Rice v. Sharpleigh Hardware Co.

85 F. 559, 1898 U.S. App. LEXIS 2895
CourtU.S. Circuit Court for the District of Western Tennessee
DecidedJanuary 10, 1898
DocketNo. 3,436
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 85 F. 559 (Rice v. Sharpleigh Hardware Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Western Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rice v. Sharpleigh Hardware Co., 85 F. 559, 1898 U.S. App. LEXIS 2895 (circtwdtn 1898).

Opinion

HAMMOND, J.

(after stating the facts). This case is very peculiar, and I have been perplexed to know what to do with it. The defendant is a Missouri corporation, entitled, under the principles laid down in Pennoyer v. Neff, 95 U. S. 714, and other cases of like authority, to exemption from suits in other states which shall, without due process of law, bind it to personal judgment, except so far as it may have submitted'itself to these outside jurisdictions; but, by the same principles and authority, whatever property it has situated in another state is undoubtedly subject to appropriation in that state, by attachment or other proceedings for that purpose, to the payment of any debts which it may owe to citizens of that state. It is a primary principle in all jurisprudence that whenever a nonresident comes within the jurisdiction of a state, and sues its citizens, as in this case the defendant company did when it sued the plaintiffs here, it submits itself to that jurisdiction for all the purposes of that suit, and whatever remedy the defendant has against the nonresident plaintiff by way of set-off or cross action in that suit may be enforced against the nonresident, as it may against any other plaintiff, and for that purpose every court in which a suit is pending has a right to compel the nonresident plaintiff to submit to answer and defend against the cross action; and under this principle it is obvious that, if the chancery court in which the defendant company brought its suit at law could have maintained a cross action for unliquidated damages, there would have been no difficulty in having the very litigation we have in hand carried on in that suit. But, inasmuch as our Tennessee statute conferring upon the chancery court jurisdiction of actions at law by express terms excludes it from entertaining suits for unliquidated damages, the plaintiffs here were compelled to go into a court of law to bring their suit. Mill. & V. Code, § 5043. And, being so compelled, we have the anomaly, as a result of this Tennessee legislation, that parties having cross actions against each other, of purely legal cognizance, which could be well and entirely settled between them in a court of law in one suit, are separated from each other, unnaturally, so to speak, and one is in a court of chancery with his action at law, and the other is in a court of law with his cross action at law, both arising out of precisely the same [562]*562contract between the parties, which, by every principle of convenience, to say the least of it, ought to be settled, if possible, in the same suit, whether at law or in equity. This jurisdiction of the Tennessee chancery court is an unnatural, and in this case an obstructive, one, of which this nonresident corporation seeks to take advantage by refusing to appear in the action at law against it, hoping thereby to evade the jurisdiction of that state, into which it has come to collect its own debt against one of the citizens of that state. If allowed thus to take advantage of an anomalous condition, result of the litigátion will be that it avoids the effect above mentioned of its voluntary appearance in the courts of Tennessee to sue a citizen of that state. I feel quite sure that this cannot successfully be accomplished, and yet I am not at all sure how its appearance to this suit can be compelled, for the situation is further complicated in its perplexities by the removal of the suit at law from the state court in which it was brought to this court. It has occurred to me that it might be proper to remand this case to the state court, upon the ground that it is a cross action, which is only a part of, or ancillary to, the suit in the chancery court, — separated, to be sure, by the peculiar legislation of Tennessee, but none the less within the purview of our jurisdiction, the same as if they were both pending in the same court, and united to each other, as they might and would be but for that separating legislation. I have not much doubt but what our courts may, as a mere matter of comity, refuse to entertain a jurisdiction, otherwise unobjectionable,-where it shall appear that by the removal the adverse party is injuriously affected, beyond our power to redress; nor have I any doubt that the court should take this action of its own motion whenever such a condition appears. But, inasmuch as an order to remand would be final, and not reviewable anywhere, I have concluded not to take that course, for the present, at least; and I am the more inclined to do this since the pendency of the suit in the chancery court does not appear in this record by any pleading or proof, by affidavit or otherwise, or verified record, but only by a suggestion of counsel. To overrule this motion, and thereby compel the defendant to appear here to answer this suit, would be to accomplish substantially that which could have been done if the two suits had remained in the same jurisdiction and the same court, and should be there tried together in the very court to which the defendant company itself voluntarily resorted to bring its own suit against the plaintiffs. That is to say, it would enable the plaintiffs to maintain their cross action against the defendant for unliquidated damages, and, if they recover a judgment here, to then appear in the state chancery court, where the defendant’s suit has already been stayed for that purpose, and plead it as a set-off to the defendant’s claim against the plaintiffs. But I am satisfied that the law is with the defendant company upon this motion; that the attachment, the service by garnishment upon the plaintiffs themselves, and the order of publication to appear, are not in accordance with the laws of Tennessee in that behalf; and that by that procedure jurisdiction over the person of the defendant company has not been acquired in the state court or in this court. But it does not follow [563]*563from this that this suit is to be dismissed, but only that the process and its service shall be quashed. The suit may remain for such further service as the plaintiffs may be able to secure; and the question which has perplexed me is, how can the defendant company be compelled to do that which it ought to do under the circumstances above stated,- — enter its appearance, and answer this suit within the jurisdiction of the state of Tennessee, either in the state court or this court; both being cou'rts of the state of Tennessee, within that purview, and for that purpose? In the chancery court an injunction.has already been bad against the defendant company, forbidding it to proceed in that court until it shall have entered its appearance in this suit, and until it shall be finally determined. It is not a mandatory injunction, but only a stay order. I take it that after the cross bill, and injunction or stay order granted on it, the defendant company would not be allowed by tbe chancellor to dismiss that proceeding, or to depart from that jurisdiction, for the purpose of suing elsewhere, and that it cannot proceed to the collection of its claim against the plaintiffs until it does enter its appearance here. Stevens v. Railroad Co., 4 Fed. 97; Chicago & A. R. Co. v. Union Rolling-Mills Co., 109 U. S. 702, 3 Sup. Ct. 594. Therefore, I shall at least not dismiss this suit, but allow it to remain here, with leave to the plaintiffs to issue alias process, and continue from term to term with such alias until they may either find some means of serving the writ, or compelling appearance to this suit.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
85 F. 559, 1898 U.S. App. LEXIS 2895, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rice-v-sharpleigh-hardware-co-circtwdtn-1898.