Kean v. Bailey

82 F. Supp. 260, 1949 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3005
CourtDistrict Court, D. Minnesota
DecidedJanuary 28, 1949
DocketNo. 162
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 82 F. Supp. 260 (Kean v. Bailey) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kean v. Bailey, 82 F. Supp. 260, 1949 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3005 (mnd 1949).

Opinion

NORDBYE, Chief Judge.

Plaintiff has succeeded to the title of a large tract of land in northern Minnesota commonly known as the “Joyce Estate.” On May 11, 1925, on a petition of plaintiff’s father alleging diversity of citizenship between him and the named defendants, this Court enjoined “Dick Bailey and E. óon-solin, and each of them, * * * and all other persons whomsoever, from and after the time they severally receive notice or knowledge of this decree and issuance of the injunction pursuant thereto” from hunting or going upon the land comprising this estate or aiding others to do so or removing or injuring any animal on said property. Later, the decree was amended by adding certain parcels of land to it and substituting the present plaintiff as plaintiff herein.

On November 17, 1947, Vincent A. Hurley, Howard P. Christensen, and Vane L. Jackson were found on the estate with hunting equipment. Plaintiff now brings contempt proceedings against them, alleging that they have violated the injunction, and asks the Court to punish them for contempt. Plaintiff alleges, and respondents do not dispute, that placed along the boundary of the property were large signs which forbade trespassing and which informed all readers of the federal injunction against all persons who had notice of it. But respondents deny that they read the signs prior to their alleged trespass and deny that they had any knowledge of the decree of injunction. And respondents point out, and plaintiff does not deny, that none of the respondents to this contempt action were named parties to the original injunction proceedings, and none were served personally with any legal processes with respect to those proceedings. When they allegedly violated the injunction, these respondents were not acting in concert with the named defendants. They were acting independently. They were in no way associated, connected, or even acquainted with the named defendants, • and it is not contended that any privy existed between the respondents and the defendants named in the original proceedings.

Respondents contend, therefore, among other things, that the Court lacked both the right and the power to include within .the injunction all persons who receive notice of the decree, and that therefore the injunctive order does not apply to these respondents. Plaintiff contends that this' Court acted within its rights and powers when including such a broad provision in the injunction. That jurisdictional question, therefore, becomes the first issue for determination.

In Chase National Bank v. Norwalk, 1933, 291 U.S. 431, 54 S.Ct. 475, 477, 78 L.Ed. 894, the trial court had enjoined the City of Norwalk, its officers, agents, and employees and “all persons to whom notice of the order of injunction should come * * No one except the named defendant was served with process. No others appeared before the court. In reversing, the Supreme Court held, 291 U.S. at page 437, 54 S.Ct. 475, that the inclusion of the quoted provision was error. The court said, 291 U.S. at pages 436, 437, 54 S.Ct. at page 477: “ * * * the decree entered by the District Court was clearly erroneous in so far as it enjoined ‘all persons to whom notice of the order of injunction should come from taking any steps or action of any kind to cause the enforcement of the ouster in the state court.’ The city alone was named as defendant. No person other than the city was served with process. None came otherwise before the court. The prayer of the bill sought relief solely against the city and ‘its officers, officials, agents, employees and representatives.’ It is true that persons not technically agents or. employees may be specifically enjoined from knowingly aiding a defendant in performing a prohibited act if their relation is that of associate or confederate. Since such persons are legally identified with the defendant and privy to his contempt, the provision merely makes explicit as to them ■that which the law already implies. See Ex parte Lennon, 166 U.S. 548, 17 S.Ct. 658, 41 L.Ed. 1110. But by extending the injunction to ‘all persons to whom notice of the injunction should come,’ the District Court assumed to make punishable as a contempt the conduct of persons who act inde[262]*262pendently and whose rights have not been adjudged according to law. See Alemite Mfg. Co. v. Staff, 2 Cir., 42 F.2d 832. * * * To subject them to such peril violates established principles of equity jurisdiction and procedure. Scott v. Donald, 165 U.S. 107, 117, 17 S.Ct. 262, 41 L.Ed. 648; Hitchman Coal & Coke Co. v. Mitchell, 245 U.S. 229, 234, 38 S.Ct. 65, 62 L.Ed. 260, L.R.A. 1918C, 497, Ann.Cas. 1918B, 461. Those principles require that the clause be limited to confederates or associates of the defendant.”

In Alemite Mfg. Co. v. Staff, 2 Cir. 42 F.2d 832, at pages 832, 833, a contempt case which the Supreme Court cited in Chase National Bank v. Norwalk, supra, in support of its conclusion that the rights of-the persons included within 'the injunction’s •broad provision had not been adjudged according to law, Judge Learned Hand said for a unanimous court,

“ * * * no court can make a decree which will bind any one but a party; a court of equity is as much so limited as a court of law; it cannot lawfully enjoin the world at large, no matter how broadly it words its decree. If it assumes to do so, the decree is pro tanto brutüm fulmen, and the persons’enjoined are free to ignore it. It is not vested with sovereign powers to declare conduct unlawful; its jurisdiction is limited to those over whom it gets personal service, and who therefore can have their day in court. Thus, the only occasion when a person not a party 'may be punished, is when he has helped to bring about, not merely what the decree has forbidden, because it may have gone too far, but what it has power to forbid, an act of a par-

“This * * * goes deep into the powers of a court of equity. Upon proceedings to punish for contempt, the propriety of the decree is not open, even though it be founded upon an unconditional statute. Howat v. Kansas, 258 U.S. 181, 42 S.Ct. 277, 66 L.Ed. 550. The respondent may only deny any knowledge of the decree, or that his act was within it. The unlawfulness of his conduct has been determined, and, if he has not been a party and has had no day in court, he is condemned without hearing. It is by ignoring such procedural limitations that the injunction of a court of equity may by slow steps be made to realize the worst fears of those who are jealous of its prerogative.”

See, also, Regal Knitwear Co. v. N.L.R.B., 324 U.S. 9, at page 13, 65 S.Ct. 478, 89 L.Ed. 661.

From the teachings and principles enunciated in these cases it must follow that this Court neither has the right nor the power to issue an injunction ’against the public at large. The Court’s jurisdiction cj^i only extend to those who are named parties and to those who aided and abetted •the original defendants, or are legally identified- with them in doing that which the decree forbids.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

STATE EX REL. LaMERE v. Young
192 N.W.2d 186 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1971)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
82 F. Supp. 260, 1949 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3005, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kean-v-bailey-mnd-1949.