Howe v. Howe & Owen Ball Bearing Co.

154 F. 820, 83 C.C.A. 536, 1907 U.S. App. LEXIS 4592
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedMay 7, 1907
DocketNo. 2,501
StatusPublished
Cited by26 cases

This text of 154 F. 820 (Howe v. Howe & Owen Ball Bearing Co.) 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
Howe v. Howe & Owen Ball Bearing Co., 154 F. 820, 83 C.C.A. 536, 1907 U.S. App. LEXIS 4592 (8th Cir. 1907).

Opinion

SANBORN, Circuit Judge,

after stating the case as above, delivered the opinion of the court.

The jurisdiction of the court below is challenged in the brief and argument, but the ruling of that court upon the question of jurisdiction is not assigned as error, and the questions regarding it now 'urged were probably never called to its attention. They are: Was there sufficient evidence that the value of the propert}'- in dispute was $2,000 exclusive of interest and costs? And was there sufficient evidence that the complainant Owen was a citizen and resident of a state other than Missouri, the state of the citizenship and residence of• the defendant Howe? The jurisdiction of a federal court may not be renounced or denied where the facts requisite to confer it appear either directly or by just inference from any part of the record. Briges v. Sperry, 95 U. S. 401, 403, 24 L. Ed. 390; Gordon v. Third National Bank, 144 U. S. 97, 103, 12 Sup. Ct. 657, 36 L. Ed. 360; Myers v. Hettinger, 37 C. C. A. 369, 370, 94 Fed. 370, 371; Ward v. Manufacturing Co., 5 C. C. A. 538, 540, 56 Fed. 437, 439; Railway Co. v. Ramsey, 22 Wall. 322, 328, 22 L. Ed. 823; Express Co. v. Kountze, 8 Wall. 342, 19 L. Ed. 457; Jones v. Andrews, 10 Wall. 327, 331, 19 L. Ed. 935; Steamship Co. v. Tugman, 106 U. S. 118, 1 Sup. Ct. 58, 27 L. Ed. 87; Bondurant v. Watson, 103 U. S. 281, 26 L. Ed. 447.

There is evidence in this record that within a few months prior to the execution of the contract in suit Eeyden paid $5,000 for an agreement that he should receive 20/55 of the issued stock of a corporation whose only property was to be this patent. There was no evidence that the patent became less valuable, and this suit involved one-half of it. “A suit cannot be properly dismissed by a Circuit Court as not substantially involving a controversy within its jurisdiction unless the facts, when made to appear on the record, create a legal certainty of that conclusion.” Wetmore v. Rymer, 169 U. S. 115, 128, 18 Sup. Ct. 293, 42 E. Ed. 682. The facts which appear in this record establish no legal certainty that the value of the property in dispute in this suit was less than the jurisdictional amount, but they persuasively indicate that it was more.

The articles of incorporation of the Howe & Owen Ball Bearing Company, which are in the record, prove that it is a corporation organized in November, 1902, under the laws of the state of Maine, that James G. Owen was its president and one of its stockholders, and they recite that his residence was Evansville in the state of Indiana. From these facts the legal presumption arises that Owen was a resident and citizen either of the state of Maine, because he was a stockholder of a corporation of that state, and the presumption is that all who compose a corporation are citizens and residents of the state from [823]*823which it derived its powers (St. Louis & San Francisco Ry. Co. v. James, 161 U. S. 515, 554, 16 Sup. Ct. 621, 40 L. Ed. 802, and cases there cited), or of the state of Indiana, because he was a resident of that state, and the presumption is that a person is a citizen of the state of his residence, and in either event the citizenship of the parties to this suit was diverse. Facts sufficient to sustain the jurisdiction of the Circuit Court thus appear in the record.

The defendant Howe complains of the decree that it is not sustained by the evidence, and that it is inequitable for many reasons. An accurate knowledge of the parties to the contract, of their relations and of the nature and consideration of the agreement which the decree enforces, will be conducive to a clear understanding and proper appreciation of the various objections to the decree and of their discussion. When this contract was made, Elmo C. Owen owned one half and the defendant A. F. Howe the other half of the patent which is the subject of the agreement and of this suit. Elmo C. Owen was very ill, and about to undergo an operation for appendicitis, from which he subsequently died. James G. Owen, the complainant, was his brother and an attorney at law. The principal parties to the agreement and the only parties who signed the contract were Elmo C. Owen and A. F. Howe. James G. Owen was a party to it so far as his acceptance of the trust imposed upon him by 'me conveyance of Elmo Owen bound him to discharge his duties as trustee. The terms of the contract were agreed upon between james G. Owen and A. F. Howe while the death of Elmo was imminent, and it was then taken to Elmo C. Owen, who signed it upon the operating table just before the operation. By this contract Elmo conveyed his half interest in the patent to James G. Owen in trust to convey it to the corporation which he was to organize and to vest in Leyden, Wilcox, and James G. Owen 34⅜/250 of his half of the entire stock of the corporation which was to be issued for the patent, and to hold the remainder in trust for his wife and child, in consideration that A. F. Howe would convey his half of the patent to the same corporation and -would transfer 34½/250 of his half of the stock of the corporation to Leyden, Wilcox, and James G. Owen. In consideration of this conveyance in trust made by Elmo C. Owen, Howe then agreed in writing to make this conveyance and these transfers. The contract thus became an executed agreement on the part of Elmo Owen and an executory one on the part of FLowe, and all of Elmo’s rights to Howe’s performance were vested in James G. Owen, the trustee, for the benefit of Leyden, Wilcox, and the widow and child of Elmo. James G. Owen did not sign the agreement, and he did not thereby undertake or agree to do any acts except those imposed upon him by the trust there created, and these were to organize the corporation, to transfer Elmo’s half interest in the patent to it, and to receive, distribute, and hold his half of the stock as specified in the contract. This conveyance and this agreement were made on April 29, 1902, On November 6, 1902, the complainant corporation, with an authorized capital stock of 10,000 shares of $100 each, empowered to buy and sell and otherwise deal in and with patents, of which James G. Owen was a stockholder, a director, and the president, was organized in ac[824]*824cordance with the laws of the state of Maine, and on July 24, 1903, Owen notified Howe in writing that this corporation had been organized in pursuance of the agreement; that he was ready as trustee to assign one-half the patent to the corporation; that the latter was ready to issue its stock pursuant to the contract, and he demanded of Howe that he should assign his half of the patent to the corporation, and that he should comply with the terms of the agreement. But Howe declined to do so. We turn now to his objections to the decree that he should perform the contract.

He says that he answered the bill under oath; that his answer is equivalent to one witness; that the contract is an agreement to give an option-; that, while there is proof that the corporation is organized and is willing to carry out the agreement, there is no evidence that James G.

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Bluebook (online)
154 F. 820, 83 C.C.A. 536, 1907 U.S. App. LEXIS 4592, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/howe-v-howe-owen-ball-bearing-co-ca8-1907.