Illinois Steel Co. v. Ramsey

176 F. 853, 1910 U.S. App. LEXIS 4308
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedJanuary 29, 1910
DocketNos. 2988, 3011
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 176 F. 853 (Illinois Steel Co. v. Ramsey) 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
Illinois Steel Co. v. Ramsey, 176 F. 853, 1910 U.S. App. LEXIS 4308 (8th Cir. 1910).

Opinion

CARLAND, District Judge

(after stating the facts as above). These appeals have been submitted upon one record. We are met at the threshold of appeal No. 3,011 with the objection that the order of November 6, 1908, striking the petition in intervention of appellant from the files is not appealable. The ‘reason for the objection is the [863]*863rule stated in Credits Commutation Company v. United States, 91 Fed. 573, 34 C. C. A. 14, as follows:

"When leave to intervene in an equity ease is asked and refused, the rule so far as we are aware is well settled that the order thus made denying leave to intervene is not regarded as a final determination of the merits of the claim on which the intervention is based, but leaves the petitioner at full liberty to assert his rights in any other appropriate form of proceeding. Sueh orders not only lack the finality which is necessary to support an appeal, but it is usually said of them that they cannot be reviewed because they merely involve an exercise of the discretionarv powers of the trial court. Ex parte Cutting, 94 U. S. 14 [24 L. Ed 49]; Hamlin v. Railroad Co., 78 Fed. 664 [24 C. C. A. 271, 36 L. R. A. 826]; Jones & Laughlins v. Sands, 79 Fed. 913 [25 C. C. A. 233]; In re Street, Petitioner, 62 Fed. 218 [10 C. C. A. 446].”

In this same case, however, the court also said:

“It is doubtless true that oases may arise where a denial of the right of a third party to intervene therein would be a practical denial of certain relief to which the intervener is fairly entitled and can only obtain by an intervention. Gases of this sort are those where there is a fund in court undergoing administration to which a third party asserts some right which will be lost in the event that he is not allowed to intervene before the fund is dissipated. In such cases an order denying leave to intervene is not discretionary with the chancellor, and will generally furnish the basis for an appeal since it finally disposes of the intervener’s claim by denying him all right to relief.”

The above language was approved by the Supreme Court in the same case on appeal. 177 U. S. 315, 20 Sup. Ct. 636, 44 L. Ed. 782. In the case .at bar the trial court had taken possession of all of the property the Railway Company had. The Steel Company, if it were to have anything to say as to the disposition of said property, was obliged to intervene so that it could be heard in the protection of its rights. It could not go anywhere else. The hill filed by Aigler by its very terms was filed as much for the benefit of the Steel Company as Aigler. The Steel Company, however, is not obliged to rely upon the exception to the general rule above stated in order to sustain its right to appeal from the order which ousted it as intervener. The case presented is not one where a court has refused to permit a stranger to the record to intervene. The court did permit the Steel Company to intervene and consent that process issue on the petition in intervention to all parties not of record was given by Aigler the complainant. Aig-ler, and Ramsey, the receiver, demurred to the petition for want of equity and the court on argument sustained the demurrer of Aigler with leave to the Steel Company to amend its petition. By these proceedings the Steel Company became a party to the cause, and the court could not finally dispose of its rights as it attempted to do without the right of appeal. We now come to consider the merits of the order striking the amended intervening petition of the Steel Company from the files. We are not informed by the record as to the grounds upon which the trial court based its decision.

We have a right to infer, however, that the ruling of the court was based upon the grounds stated in the motion for the order and they were as follows: Eirst, that the intervening petition did not show that the Steel Company had any lien upon the property of the Railway Company in the hands of the court; and, second, that said petition did not show that the Steel Company was in any wise interested in the ad[864]*864ministration of the estate.in the possession of the court. Manifestly neither one of these grounds were tenable. The Steel Company was the holder of bonds of the par value of $160,000 secured by a first mortgage on all the property in the hands of the court and it was interested in the estate as a creditor for materials furnished the Railway Company to construct the road in the' sum of $129,124.64. What sort of logic is it which permits Aigler with a claim of less than $2,500 to invoke the action of the court, and denies the same privilege to the Steel Company? As was said by the Supreme Court in Louisville Trust Co. v. Louisville, etc., Ry., 174 U. S. 687, 19 Sup. Ct. 831 (43 L. Ed. 1130):

“The facts apparent on the face of the record were such as justified, inquiry, and upon those facts, supported by the positive and verified allegations of the petitioner it was the duty of the trial court to have stayed proceedings and given time to produce evidence in support of the charges. Taking them as a whole they are very suggestive, independent of positive allegation; so suggestive, at least, that, when a distinct and verified charge of wrong was made, the court should have investigated it.”

The Steel Company was entitled to intervene as a bondholder and as a general creditor, the proceeding being one to distribute all property of the Railway Company. Louisville Trust Co. v. Louisville, New Albany & Chicago R. R. Co., 174 U. S. 674, 19 Sup. Ct. 827, 43 L. Ed. 1130; Savings & Trust Company v. Baer Valley Irrigation Co. (C. C.) 93 Fed. 339; Farmers’ Loan & Trust Co. v. San Diego Street Car Co. (C. C.) 45 Fed. 518; Continental Trust Co. v. Toledo, St. L. & K. C. R. R. Co. (C. C.) 82 Fed. 642; Campbell v. Railroad Co., 1 Woods, 368, Fed. Cas. No. 2,366; Williams v. Morgan, 111 U. S. 684, 4 Sup. Ct. 638, 28 L. Ed. 559; Wallace v. Loomis, 97 U. S. 147, 24 L. Ed. 895; Williamson & Upton v. New Jersey Southern Ry. Co., 25 N. J. Eq. 13; Belmont Nail Co. v. Columbia Iron & Steel Co. (C. C.) 46 Fed. 336; Cook, Corporations, § 848e; Hamlin v. Toledo, St. L. & K. C. R. R. Co., 78 Fed. 664, 24 C. C. A. 271, 36 L. R. A. 826. The right to object to the mere right of the Steel Company to intervene, at the time the order was made had been waived by Aigler by consenting to the issuance of process and in demurring to the petition. Hamlin v. Toledo, St. L. & K. C. R. R. Co., 78 Fed. 664, 24 C. C. A. 271, 36 L. R. A. 826; French v. Gapen, 105 U. S. 509, 26 L. Ed. 951; Perry v. Godbe (C. C.) 82 Fed. 141; Weinberg v. Noonan, 193 Ill. 165, 61 N. E. 1022; Cyc. vol. 16, p. 203; Encyclopedia of Pleading and Practice, vol. 14, p. 102. Having obtained jurisdiction by the appeal from the order of November 6, 1908, ousting the Steel Company from the case, we may review the order of October 10, 1908, authorizing the issuance of receiver’s certificates whether the latter order is appealable or not. There is, however, persuasive authority that this latter order is appealable. Farmers’ Loan & Trust Company, Petitioner, 129 U. S. 206, 9 Sup. Ct. 265, 32 L. Ed. 656; Bibber-White Company v. White River Val. Electric R. Co., 115 Fed. 786, 788, 53 C. C. A. 282, 284.

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176 F. 853, 1910 U.S. App. LEXIS 4308, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/illinois-steel-co-v-ramsey-ca8-1910.