Morehouse v. Giant Powder Co.

206 F. 24, 124 C.C.A. 158, 1913 U.S. App. LEXIS 1524
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedMay 20, 1913
DocketNo. 2,145
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 206 F. 24 (Morehouse v. Giant Powder Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Morehouse v. Giant Powder Co., 206 F. 24, 124 C.C.A. 158, 1913 U.S. App. LEXIS 1524 (9th Cir. 1913).

Opinion

GILBERT, Circuit Judge

(after stating the facts as above). [1] We find no merit in the contention that the court below had no power or jurisdiction to enter the judgment for contempt committed against the. court wherein the injunction was issued for the reason that that court- ceased to exist on January 1, 1912, by virtue of the provisions of the new Judicial Code (Act March .3, 1911, c. 231, 36 Stat. 1167 [U. S. Comp. St. Supp. 1911, p. 244]). The'District Court was not abolished by the Judiciary Act. in the sense and with the effect which is contended for. The new Judicial Code, so far as it affected the District Courts, was but a re-enactment of the existing law. Section 294 provides that:

: “The provisions of this act, so far as they are substantially the same as existing statutes, shall be construed as continuations thereof, and not as new enactments.”

' And section 299 declares that the repeal of existing laws or the amendments thereof embraced in the act shall not affect any act done or any right accruing or accrued.

-. [2] It is assigned as error that the proceeding in the court below was for a criminal contempt, and that the judgment requiring the plaintiffs -in error each to pay $500 as remedial compensation for expenses, costs, and attorney’s fees to the. petitioning creditors was beyond the power and jurisdiction of the court, that in the affidavit upon which the- proceedings were had no prayer of any kind was made, and no relief of any kind was demanded, and that the court had no power to grant civil relief where none was demanded. On the argument it is contended that, the proceeding for contempt being a criminal proceeding, the petition upon which it is instituted must have a title of its own, and that the charge and the prayer must be as specific as an im dictment, and it is pointed out that the title is “In the Matter of Exploration Mercantile Company, a Corporation, an Alleged Bankrupt,” and that the order to show cause follows that caption, and that, therefore, the same is not a separate proceeding, but a part of the original proceeding in bankruptcy. In support of that contention Gompers v. Bucks Stove & Range Co., 221 U. S. 418, 31 Sup. Ct. 492, 55 L. Ed. 797, 34 L. R. A. (N. S.) 874, is cited. In that case the court held that a proceeding instituted by an aggrieved party to punish the other parity for contempt for violating the' injunction in the suit in which the [27]*27injunction order was issued and praying for damages and costs is a civil proceeding in contempt, and is part of the main action, and that the court cannot punish the contempt by imprisonment for a definite term, and that the only punishment is by fine measured in the amount of the pecuniary injury, and that the party against whom the proceeding is instituted is entitled to the protection of the constitutional provisions against self-incrimination.

It is a sufficient answer to the contention to point to the fact that in the present case the punitive element of the proceeding was clearly only incidental, that its aspect was civil and remedial, and that the primary purpose was to protect the estate in bankruptcy. In the judgment it was found that Wylie was guilty of contempt in violating the order restraining him from disposing of the property of the bankrupt in paying $3,000 to Stone, $1,000 to the plaintiffs in error, $700 to Hobbs, and $1,000 to himself. For that Wylie was fined $1,000, and Stone was required to pay $3,000, both of which sums were ordered repaid for the benefit of the bankrupt’s estate. The judgment that the fines of the plaintiffs in error should be paid by the clerk to the creditors as partial compensation for their costs and attorney’s fees in prosecuting the proceedings was but a provision for the benefit of the estate, since the service of the creditors resulted in the restitution to the estate of $4,000 by means of the proceedings.

In Kreplik v. Couch Patents Co., 190 Fed. 565, 111 C. C. A. 381, the court held that in a proceeding against the defendant in an equity suit for violation of its injunction a line may properly be imposed for the benefit of the complainant, measured by the pecuniary injury caused him; that such a fine is remedial and not punitive; that it does not exclude punishment of the defendant where the contempt has also a criminal aspect; and that upon a petition separate and dislinct from the original suit the court may in the same proceeding impose a compensatory fine and also a sentence of imprisonment as punishment. In Merchants’ Stock & Grain Co. v. Board of Trade, 187 Fed. 398, 109 C. C. A. 230, it was held that a judgment for contempt against the defendants in an equity suit who had violated an interlocutory injunction that they pay fines therefor, three-fourths to the complainant and one-fourth to the government,' is a proceeding to punish a civil contempt because its chief purpose is to prevent injury to the complainant, and because the dominant effect as well as the object of the proceeding is to coerce the defendant to obey the injunction for the purpose of preserving the property of the complainant, and the punitive element in it is subordinate and incidental.

[3] In the affidavit and the motion upon which the order to show cause in the present case was issued the contempt was fully and specifically described, and the 'object was declared to be the issuance of an attachment against the plaintiffs in error for disobedience of the orders of the court. No objection was interposed in the court below to the form or sufficiency of the papers. The parties to the controversy treated the proceeding as civil and remedial, and there was no deprivation of any constitutional protection. In Aaron v. United States, 155 Fed. 833, 84 C. C. A. 67, the court said:

[28]*28“It is now the recognized rule that the information in a contempt proceeding is sufficient if it clearly apprises the defendant of the nature of the ■charge against him. and no particular form is necessary. _ * * * If the information for the writ was defective -in matter of form, it should have been taken advantage of by the defendant in proper manner by motion before going to trial. Where the party charged with the contempt appears without objection to the sufficiency of the information and affidavits by appropriate motion, but answers and goes to trial, the objection is deemed as waived.”

[4] It is contended that the judgment is void for the reason that the District Court was prohibited by section 720 of the Revised Statutes (U. S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 581) to issue an injunction to stay the proceedings, that the exception in that statute as to cases where injunctions may be' authorized by any law relating to proceedings in bankruptcy is not applicable since under the Bankruptcy Act a stay order is authorized only against “a suit founded upon a claim from which a discharge in bankruptcy would be a release,” and it is said that the suit in the state court was not founded upon such a claim. But the instance so specified is not the only one in which the bankruptcy court may issue an injunction to stay proceedings in a state court. It may also enjoin such a proceeding “where it has the effect to defeat the operation of the bankrupt law by interfering with the administration of the debtor’s property in bankruptcy.” Act July 1, 1898, c. 541, § '2, cl. 15, 30 Stat. 545 (U. S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 3421).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
206 F. 24, 124 C.C.A. 158, 1913 U.S. App. LEXIS 1524, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/morehouse-v-giant-powder-co-ca9-1913.