State Ex Rel. Gremillion v. NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR ADVANCMENT OF CP

90 So. 2d 884
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 26, 1956
Docket4292
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 90 So. 2d 884 (State Ex Rel. Gremillion v. NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR ADVANCMENT OF CP) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State Ex Rel. Gremillion v. NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR ADVANCMENT OF CP, 90 So. 2d 884 (La. Ct. App. 1956).

Opinion

90 So.2d 884 (1956)

STATE of Louisiana ex rel. Jack P. F. GREMILLION, Attorney General,
v.
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR the ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE et al.

No. 4292.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

November 26, 1956.

Alex L. Pitcher, Jr., Baton Rouge, R. B. Millspaugh, Opelousas, A. P. Tureaud, A. M. Trudeau, Jr., New Orleans, for appellant.

Jack P. F. Gremillion, Atty. Gen., Wm. C. Bradley, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellees.

ELLIS, Judge.

Suit was brought on March 1, 1956 against appellant Association (and also individually against members of its Board of Directors and Executive Committee) on the relation of the Attorney General pursuant to LSA-R.S. 12:401, 12:405, seeking a temporary and a permanent injunction to *885 enjoin defendant Association and its officers from conducting any business in the state and dissolving defendant Association in Louisiana.

The hearing on the preliminary injunction was held on March 29, 1956, and an injunction issued against defendant Association in accordance with the prayer of the petition herein. The suit was dismissed as against the co-defendant individuals, officers of defendant Association.

Defendant Association appeals, and its sole contention is that the preliminary injunction issued on March 29, 1956, and all proceedings in State court subsequent thereto are null and void, since the cause was removed to the United States District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana, on March 28, 1956, pursuant to and in accordance with Title 28, United States Code Annotated, § 1446, which provides:

"Procedure for removal.—(a) A defendant or defendants desiring to remove any civil action or criminal prosecution from a State court shall file in the district court of the United States for the district and division within which such action is pending a verified petition containing a short and plain statement of the facts which entitle him or them to removal together with a copy of all process, pleadings and orders served upon him or them in such action.
"(b) The petition for removal of a civil action or proceeding shall be filed within twenty days after the receipt by the defendant, through service or otherwise, of a copy of the initial pleading setting forth the claim for relief upon which such action or proceeding is based, or within twenty days after the service of summons upon the defendant if such initial pleading has then been filed in court and is not required to be served on the defendant, whichever period is shorter.
"If the case stated by the initial pleading is not removable, a petition for removal may be filed within twenty days after receipt by the defendant, through service or otherwise, of a copy of an amended pleading, motion, order or other paper from which it may first be ascertained that the case is one which is or has become removable.
"(c) The petition for removal of a criminal prosecution may be filed at any time before trial.
"(d) Each petition for removal of a civil action or proceeding, except a petition in behalf of the United States, shall be accompanied by a bond with good and sufficient surety conditioned that the defendant or defendants will pay all costs and disbursements incurred by reason of the removal proceedings should it be determined that the case was not removable or was improperly removed.
"(e) Promptly after the filing of such petition and bond the defendant or defendants shall give written notice thereof to all adverse parties and shall file a copy of the petition with the clerk of such State court, which shall effect the removal and the State court shall proceed no further unless and until the case is remanded.
"(f) If the defendant or defendants are in actual custody on process issued by the State court, the district court shall issue its writ of habeas corpus, and the marshal shall thereupon take such defendant or defendants into his custody and deliver a copy of the writ to the clerk of such State court. June 25, 1948, c. 646 [§ 1], 62 Stat. 939, amended May 24, 1949, c. 139, § 83, 63 Stat. 101." Emphasis added.

Defendant Association filed a copy of federal court "petition for removal" in the 19th Judicial District Court of Louisiana on March 28, 1949, at 3:40 P.M. together with a copy of a written notice of said removal directed to petitioner of same date.

*886 When the preliminary injunction came up for hearing on the following day, on March 29, 1956, defendant Association objected to further proceedings since the petition for removal had been filed in the United States District Court within twenty days of service and since written notice was given to petitioner of said removal. Under 28 U.S.C.A. § 1446(e), it is urged, this has effected removal of this cause to the federal court and the "State court[s] shall proceed no further unless and until the case is remanded."

The State urged that the removal was ineffective for several reasons (such as that actions to which the State is a party may not be removed to federal courts, and that the written notice was ineffective since placed in the Attorney General's box rather than given to him personally), and relied upon Patterson v. State, 234 Ala. 342, 175 So. 371, and similar cases, which held that, although removal of a cause from State to Federal court is a matter of right, nevertheless the state court has the right and the power to examine the application for removal and to ascertain whether it complies with the Federal removal statute, and to retain jurisdiction in the event of non-compliance. This was under the old Sections 72, 74 and 75 of Title 28 U.S.C.A.

However, the law is clear that such jurisprudence has been superseded by Congressional enactment in 1948 and 1949, which pertinently provided the text of Section 1445, Title 28, above quoted in full. The effect of the change was summarized by the Supreme Court of Idaho in Hopson v. North American Insurance Co., 71 Idaho 461, 233 P.2d 799, 802, 25 A.L.R.2d 1040, 1044-1045, as follows:

"By providing in Section 1446 that taking such procedural steps effects the removal of the cause to the Federal Court, which is not found in the earlier Act, Congress has thereby expressly effected the removal of the cause to the Federal Court irrespective of the ultimate determination of the question as to whether or not it is removable; it is not thereafter in the State court for any purpose until and unless the cause is remanded; for that reason the State court is expressly prohibited from proceeding further until and unless it is so remanded; under Sec. 72 the removal was never accomplished unless it was a cause removable; under the present Act removal is accomplished and jurisdiction attaches in the Federal Court even though it may be subsequently determined that it should be and is thereafter remanded. Removability is no longer a criterion which gives or denies validity to the proceedings in the State court while a petition for removal to the Federal Court is pending; any such proceedings in the State court under the present act are not sanctioned; they are prohibited.

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Bluebook (online)
90 So. 2d 884, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-gremillion-v-national-association-for-advancment-of-cp-lactapp-1956.