May Coal & Grain Co. v. Kansas City

10 F. Supp. 792, 1935 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1792
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Missouri
DecidedApril 18, 1935
DocketNo. 2055
StatusPublished

This text of 10 F. Supp. 792 (May Coal & Grain Co. v. Kansas City) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
May Coal & Grain Co. v. Kansas City, 10 F. Supp. 792, 1935 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1792 (W.D. Mo. 1935).

Opinion

REEVES, District Judge.

In this case plaintiff’s bill challenges the constitutional validity of Ordinance No. 3047 of the city of Kansas City. This ordi? nance in substance requires that all retail coal dealers in the city of Kansas City- shall be domiciled therein, that is to say, they shall “possess and own proper equipment for the operation of such retail business within the limits of the city; such equipment shall consist of a coal yard or station with reasonable facilities therefor, an office and a wagon scale of at least five-ton capacity.”

Plaintiff is the owner of a coalyard at Dodson, “some one-half mile south of defendant city,” and it is engaged, among other things, in retailing and delivering coal within the corporate limits of the city.

The said ordinance contains other provisions for appropriate regulation of the bush[793]*793ness of retail coal dealers in order to protect the public against deception either in the weight of the coal or in the kind and character or classification thereof.

The bill charges an impingement upon the “due process” clause of the Constitution of the United States, and denial of equal protection of the law, and an abridgment of the privileges or immunities of citizens (Const. Amend. 14, § 1).

The defendant city asserts the validity of said ordinance and the power of the city to regulate the sale of coal by retail within the city, and the necessity of the domiciliary provisions of said ordinance to protect the citizens of said city against imposition.

The testimony in the .case showed that the ordinance was enforced against plaintiff by the arrest of its drivers, but that other coal dealers similarly situated were permitted to transact business within the city without molestation, although they too had not complied with the provisions of the ordinance. Moreover, it was made to appear that the city was prepared reasonably to inspect the coal retailed by the plaintiff, both at its yards outside the city and within the corporate limits of the city. The evidence showed conclusively that this could be done just as easily and with the same convenience to the city as if the plaintiff had an established place within the corporate limits of the city. It was further made to appear that the penalties of the ordinance were being invoked on behalf of coal dealers operating from established yards within the city. The plaintiff has offered to comply with any reasonable ordinance regulation pertaining to coal dealers having yards outside the corporate limits of the city.

1. Heretofore this case was dismissed upon the sole ground that the plaintiff had established a yard within the city, and that therefore it was estopped to challenge the validity of the ordinance.

Upon appeal, the Court of Appeals reversed the case upon the ground that this question was not presented by the pleadings. The same question is again urged here by answer duly filed.

At the outset, this contention of the city should be ruled against it, for the reason that it appears that the plaintiff has abandoned its yard within the city. Furthermore, the coalyard at Dodson was accessible to parts qf the city not readily served by the yard formerly established and maintained by the plaintiff at Waldo, within the cor-porate limits of the city. It should be held, moreover, that the establishment of a yard within the city and a compliance with the regulations of the city pertaining to inside coal dealers would not be a waiver of a right on the part of the plaintiff to supply coal from an outside yard upon compliance with reasonable regulations and licensing laws.

2. In reversing the case on appeal (May Coal & Grain Co. v. Kansas City, 73 F.(2d) 345, 348), the Court of Appeals was of the opinion that this court had jurisdiction, for the reason that the bill stated a cause of action under the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

In ruling the case, the. court cited the case of Binderup v. Pathé, 263 U. S. 291, 44 S. Ct. 96, 68 L. Ed. 308, and quoted from said opinion in part as follows: “Jurisdiction is the power to decide a justiciable controversy, and includes questions of law as well as of fact.”

Under the ruling of the Court of Appeals, the bill therefore states both law and fact. This is essential to confer jurisdiction upon the court. The plaintiff, by its evidence, fully supported its allegation of facts, and therefore quite convincingly proved the case which the Court of Appeals said it had stated in its bill.

Under the authority, therefore, of the appellate court, in this case the plaintiff would be entitled to the relief it seeks.

3. There can be no question about the right of a city, such as the defendant in this case, to provide reasonable regulations for retailers of coal and other products within the city, and particularly is this true in respect of weights and measures and the character of coal distributed to consumers. Sylvester Coal Co. v. City of St. Louis, 130 Mo. 323, 32 S. W. 649, 51 Am. St. Rep. 566; 19 R. C. L. § 165, p. 863; McLean v. Arkansas, 211 U. S. 539, 29 S. Ct. 206, 53 L. Ed. 315.

In this connection great latitude must be allowed in the exercise of the police power, as well as the taxing power of the city, and particularly in respect of the necessity for regulation, classification, and the like, and the courts must of necessity have reluctance in declaring unconstitutional any of the enactments of the law-making body of the state or of any of its agencies and subdivisions. San Francisco Shopping News Co. v. City of South San Francisco (C. C. A.) 69 F.(2d) 879.

[794]*794Regulations are upheld unless “so utterly unreasonable and extravagant in their nature and purpose that the property and personal rights of the citizen are unnecessarily, and in a manner wholly arbitrary, interfered with or destroyed without due process of law.” Schmidinger v. Chicago, 226 U. S. 578, 33 S. Ct. 182, 184; 57 L. Ed. 364, Ann. Cas. 1914B, 284. And “the test of the constitutionality of the ordinance is whether the ordinance is a bona fide exercise of police power or an arbitrary and unreasonable interference with personal rights under the guise of police regulation.” Jell-O Co. v. Brown (D. C.) 3 F. Supp. 132, 133.

4. According to the evidence, the plaintiff had an established business at Dodson, one-half mile from the city limits.

The enforcement of the ordinance against the plaintiff has destroyed that business, or will do so, unless the city is enjoined from such enforcement. This would result in depriving it of “property without due process of law,” within the first section of the Fourteenth Amendment to the national Constitution.

The city would have no right to do this unless it was essential to protect the residents of the city against imposition. According to the undisputed testimony, the city could, with equal facility, inspect plaintiff’s coal at its coalyard as if the coalyard were within the corporate limits of the city. Moreover, the laws of the state of Missouri are salutary and are wholly sufficient to protect the inhabitants of the city against the character of imposition sought to be prevented by the ordinance.

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Related

Cotting v. Kansas City Stock Yards Co.
183 U.S. 79 (Supreme Court, 1901)
McLean v. Arkansas
211 U.S. 539 (Supreme Court, 1909)
Schmidinger v. City of Chicago
226 U.S. 578 (Supreme Court, 1913)
Rast v. Van Deman & Lewis Co.
240 U.S. 342 (Supreme Court, 1916)
Binderup v. Pathe Exchange, Inc.
263 U.S. 291 (Supreme Court, 1923)
State Bd. of Tax Commr's of Ind. v. Jackson
283 U.S. 527 (Supreme Court, 1931)
Metropolitan Casualty Ins. Co. v. Brownell
294 U.S. 580 (Supreme Court, 1935)
Jell-O Co. v. Brown
3 F. Supp. 132 (W.D. Washington, 1926)
May Coal & Grain Co. v. Kansas City
73 F.2d 345 (Eighth Circuit, 1934)
Sylvester Coal Co. v. City of St. Louis
32 S.W. 649 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1895)
Booth v. Lloyd
33 F. 593 (U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Maryland, 1887)
Williams v. McCartan
212 F. 345 (W.D. New York, 1914)
William R. Compton Co. v. Allen
216 F. 537 (S.D. Iowa, 1914)

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Bluebook (online)
10 F. Supp. 792, 1935 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1792, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/may-coal-grain-co-v-kansas-city-mowd-1935.