Nueces Valley Town-Site Co. v. McAdoo

257 F. 143, 1919 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1214
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Texas
DecidedApril 15, 1919
DocketNo. 215
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 257 F. 143 (Nueces Valley Town-Site Co. v. McAdoo) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Nueces Valley Town-Site Co. v. McAdoo, 257 F. 143, 1919 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1214 (W.D. Tex. 1919).

Opinion

WEST, District Judge

(after stating the facts as above). [1] It is not seriously questioned that the suit arises under the Constitution and laws of the United States. It is brought directly against the Director General of Railroads, and the petition clearly alleges that the Director General, his agents and employés, acting in behalf of the government of the United States, pursuant to the acts of Congress and proclamations of the President, are in the actual control and operation of the - properties. The petition alleges that the state of war which induced the passage of the acts of Congress had ceased, and that there is no further necessity for such control, alleging also ■that the acts of the Director General in undertaking to change the location of certain of his employés are not to the public interest and are in violation of a certain alleged contract made with the corporation owning the railroad properties, which it is contended is binding upon the Director General and has effect to limit his right of control of the railroad properties in his possession.

That such a suit is one arising under the Constitution and laws of the United States is clear. It has been often held that suit by or against a corporation of the United States is a suit arising under the Laws of the United States. Osborn v. U. S. Bank, 9 Wheat. 738, 6 L. Ed. 204; Pacific Railroad Removal Cases, 115 U. S. 1, 5 Sup. Ct. 1113, 29 L. Ed. 319. In these cases it is said that the charter of incorporation, not only creates it, but gives it every faculty which it possesses. The power to acquire rights of any description, to transact business of any description, to make contracts of any description, to sue on those contracts, is given and measured by the charter, and that such charter is a law of the United States. All the faculties and capacities possessed by federal corporations are derived from their acts of incorporation, and all their doings arise out of those laws, and therefore suits by and against them are suits arising under the laws of the United States. Here the Director General, under the acts of Congress and the President’s proclamations, is placed in the exclusive possession of, and is engaged, under the terms of the acts of Congress and the President’s proclamations, in the direction, control, and operation of the properties. Every power which he exercises and every right which he has is derived from the laws of the United States.

The tenth section of the Act of March 21, 1918, c. 25 (Comp. St. 1918, § 3115%j), specifically provides that no process, mesne or final, shall be levied against any property under federal control; and the [147]*147eleventh section (section 3115%k) makes it penal for any person to interfere with or impede the possession, use, operation, or control of any railroad property taken over by the President. The petition unequivocally shows that the purpose of the suit is to interfere with the possession, control, and operation of the property by restraining the Director General from removing telegraphers and other employes from one place on the property to another place, and thereby take the management and control of the property out of the hands of the Director General and place it in the control of the district court of Atascosa county. In Bryant v. Robinson, 149 Fed. 321, 79 C. C. A. 259, it was held that a suit against a postmaster, growing out of his acts as a postmaster, arose under the Constitution and laws of the United States. In Bachrack v. Norton, 132 U. S. 337, 10 Sup. Ct. 106, 33 L. Ed. 377, an action on a marshal’s bond to recover damages for wrongful levy of an attachment issued out of the Circuit Court of the United States arose under the Constitution and laws of the United States. See, also, Feibelman v. Packard, 109 U. S. 421, 3 Sup. Ct. 289, 27 L. Ed. 984; Sonnentheil v. Moerlein Brewing Co., 172 U. S. 401, 19 Sup. Ct. 233, 43 L. Ed. 492. The underlying principles of the federal jurisdiction are clearly and ably discussed in Re Neagle, 135 U. S. 1, 10 Sup. Ct. 658, 34 L. Ed. 55.

In United States Railroad Administration v. Burch (D. C.) 254 Fed. 140, the proposition was directly involved and directly ruled upon. A judgment had been obtained against the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company in a state court of South Carolina, after assumption of government control, upon a cause of action arising prior to that period. It had been levied upon certain real estate, and the Director General brought suit in the District Court of the United States to enjoin further proceedings under the execution. The jurisdiction of the federal court was contested, but sustained; Judge Smith (page 145) saying:

■‘The defendant in his return to the rule has raised the question that this court has no jurisdiction of the canse, and cannot enjoin a sale under execution under a judgment in a state court. Inasmuch as this question is a question arising in a case which asks for the enforcement of a right claimed to exist and be given under the terms of an act of Congress, it is evidently an action of a civil nature in equity, brought by an officer of the United States authorized to sue, and arising under the laws of the United States, where it appears upon the face of the bill of complaint that the right claimed by the plaintiff and sought to be enforced arises by virtue of and under a statute of the United States. The question whether or not final process can be levied against this property is one that arises under the very terms of the act of March 21, 1918; nor is the position that this court has no jurisdiction to slay the execution of a judgment recovered in the state court well taken. It has been laid down ihat the United States courts, by virtue of their general equity powers, have jurisdiction to enjoin the enforcement of a judgment in the state court upon usual principles under which courts of equity will enjoin the enforcement of a judgment. Simon v. So. Ry. Co., 236 U. S. 115, 35 Sup. Ct. 255, 59 L. Ed. 492. * * *
“Further, the special statutory exemption from process, created by the act of March 21, 1918, must be construed in connection with the provision of section 265 of the Judicial Code of the United States [Comp. St. § 1242], as modifying the language of that section, and creating another exception, under which the attempted enforcement of the mesne and final process from a state court may be restrained in proper cases.”

[148]*148While the relief sought in that case was denied upon the ground that the property levied upon was not in the possession of the Director General, the jurisdiction of the court to issue the injunction was clearly sustained.

[2] The act of March 21, 1918, specifically prohibits the interference with the possession of the Director General of the property by any process, mesne or final, and the control of the operation of the road by restraining order,or temporary or permanent injunction is as much an interference with that possession and control as if the • roadbed were levied upon by attachment or execution.

[8, 4]

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Bluebook (online)
257 F. 143, 1919 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1214, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/nueces-valley-town-site-co-v-mcadoo-txwd-1919.