Mitchell v. Big Six Development Co.

186 F. 552, 1911 U.S. App. LEXIS 5149
CourtU.S. Circuit Court for the District of Missouri
DecidedJanuary 9, 1911
DocketNo. 19
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 186 F. 552 (Mitchell v. Big Six Development Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mitchell v. Big Six Development Co., 186 F. 552, 1911 U.S. App. LEXIS 5149 (circtdmo 1911).

Opinion

VAN VALKENBURGH, District Judge.

May 31, 1898, complainant leased to the defendant company certain mining properties in Jasper county, Mo., for a period of 10 years, for the purpose of mining for lead and zinc ores, including the sinking of shafts, the mining of said land in good faith, the keeping on hand of sufficient machinery so as to permit sufficient mining, proper operation, and an increase in the capacity thereof. As rent or royalty therefor defendant agreed to pay complainant 12 per cent, of the market value of all ores mined and sold during its tenancy. July 11, 1903, complainant filed in this court his bill in equity, charging: That the defendant corporation had not performed the acts and duties required by it, but, on the contrary, had failed and refused to keep the drifts in said land drained of water to permit efficient mining thereof, and had failed to mine said ground in a workmanlike manner, and had removed, or caused to be removed, a pillar or pillars in said ground, which in mining said ground had been left to support the surface, and had failed properly to timber and secure the drifts of said ground from caving, by reason of which, and other failures, the ground had subsided, caved, and fallen in, to the great detriment and damage of said land. That by reason of its failure to comply with the requirements and conditions of the lease the defendant had forfeited the same, and the lease by its terms had ended and determined. That the complainant electing to enforce said forfeiture, as against defendant, had on the 7th day of July, 1903, declared said lease forfeited, had made re-entry on the land described, and declared an ouster of the defendant therefrom. That, notwithstanding the re-entry by complainant, the defendant refused to surrender the lease, and continued to claim and assert rights thereunder, and threatened to continue to do so, and to cause said land to be mined, and to take the ores, rock, and earth therefrom, to the irreparable damage of the complainant. That the defendant was insolvent, and his remedy at law inadequate, and that he would be subjected to great damage and injury to property and loss of money during the period of time from the date of forfeiture to the date of final judgment, wherefore the complainant prayed that this court might decree: First. “That defendant ha's no estate, interest, or title in or to the lease, or in or to the land covered thereby and described therein.” Second. “That the title of complainant to said described land is unaffected by said lease, or any claim whatsoever of the defendant.” Third. “That the lease is no longer in force and effect in favor of the defendant, and that the same may be canceled, annulled, and surrendered into the possession and keeping of the plaintiff.” Fourth. “That the defendant corporation, its attorneys, officers, servants, and agents, pending this bill be specially and on final hearing that it be perpetually restrained and enjoined from asserting any claim whatsoever under said lease, and from remaining or continuing in possession of the land described therein.” Fifth. “That the plaintiff may have such other and further relief as the equity of this case may require.” There was no prayer for an accounting nor for the ascertainment or allowance óf any special damages for the waste alleged to have been committed or threatened.

[554]*554The defendant demurred to the bill, and October 6, 1903, the demttrrer was overruled and a temporary restraining order and injunction were granted restraining and enjoining the defendant, its officers, agents, and servants, pending the bill, from the operation of the mines in question. The defendant answered, and the case proceeded to final proofs and argument, with the result that April 13, 1904, a decree was rendered finding the issues for the complainant, annulling the lease and setting aside the same as a cloud upon the complainant’s title, and the injunction theretofore granted was made perpetual. On May 3, 1904, an appeal was allowed and perfected, and on April 22, 1905, the decree was affirmed by the Circuit Court of Appeals for this Circuit. The case is found reported under the same title in 138 Fed. 279, 70 C. C. A. 569, 1 L. R. A. (N. S.) 332.

During the period between July 11, 1903, when the bill was filed, and October 6, 1903, when the restraining order was issued, the defendant continued to operate the mines and took therefrom ores which sold for the gross sum- of $24,644.51, upon which sum it paid to the complainant $2,954.70, being the 12 per cent, which the provisions of the lease required it to pay to the complainant as rent or royalty, and the complainant accepted the payments thus made. This situation was set up with particularity in defendant’s answer filed October 16, 1903, and was urgéd as a waiver of the forfeiture, which, however, was not allowed either below or in the appellate court. At a January Term, 1910, of this court, nearly five years later, complainant asked leave to -file his supplemental bill in said cause, reciting the former bill and the proceedings thereunder, and announcing his purpose to ask an accounting for damages and waste accruing from July 11, 1903, to October 7, 1903, by reason of the extraction of ores by defendant during that period in the amount as above set forth, on the theory that such relief flowéd from and was in aid of the decree rendered in favor of ■complainant under the original bill. This application was opposed by the defendant on the following grounds:

;• «yj reiief sought by the proposed, supplemental bill is not germane to -the original bill; not supplemental thereto, and designed to cure some oversight, cover some change in. situation, or round *out and complete the remedy sought and granted by the original proceeding.
“(2) Before issue joined, the complainant had full and complete knowledge •of the facts on which he now seeks to base his supplemental bill. He took no action until more than five years after the decree of this court, and nearly five years after affirmance of that decree in the Court of Appeals. His laches precludes him from obtaining the right to file a supplemental bill.
“(3) Complainant’s' pétition for leave to file supplemental bill shows on its face a perfect defense to such bill.”

' The learned judge-who then presided over this court permitted the supplemental bill to be filed, but in. so doing recognized the gravity of the objection made, and did not foreclose himself nor this court from their subsequent consideration. This is evidenced by his memorandum filed with the order; He said:

“It is an established rule of equity procedure that the granting of leave to file a supplemental bill is discretionary :with the court. This discretion ought not to be arbitrarily or inconsiderately exercised against the applicant, for the reason that, if the leave be denied, the applicant is cut off from the [555]*555opportunity of vindicating the sufficiency of the pleadings and his right in the premises before the appellate courts. And therefore, as the granting of the leave to file the supplemental bill does not operate as any great hardship to the defendant, for the reason that if the bill is insuflicient, and the party is not entitled thereto, no decree or leave could be had thereon; and for that reason the court will not in the first instance enter into any technical nicety on the question of the sufficiency of the pleading, hut will leave such matter to a later determination.

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Related

Milo Manor, Inc. v. Woodard
92 F.2d 220 (D.C. Circuit, 1937)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
186 F. 552, 1911 U.S. App. LEXIS 5149, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mitchell-v-big-six-development-co-circtdmo-1911.