Southern Ry. Co. v. Painter

117 F.2d 100, 1941 U.S. App. LEXIS 4187
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedJanuary 10, 1941
DocketNo. 11794
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 117 F.2d 100 (Southern Ry. Co. v. Painter) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Southern Ry. Co. v. Painter, 117 F.2d 100, 1941 U.S. App. LEXIS 4187 (8th Cir. 1941).

Opinion

WOODROUGH, Circuit Judge.

The Southern Railway Company appeals from an injunctional order restraining it from enforcing an injunction issued at its instance by a state court of Tennessee. The railway company was sued in the federal court for the Eastern District of Missouri by Ethel Painter, administratrix of the estate of Geoffrey L. Painter, on the ground that the railway company had negligently caused the death of her intestate and that she was entitled to damages therefor under the provisions of the Federal Employers’ Liability Act, 45 U.S.C.A. §§ 51-59. The company answered the complaint filed in the federal court and denied liability; it did not question the venue, nor did it deny that the court had jurisdiction of the causé. Thereafter it instituted an action in the chancery court of Knox county at Knoxville, Tennessee, and there pleaded that Mrs. Painter and her deceased husband were at the time of the accident which caused his death, citizens of- Tennessee; that the accident occurred in Tennessee ; that witnesses to the accident lived and worked in Tennessee, and that it would disrupt the railway’s business and cause it great expense to try Mrs. Painter’s cause of action where it had been brought, in the Eastern District of Missouri at ,St. Louis, in which district the railway did only an interstate business. It alleged that the estate of Geoffrey L. Painter was insolvent and that if it should be successful in its defense of the action by the admin-istratrix, it could not recover its expenditures. Stating that the action could be conveniently tried by the parties in the courts of Tennessee or of North Carolina, it alleged that the action was brought in St. Louis to obtain for the administratrix an unfair and inequitable advantage, and it prayed that the chancery court enjoin the administratrix from prosecuting her action in the federal court for the Eastern District of Missouri, or in any other state or federal court which did not sit in certain specified cities or towns, some in Tennessee and some in North Carolina. The chancery court granted the injunction.

The administratrix then filed a supplemental bill in her original suit in the federal district court, praying that the railway be enjoined from enforcing the injunction issued by the chancery court of Knox county, Tennessee. The railway contended upon motion to dismiss the supplemental bill, that the federal court lacked jurisdiction over the subject matter thereof, and that the relief could not be granted; that the relief sought was an injunction against proceedings in a state court, contrary to the prohibition of Sec. 265 of the Judicial Code, 28 U.S.C.A. § 379. The district court proceeded to hearing upon the supplemental bill and issued a preliminary injunction against the railway. The holding was that the injunction issued by the Tennessee court interfered with the jurisdiction of the federal court which had attached for trial of the merits of the ad-ministratrix’s claim for damages, and that the federal courts were authorized by Sec. 262 of the Judicial Code, 28 U.S.C.A. § 377, to protect their jurisdiction by issuing “all writs not specifically provided for by statute, which may be necessary for the exercise of their respective jurisdictions”. The railway company appeals.

[102]*102It does not contend that the federal district court for the Eastern District of Missouri lacked jurisdiction of the complaint which the administratrix filed therein against it under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act 45 U.S.C.A. §§ 51-59. That Act provides, 45 U.S.C.A. § 56: “Under this chapter an action may be brought in a district court of the United States, in the district of the residence of the defendant, or in which the cause of action arose, or in which the defendant shall be doing business at the time of commencing such action.” See Moore v. Chesapeake & O. Ry. Co., 291 U.S. 205, 54 S.Ct. 402, 78 L.Ed. 755; Hoffman v. State of Missouri ex rel. Foraker, 274 U.S. 21, 47 S.Ct. 485, 71 L.Ed. 905. The Railway Company does not contend that it was not doing business in the Eastern District of Missouri, and the trial court found as a fact that it was and is so doing business, “operating its railroad trains in, into and out of said City of Saint Louis”.

The railway company contends, first, that the injunction issued by the Tennessee chancery court is a judgment which cannot be attacked collaterally but must be given full faith and credit; and second, that the federal district court had no power to enjoin against enforcement of the Tennessee injunction, since to do so would be enjoining proceedings in a state court contrary to Sec. 265 of the Judicial Code. The injunction-.of the Tennessee court was granted upon ex parte application of the railway company. The administratrix contends that although that court had jurisdiction of the parties, it did not have jurisdiction of the subject matter of the action, that is, to enjoin a party from proceeding with an action in personam for a money judgment pending in a federal court. In answer to this, the railway company contends that its action in Tennessee for injunction was in personam against the administratrix, and that the decree should not be construed as an injunction against the federal court. It cites as authority, Roberts’ Federal Liabilities of Carriers, 2d Ed. Vol. 2, Sec. 962, p. 1855, where a quotation to this effect is given from High on Injunctions, Sec. 106. Also 14 R.C.L. Sec. 114, pp. 413-14; Louisville & N. R. Co. v. Ragen, 172 Tenn. 593, 113 S.W.2d 743. It contends that upon this construction of the injunction suit it should be ruled that actions under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act may be enjoined by a state court, citing Reed’s Administratrix v. Illinois C. R. Co., 182 Ky. 455, 206 S.W. 794; Chicago, M. & St. P. R. Co. v. McGinley, 175 Wis. 565, 185 N.W. 218; New York, C. & St. L. R. Co. v. Matzinger, 136 Ohio St. 271, 25 N.E.2d 349; State ex rel. New York, C. & St. L. R. Co. v. Nortoni, 331 Mo. 764, 55 S.W.2d 272, 85 A.L.R. 1345 (state court actions enjoined) ; and Bryant v. Atlantic Coast Line Co., 2 Cir., 92 F.2d 569 (a federal court action enjoined). The railway company also contends that the injunction issued by the federal court pursuant to the prayer of the supplemental bill was one against the Tennessee court rather than one merely in personam against the railway company.

It cites Oklahoma Packing Co. v. Oklahoma Gas & Elec. Co., 309 U.S. 4, 60 S.Ct. 215, 84 L.Ed. 537, to support its point that the realistic effect of the injunction process must be .recognized, and we deem that case applicable and controlling, not only on the proposition that such construction should be given to injunctions issued by federal courts, but also on the proposition that a similar realistic construction should be given to injunctions issued by courts of a state. The effect of the Tennessee injunction is to oust the federal district court of its jurisdiction over the case pending for damages as really as the injunction issued pursuant to the supplemental bill ousts the jurisdiction of the Tennessee chancery court. Nearly all cases which discuss respective jurisdiction of state and federal courts decide that there is' a certain parity of respect which each must have for the other. In discussing the effect of Sec. 265 of the Judicial Code, 28 U.S.C.A. § 379, the Supreme Court of the United States said in Essanay Film Mfg. Co. v. Kane, 258 U.S. 358, 361, 42 S.Ct. 318, 319, 66 L.Ed.

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

Related

Mooney v. Denver & R. G. W. R.
221 P.2d 628 (Utah Supreme Court, 1950)
United States v. National City Lines, Inc.
7 F.R.D. 456 (S.D. California, 1947)
Leet v. Union Pacific Railroad
155 P.2d 42 (California Supreme Court, 1944)
Southern Railway Co. v. Painter
314 U.S. 155 (Supreme Court, 1941)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
117 F.2d 100, 1941 U.S. App. LEXIS 4187, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/southern-ry-co-v-painter-ca8-1941.