment Board. Gainey v. Brotherhood of Ry. and S. S. Clerks, 177 F.Supp. 421 (E.D.Pa.1959). The dismissal was .affirmed by the Court of Appeals, 275 F.2d 342 (3d Cir. 1960), and the Supreme Court denied certiorari, 363 U.S. 811, 80 S.Ct. 1248, 4 L.Ed.2d 1153. The second action, brought in June 1960, was dismissed by the late Judge Egan on the ground that the dismissal of the prior action was res judicata; reargument was denied by Judge Wood. Gainey v. Brotherhood of Ry. and S. S. Clerks, 199 F.Supp. 477 (E.D.Pa.1961). The Court of Appeals affirmed, 313 F.2d 318 (3d Cir. 1963), on the ground of res judicata as to the Railroad, and failure to plead as against the Brotherhood facts showing “hostile discrimination” under the doctrine of Steele v. Louisville & N. R., 323 [10]*10U.S. 192, 65 S.Ct. 226, 89 L.Ed. 173 (1944).

The present suit concededly arises from the same basic facts as the two prior suits, although plaintiffs contend that it is for a different cause of action. In their present complaint they have added allegations of “conspiratorial means”, “irrelevant discrimination”, and “hostility displayed by the defendants against the plaintiffs”, which they claim follows the way that has been pointed out for them in the last holding of the Court of Appeals.

II

The practice of staying a suit pending payment of prior costs was first confined to actions of ejectment, but ultimately came into general application.1 The staying of suits pending the payment of costs incurred in prior actions involving the same parties and the same or a similar subject matter is now universal.2 It was well established in England by the late 19th Century.3 The general practice found early recognition and approval in Pennsylvania.4

All the authorities recognize that the application of the rule in specific cases is to be determined by the exercise of jüdicial discretion.5 The only precedent in the Court of Appeals for this Circuit, however, speaks of the rule, at least on a continuation of the same case after return of the mandate of the appellate court fixing costs, as a mandate which is compulsory and not subject to the exercise of the trial court’s discretion. Bankers Securities Corp. v. Ritz Carlton Restaurant & Hotel Co., 99 F.2d 51, 52 (3d Cir. 1938). In that case certain creditors objected to the filing of a debtor’s petition for reorganization on the ground that the costs on appeal in a prior reorganization proceeding had not been paid. The district court, 24 F.Supp. 78, had held that, rather than delay consideration of the new petition, payment of prior costs could be disposed of in the reorganization proceedings themselves. In reversing, Judge Buffington said; “ * * [W~\hen an appellate court orders the costs in a former suit paid, the payment is then, it seems to us, not a matter within the discretion of the trial court. Our mandate in the case at bar directed that the appellants recover against the appellee $341.60 ‘for their costs herein expended and have execution therefor’. That meant that if they were not paid as and when costs are usually paid, execution might issue therefor. It did not mean that another suit between the same parties on the same cause of action might be started and costs in the first suit might be paid by some one at some time at or after the conclusion of the second suit. It was not within the discretion of the District Judge thus in effect to set aside the mandate of this court in this regard. The direction of the Circuit Court of Appeals took the case out of the discretion of the District Court and made the payment compulsory.” (Emphasis supplied)

[11]*11On the other hand, the Supreme Court in Henderson v. Griffin, 5 Pet. 151, 158-159, 30 U.S. 151, 158-159, 8 L.Ed. 79 (1831), has described the practice as calling for “the exercise of sound discretion”.

I believe the decision in the Bankers Securities Corp. case was not intended to require the stay of future proceedings in all subsequent suits until payment of costs previously incurred, regardless of the circumstances. Such a far-reaching principle is not lightly to be inferred, and I therefore read the decision as meaning only that in the circumstances of that case the Court of Appeals intended that payment of the costs be made before any further proceedings were had in the District Court. I therefore must consider the circumstances here present in determining whether a stay is appropriate.

When all is said and done, each case must be decided on its individual circumstances. These include the relative situation of the parties, the history and content of the prior litigation in which the costs were incurred, and the current litigation before the court. It is a situation which peculiarly calls for the exercise of judicial discretion.

Plaintiffs argue that a stay will in effect amount to a dismissal of their action, apparently because they will be unable to pay the costs already incurred. They rely heavily on Golden v. New York, N. H. & H. R., 222 F. 348 (S.D.N.Y.1915), where Judge Learned Hand denied the defendant’s motion for a stay if plaintiff took an oath in forma pauperis and stipulated that, in the event of success, defendant could credit the judgment for costs against its recovery. It seems to me that permission for defendants to have their costs paid out of any recovery by the plaintiffs in the pending action would be a needless gesture. It would add nothing to the defendants’ rights if they should lose, for they do not need an order of a court to set off their judgment for costs in the prior actions against any judgment against them in the pending action. It would give them no help in the circumstance where they need it, i. e., if they should succeed in having plaintiffs’ claim dismissed. Moreover, there is nothing in the record to indicate that the plaintiffs in this case could meet the requirement laid down by Judge Hand that plaintiffs be “wholly destitute” and take an oath in forma pauperis.

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Bluebook (online)
34 F.R.D. 8, 7 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 850, 1963 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10420, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gainey-v-brotherhood-of-railway-steamship-clerks-paed-1963.