Kanatser v. Chrysler Corp.

199 F.2d 610
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedJanuary 19, 1953
Docket4434_1
StatusPublished
Cited by74 cases

This text of 199 F.2d 610 (Kanatser v. Chrysler Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kanatser v. Chrysler Corp., 199 F.2d 610 (10th Cir. 1953).

Opinions

MURRAH, Circuit Judge.

We granted petitioner leave to file an application for a writ of certiorari to review an order of the District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma, granting a new trial in this case. The application alleges and the facts are, that in this suit for personal injuries the petitioner obtained a jury verdict against the respondent on November 3, 1950, in the sum of $33,283. The Clerk’s Minute Book shows that the verdict was ordered filed, judgment was entered thereon, and counsel directed to prepare a journal entry accordingly. Thereafter, and within ten days, the respondent, defendant below, renewed its motion for judgment in its favor or in the alternative a new trial. The motion alleged numerous errors in the trial of the case, but did not complain of the ex-cessiveness of the verdict. After having been continued from time to time, the motions came on for hearing on the 27th day of June, 1951. After argument, the court expressed the view that the jury verdict was excessive and ordered a remittitur of that part of the judgment in excess of $15,000. Petitioner was granted five days in which to accept or reject the remittitur and the matter was continued until July 10, 1951.

A journal entry filed July 16, 1951, ordered the judgment of November 3, 1950, set aside, and granted defendant’s motion for a new trial on the grounds “that the verdict is excessive and because of the failure of the plaintiff to file a remittitur as ordered by the court.” A journal entry filed on July 18, 1951, recited the appearance of the parties on the 16th day of July, overruled the defendant’s motion for entry of judgment in its favor, and further recited that “the defendant’s alternative motion for new trial has been disposed of as shown by the journal entry of judgment filed herein on the 16th day of July, 1951.” From the order granting a new trial, the petitioner timely appealed to this court. We dismissed the appeal on the grounds that the order granting the new trial was not appealable. Kanatser v. Chrysler Corporation, 10 Cir., 195 F.2d 104. Thereafter, we granted leave to file this application for a writ of certiorari, to determine whether in the circumstances, the order granting the new trial is reviewable by the extraordinary common law remedy invoked.

The basis of the application for the writ is, that inasmuch as the new trial was granted more than ten days after the entry of judgment on a ground not asserted in the timely motion for a new trial, the order [614]*614was in excess of the court’s jurisdiction, and therefore reviewable on writ of certiorari.

Since the first Judicial Act of September 24, 1789, Sec. 14, 1 Stat. 73, 81, the Federal courts have been empowered to issue “all other writs not specially provided for by statute, which may be necessary for the exercise of their respective jurisdictions, and agreeable to the principles and usages of law.” And, see 28 U.S.C.A. § 1651. But, we have been repeatedly admonished that these common law writs are not substitutes for authorized appeals, and do not confer appellate jurisdiction not otherwise existing. Historically the -courts have utilized these writs in extraordinary or exceptional circumstances to confine lower courts to their jurisdiction or to require them to exercise a mandatory jurisdiction, in the interest of the proper administration of justice. In re Chetwood, 165 U.S. 443, 17 S.Ct. 385, 41 L.Ed. 782; McClellan v. Carland, 217 U.S. 268, 30 S.Ct. 501, 54 L.Ed. 762; Adam v. U. S. ex rel. McCann, 317 U.S. 269, 63 S.Ct. 236, 87 L.Ed. 268; Ex parte Fahey, 332 U.S. 258, 67 S.Ct. 1558, 91 L.Ed. 2041.

Thus, the writ of certiorari was utilized by the Supreme Court to confine the District Court within its jurisdiction in In re Chetwood, supra. The writ of mandamus was deemed appropriate to compel the lower court to exercise its jurisdiction in McClellan v. Carland, supra. More recently, the issuance of a writ of habeas corpus, as an incident to the exercise of appellate jurisdiction, was held not to 'be an abuse of judicial discretion in Adams v. U. S. ex rel. McCann, supra. In Roche v. Evaporated Milk Association, 319 U.S. 21, 63 S.Ct. 938, 87 L.Ed. 1185, the Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals, 9 Cir., 130 F.2d 843, for the issuance of a writ to the District Court, mandamusing it to reinstate pleas in abatement and replications and to try issues of fact thus raised. The court was of the opinion that the District Court had acted within its jurisdiction and had rendered a decision, which, if erroneous, involved no abuse of judicial power, and that in issuing the writ, the- Court of Appeals had substituted mandamus- for appeal contrary to the statutes and policy of Congress restricting the court’s appellate review to final judgments of the District Courts. A writ of prohibition was availed of by the Supreme Court in Ex parte Republic of Peru, 318 U.S. 578, 63 S.Ct. 793, 87 L.Ed. 1014, to restrain the District Court from exercising further jurisdiction in an admiralty suit, although the case was one in which direct appellate jurisdiction was vested in the Court of Appeals. Still -more recently, the Supreme Court in United States Alkali Export Association v. United States, 325 U.S. 196, 65 S.Ct. 1120, 89 L.Ed. 1554, granted a writ of certiorari to review an order of the District Court overruling a motion to dismiss a proceedings on the grounds that it lacked jurisdiction over the subject matter, even though the order was in no sense a final adjudication. The Supreme Court was prompted to- issue the writ on the grounds that the suit, brought by the United States under the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C.A. §§ 1-7, 15 note, was within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Federal Trade Commission, and that the exercise of jurisdiction by the District Court to a final judgment would impose great hardships upon the defendants, and also infringe the Congressional policy of conferring primary jurisdiction upon the Federal Trade Commission. Mandamus has been deemed inappropriate and appropriate to review purely interlocutory transfer orders- under 1404(a), 28 U.S.C. Magnetic Engineering & Manufacturing Co. v. Dings Manufacturing Co., 2 Cir., 178 F.2d 866; Ford Motor Co. v. Ryan, 2 Cir., 182 F.2d 329; Gulf Research & Development Co. v. Harrison, 9 Cir., 185 F.2d 457; Atlantic Coast Line R. Co. v. Davis, 5 Cir., 185 F.2d 766; Paramount Pictures v. Rodney, 3 Cir., 186 F.2d 111; Clinton Foods, Inc., v. United States, 4 Cir., 188 F.2d 289; Anthony v. Kaufman, 2 Cir., 193 F.2d 85; Gulf Research & Development Co. v. Leahy, 3 Cir., 193 F.2d 302; Wiren v. Laws, D.C.Cir., 194 F.2d 873.

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Bluebook (online)
199 F.2d 610, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kanatser-v-chrysler-corp-ca10-1953.