Murray Oil Products Co. v. Mitsui & Co.

55 F. Supp. 353, 1944 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2431
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedApril 17, 1944
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 55 F. Supp. 353 (Murray Oil Products Co. v. Mitsui & Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Murray Oil Products Co. v. Mitsui & Co., 55 F. Supp. 353, 1944 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2431 (S.D.N.Y. 1944).

Opinion

HULBERT, District Judge.

There are three motions:

1. Plaintiff moves for an order confirming an arbitration award made by the Committee on Vegetable Oils, Waxes and Fats of the New York Produce Exchange and for an order directing the clerk of this court to enter judgment thereon.

2. The defendant moves for an order discontinuing the action and directing that the warrant of attachment and levies made thereunder, by the Sheriff of New York County, be vacated and annulled and that the Sheriff deliver over and release the property levied upon to the defendant.

3. Plaintiff makes a cross-motion for an order directing that the property attached by the Sheriff of New York County may be resorted to and levied upon in execution and satisfaction of the judgment which it seeks to have entered.

The facts in this case are unusual and will be stated as concisely as possible.

Mitsui & Co. Ltd., is a corporation organized under the laws of the Empire of Japan and had applied to and received a certificate from the Secretary of State of the State of New York authorizing it to do business in this State.

[354]*354At the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor Dec. 7th, 1941, and for some time prior thereto, it had an office at 350 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York, where it was engaged in business as an importer and exporter of merchandise.

Prior to July 26, 1941, it had in its' employ one Roy N. Figueroa, acting in the capacity as auditor for the company. On July 26th, 1941, Mr. Figueroa was appointed Comptroller and continued in that capacity until, with the outbreak of the war on December 8, 1941, the office was taken over by the United States Treasury Department, and Figueroa, as agent and attorney in fact for Mitsui & Co. Ltd., was placed in charge of the liquidation of the business under the supervision of the U. S. Treasury Department until on or about August 17, 1942, when the Alien Property Custodian of the United States issued an order vesting in himself as such Alien Property Custodian, and upon the terms and for the purposes therein stated, all property of any nature whatsoever owned or controlled by, payable or deliverable to, or held on behalf of, or on account of, or owing to Mitsui & Co. Ltd., located at the various places in the United States specified in said order, including the City of New York.

Shortly after the issuance of the vesting order the office was closed and the books and records moved to the office of the Alien Property Custodian at 120 Broadway, New York, N. Y.

On or about the 11th day of June, 1941, at the City of New York, the plaintiff and defendant had entered into a contract in writing “wherein and whereby the defendant agreed to sell to the plaintiff, and the plaintiff agreed to buy from the defendant, 300 tons, of 2,240 lbs. each, 10% more or less, seller’s option, of Perilla Oil in Bulk, June 1941 shipment from Dairen, Manchuria, at $11 per 100 lbs., c. i. f. New York, N.Y., the quality of said oil to be ‘F.A.Q’ Free Fatty Acid Maximum 2%, moisture and impurities maximum %%, guaranteed non-break at 600° F.”

On or about Dec. 17, 1941, plaintiff brought an action in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York, against the defendant to recover damages for alleged breach of said contract. The summons and complaint, pursuant to Section 217 of the General Corporation Law of the State of New York, Consol.Laws N.Y.C. 23, were served upon the Secretary of State of the State of New York, who forwarded the same to the defendant’s New York Office, and the .summons and complaint were then sent by officials of the United States in charge of such office to Messrs. Putney, Twombly & Hall, New York attorneys, who, on a motion for a stay of the action and an extension of time to answer until after the termination of the war, represented to the court that they had been counsel to the defendant for about 25 years. This motion was granted. 178 Misc. 82, 33 N.Y.S. 2d 92, affirmed 263 App.Div. 979, 34 N.Y.S. 2d 137. Meanwhile, however, on Dec. 22, 1941, a warrant of attachment was issued in the action, to the Sheriff of New York County, pursuant to which he made a levy upon accounts of the defendant in each of two banks in the Borough of Manhattan, City of New York. Thereafter the State Court made an order terminating the stay theretofore granted. Subsequently, on application of the defendant’s attorneys the case was removed to this court and issue was joined, the defendant pleading in its answer, among other things, that the contract upon which the action was predicated provided for arbitration and applied for and obtained an order on Feb. 1, 1943, directing that all proceedings in this action be stayed during the continuance of the War between the United States of America and Japan, other than such as might be required to preserve plaintiff’s security, and enjoining the plaintiff accordingly. But, on Oct. 15, 1943, an order was made on motion of the plaintiff, vacating said order of Feb. 1, 1943, to the extent of permitting and directing a separate trial of the issues of fact and/or law, which could be determined without recourse to evidence procurable only in Manchuria or Japan, and further directing that this cause be restored to the appropriate trial calendar of this court, and upon the trial and determination thereof that such judgment or further order should be entered as might be appropriate in the light of such determination and the proceedings theretofore had.

Thereafter, the defendant moved under the provisions of 9 U.S.C.A. § 3, for a stay of the trial until arbitration had been had of the matters in dispute between the parties in accordance with the terms of the contract dated May 5, 1941.

An order was made and entered on Dec. 10, 1943, denying the motion without prej[355]*355udice to the determination and disposition at the trial of the issues as to whether the contract dated May 5, 1941, contained an arbitration clause and, if so, the text thereof, and the defendant’s right under Title 9 of the United States Code Annotated to compel arbitration and to a stay during the pendency thereof.

Thereafter the trial came on before Honorable J. Foster Symes, United States District Judge, sitting in this court, without a jury, on the 7th and 8th days of February 1944, and the court having taken the allegations and proofs of the parties upon the specific issue as to whether there was a contract of arbitration, found that the contract between the parties dated May 5, 1941, contained an arbitration clause, and “the text of said clause is as contained in the uniform contract set forth in Rule 6, Section 1 of the Rules Regulating Business Among Members of the New York Produce Exchange in Vegetable Oils, Waxes and Fats Not Otherwise Provided For, adopted July 7, 1921 and effective August 1, 1921,” and having further found that the defendant had not waived its right to arbitration under the provisions of the contract, made an order dated Feb. 11, 1944, directing the parties to proceed with the arbitration of the disputes arising out of said contract dated May 5, 1941, before the Committee on Vegetable Oils, Waxes and Fats of the New York Produce Exchange in accordance with the terms of said contract, and in accordance with the rules of the New York Produce Exchange, and further

“That this action be, and hereby is, permanently stayed, except as to proceedings relating to the warrant of attachment herein and the property attached thereunder.”

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55 F. Supp. 353, 1944 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2431, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/murray-oil-products-co-v-mitsui-co-nysd-1944.