Pell v. McCabe

256 F. 512, 168 C.C.A. 18, 1919 U.S. App. LEXIS 1381
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit
DecidedJanuary 30, 1919
DocketNo. 136
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 256 F. 512 (Pell v. McCabe) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pell v. McCabe, 256 F. 512, 168 C.C.A. 18, 1919 U.S. App. LEXIS 1381 (2d Cir. 1919).

Opinion

ROGERS, Circuit Judge

(after stating the facts as above). [ 1 ] Inasmuch as it appears that neither the plaintiffs nor the defendants reside within the Southern district of New York, the court below clearly was without jurisdiction of the suit, now under review, as an original action. But it is said that this suit is not brought as an original suit, but as a dependent and ancillary suit, which has direct reference to a matter already litigated in the bankruptcy proceedings in the District Court for the Southern District of New York relating to the firm of S. H. P. Pell & Co. and the several persons alleged to constitute that firm. In Street’s Federal Equity Practice, vol. 2, § 1229, that writer says:

“It is a rule, subject to but one exception, that jurisdiction in an ancillary-proceeding is supported by the jurisdiction of the court in the main, or principal cause. Hence the ordinary jurisdictional averments may be dispensed with in such a proceeding. If a court has jurisdiction of the principal suit, it also has jurisdiction of any ancillary proceeding in that suit. Neither the citizenship of the parties, nor the amount in controversy, nor any other factor that would ordinarily determine jurisdiction, has any bearing on the right of the court to entertain that proceeding.”

The one exception above referred to relates to an ancillary receivership, and with that we are not now concerned. The right of a federal court to sustain jurisdiction of an ancillary suit, without reference to the citizenship of the parties, was fully considered in Krippendorf v. Hyde, 110 U. S. 276, 4 Sup. Ct. 27, 28 L. Ed. 145, which reviewed the authorities. And see Pacific Railroad of Missouri v. Missouri Pacific Railway Co., 111 U. S. 505, 4 Sup. Ct. 583, 28 L. Ed. 498; Johnson v. Christian, 125 U. S. 642, 645, 8 Sup. Ct. 989, 31 L. Ed. 820; Carey v. Houston & Texas Central Ry. Co., 161 U. S. 115, 16 Sup. Ct. 537, 40 L. Ed. 638; Eichel v. United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co., 245 U S. 102, 104, 38 Sup. Ct. 47, 62 L. Ed. 177.

The jurisdiction of a court over a particular subject-matter and that court’s power to apply a remedy no doubt are co-extensive; so that demands which are ancillary to the main action may be taken cognizance of by the court and determined in aid of its authority over the principal matter, and a court may entertain proceedings ancillary to its judgment or decree, for the jurisdiction it originally acquired is not exhausted by the entry of the judgment, and the power is still in the court to issue all proper process and take all proper proceedings for the enforcement of its judgment. All this is familiar doctrine and well-established law.

[2] An ancillary suit may be maintained: (1) To aid, enjoin, or regulate the original suit. (2) To restrain, avoid, explain, or enforce the judgment or decree entered in the original suit. (3) To enforce or adjudicate liens or claims to- property in the custody of the court in the original suit. (4) To prevent the relitigation in other courts of the issues heard and adjudged in the original suit, and to protect the titles and rights acquired under its judgment or decree from attack based on the theory that the adjudication in the original suit was illegal or in[516]*516effective. Riverdale Cotton Mills v. Alabama & Georgia Manuf. Co., 198 U. S. 188, 25 Sup. Ct. 629, 49 L. Ed. 1008; Julian v. Central Trust Co., 193 U. S. 93, 112, 113, 24 Sup. Ct. 399, 48 L. Ed. 629; Carey v. Houston & Texas Ry. Co., 161 U. S. 115, 126, 127, 16 Sup. Ct. 537, 40 L. Ed. 638; St. Louis & San Francisco Ry. Co. v. McElvain (D. C.) 253 Fed. 123, 128.

In Bates on Federal Equity Procedure, vol, 1, § 97, the doctrine is summarized as follows:

“A 5111 filed to continue a former litigation in the same court, or which relates to some matter already partly litigated in the same court, or which is an addition to a former litigation in the same court, by the same parties or their representatives standing in the same interest, or to obtain and secure the fruits, benefits, and advantages of the proceedings and judgment in a former suit in the same court by the same or additional parties, standing in the same interest, or to prevent a party from using the proceedings and judgment of the same court for fraudulent purposes or to restrain a party from using a judgment to perpetrate an injustice, or obtain an inequitable advantage over other parties to the former judgment or proceeding, or to obtain any equitable relief in regard to, or connected with, or growing out of, any judgment or proceeding at law rendered in the same court, or to assert any claim, right or title to property in the custody of the court, or for the defense of any property rights, or the collection of assets of any estate being administered by the court, is an ancillary suit.”

[3] We do not question but that the District Court for the Southern District of New York may enforce and protect its jurisdiction as a court of bankruptcy, when appealed to by a supplementary or ancillary bill to enforce its orders, sustain its jurisdiction, and protect parties in the enjoyment of rights secured to them under its orders. This is so, not only where jurisdiction is reserved or still retained, but even after-wards, where the result would be a relitigation of the same subject-matter between the same parties. In re Swofford (D. C.) 180 Fed. 549. But the difficulty with the maintenance of this suit is that it cannot be regarded as in any proper sense an ancillary suit. It was instituted upon the theory that the proceedings in the District Court for the Southern District of New York in the bankruptcy matter of S. H. P. Pell & Co. discharged Stephen H. P. Pell & Co., as a firm, and Stephen H. Pell, Charles A. Kittle, and Howland H. Pell, individually, from all claims against the film of S. H. P. Pell & Co., and that it also discharged therefrom Robert M. Thompson. But this is to lose sight of the terms of the composition, which provided for the release of Thompson—

“from any and all liability to any creditor of S. H. P. Pell & Co. who shall assent hereto, on account of any connection of said Robert M. Thompson with said firm, or any transaction of said Robert M. Thompson by or through said firm.”

The release of Thompson was to apply only to those who specifically assented thereto, and there is no allegation anywhere in the complaint in the present action that the defendants herein assented to the composition. An examination of the record of the former proceedings shows that Thompson was not adjudicated a bankrupt, never filed schedules, and never made any. offer of composition. The offer of [517]*517composition was an offer made by the two Pells and Kittle.

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Bluebook (online)
256 F. 512, 168 C.C.A. 18, 1919 U.S. App. LEXIS 1381, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pell-v-mccabe-ca2-1919.