Nevada Nickel Syndicate, Ltd. v. National Nickel Co.

103 F. 391, 1900 U.S. App. LEXIS 4815
CourtU.S. Circuit Court for the District of Nevada
DecidedJuly 23, 1900
DocketNo. 641
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 103 F. 391 (Nevada Nickel Syndicate, Ltd. v. National Nickel Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Nevada primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Nevada Nickel Syndicate, Ltd. v. National Nickel Co., 103 F. 391, 1900 U.S. App. LEXIS 4815 (circtdnv 1900).

Opinion

HAWLEY, District Judge

(after stating the facts.) The foregoing facts bring forcibly to the mind the absolute necessity upon the part of counsel, of the courts, and of their officers io use extra care and caution in the performance of their respective duües, and to see [394]*394that proper steps are taken, in strict accordance with the requirements of the law, in all judicial proceedings, .so that the same will stand the test of the closest scrutiny, and be invulnerable to any after objections to their legality in form or substance. It is almost impossible for this court,- with the volume of business before it, to searchingly examine in minute detail every pleading, order, decree, or other process which may be presented for approval. It is very often compelled, in the very nature of its business, to rely to a great extent upon its officers, and upon the attorneys regularly employed in a given case, to see that all the details are correctly set forth in conformity with law. There is but one perfectly safe road to travel in order to avoid difficulty. The path marked out by the law should be strictly followed. When it is departed from there is always more or less danger. It is true that there are many mere irregularities, and some departures from the statutes, often made, that are not of sufficient degree to vitiate the proceedings; but if they exist they furnish a foundation for future litigation and expense, which might readily, by ordinary care, have been guarded against, to say nothing of the extra trouble to the courts,'for they are “born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward.” The national courts, for self-protection, have almost universally, in the matter of important orders and decrees, required that they should first be submitted to opposing counsel, and not signed until the objections, if any, are passed upon and settled by the courts. Such has been the practice of this court, but for divers reasons was departed from in the present case, on account of the delay that would otherwise have occurred in the absence of defendants’ counsel. Hence arises the present controversy. At the outset it must be understood that, in the discussion of questions involved herein, no objections tending to impeach the validity of the decree or regularity of the proceedings prior to the order of sale can be heard or considered on these motions. A decree which the court had jurisdiction to render, not appealed from, is final and binding, in so far as it affects the parties thereto, whether erroneous or not. Whenever a sale of property is decreed by a court of equity as the result of a litigation in a suit of which the court had jurisdiction, it is the policy of the law that it shall not be set aside for trifling causes, or for any matters which the complaining party might have attended to and had corrected; and whenever such a sale is attacked by a party to the suit the court will closely scrutinize all previous actions of the parties during the litigation which may throw light upon or tend to explain their actions or conduct with reference to the sale. The law does not tolerate that a party who’ might have taken an objection to the time, terms, and manner of the sale, as provided for in the decree, should designedly wait until the property has been sold to the other party, and then attempt to set aside the sale on any of such grounds. Mining Co. v. Mason, 145 U. S. 349, 356, 363, 12 Sup. Ct. 887, 36 L. Ed. 732.

The motion on behalf of-the National Nickel Company will be first considered. It reads as follows:

“You will please take notice that the defendant * * * will move the ■said court * * * to set aside and annul the order heretofore made by said [395]*395court upon the 27th day of January, 1900, confirming the report of sale made by J. l'\ Emmitt, special master, under the decree and order of sale issued in said cause, upon the judgment and decree made therein, and entered as of August 7, 1899, and for an order vacating and seiting aside said sale, upon the ground and for the reason that said confirmation by said court was improvidently made without notice to the said defendant National Nickel Company, and lor the further reason that the notice and copy of the return of sale served upon the attorney for 1he defendant for the confirmation of said sale, dated the 22d day of January, 1900, misled and deceived the attorney for the defendant the National Nickel Company, in this: that it alleged and stated that the sale made by special master of the properly of the defendant National Nickel Company, mentioned and described In said order of sale, was made by the master, in the manner therein stated, at the request of the said judgment debtor, National Nickel Company, and for the further reason that said confirmation was made contrary to the decree and order of sale issued herein, which provided that said confirmation should be had after the time for redemption of the real estate under said sale had expired, in case no redemption was had, and for the additional reason that said sale so made was improperly and insuificiently advertised, and deprived tills defendant, the National Nickel Company, of a substantial rigid to have the proceeds of the personal property sold under said decree and order of sale applied pro tanto in satisfaction of the judgment rendered in said action, and thereby reduce the amount necessary to be paid by this defendant, the National Nickel Company, to redeem its mines, mining claims, and real property from the sale so made, —and for such other and further relief as may be just.”

The most important question involved upon this motion is whether the sale of the property, it not having been made in accordance with the provisions of the statute (27 Stat. 751), is void, or only voidable. If absolutely void, as contended for by defendant, that would dispose of the motion, without reference to the other objections urged on behalf of the moving parties. If only voidable, then questions will arise whether the defendant can, under the facts as presented, maintain its motion. In Wilson v. Insurance Co., 12 C. C. A. 505, 65 Fed. 38, where, as here, the publication was not made "for at least four weeks,” the court said:

‘■As the act of congress positively prohibits such a sale unless ‘at least four weeks’ publication lias been made and is complete before the sale, this sale cannot be sustained.”

This is claimed to be directly in point, and conclusive as to the actual invalidity of the sale; hut that case is distinguished from this, in that there the objections were urged against the confirmation of the sale by the court, and that here no- sncii objection was urged until after the confirmation of the sale, although due and timely notice was given to the defendant of the time of confirmation. It is admitted that, if the defendant, had appeared and protested against the confirmation of the sale upon the ground that the notice of sale had not been given as required by the statute, the court would have refused to make the decree confirming the sale, but the plaintiff claims that, the defendant having failed to make its objections at the proper time, it is hound by the decree of confirmation; that the sale is res judicata, and cannot- now be inquired into; that the error complained of is a mere irregularity, which has been cured by the consent and acquiescence of the defendant; and that the motion comes too late. Which of these contentions is correct? A judicial sale is one made as a result of judicial proceedings by a person legally appointed by the court for that purpose. It is a sale made pendente lite.

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

Related

Hartford Federal Sayings & Loan Ass'n v. Tucker
536 A.2d 962 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 1988)
Read v. Elliott
94 F.2d 55 (Fourth Circuit, 1938)
Plimpton v. Mattakeunk Cabin Colony, Inc.
9 F. Supp. 288 (D. Connecticut, 1934)
Raymond v. Gilman
151 A. 248 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 1930)
Rodebeck v. Richardson, Admr.
144 N.E. 41 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1924)
Atwater v. Community Fuel Corp.
298 F. 455 (Second Circuit, 1924)
Eakin v. Eakin
98 S.E. 608 (West Virginia Supreme Court, 1919)
In re Burr Mfg. & Supply Co.
217 F. 16 (Second Circuit, 1914)
Butler v. Watrous
64 So. 346 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1913)
Godchaux v. Morris
121 F. 482 (Fifth Circuit, 1903)
National Nickel Co. v. Nevada Nickel Syndicate, Ltd.
106 F. 110 (U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Nevada, 1901)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
103 F. 391, 1900 U.S. App. LEXIS 4815, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/nevada-nickel-syndicate-ltd-v-national-nickel-co-circtdnv-1900.