United States v. Andrew E. Hill and J.E. Pinkerton, United States of America v. Dennis Juren, United States of America v. Edward W. Cromey

694 F.2d 258, 224 U.S. App. D.C. 138, 1982 U.S. App. LEXIS 24212
CourtCourt of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
DecidedNovember 9, 1982
Docket81-2171, 82-1204 and 82-1205
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 694 F.2d 258 (United States v. Andrew E. Hill and J.E. Pinkerton, United States of America v. Dennis Juren, United States of America v. Edward W. Cromey) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Andrew E. Hill and J.E. Pinkerton, United States of America v. Dennis Juren, United States of America v. Edward W. Cromey, 694 F.2d 258, 224 U.S. App. D.C. 138, 1982 U.S. App. LEXIS 24212 (D.C. Cir. 1982).

Opinion

On Petition for Rehearing

HARRY T. EDWARDS, Circuit Judge:

These three appeals involve challenges to District Court orders enforcing investigatory subpoenas issued by the Department of Energy (“DOE”). Because the appellants present a common question concerning the jurisdiction of the District Court, we resolve all three appeals in this opinion. For the reasons set forth below, we hold that section 645 of the Department of Energy Organization Act (“DOEOA”), 42 U.S.C. § 7255 (Supp. IV 1980), does not confer on the District Court subject matter jurisdiction or the power of extraterritorial service of process in DOE subpoena enforcement proceedings and, accordingly, that the District Court lacked jurisdiction to enforce the subpoenas issued to the appellants.

I. Background .

Each of these cases stems from an investigation of industry compliance with the DOE’s Mandatory Petroleum Price and Allocation Regulations, 10 C.F.R. pts. 205, 210-12 (1982). Andrew E. Hill and J.E. Pinkerton, appellants in No. 81-2171, are officers of the Hill Petroleum Company, a Texas corporation. On May 11, 1981, the DOE issued subpoenas ad testificandum directing Hill and Pinkerton to appear at the DOE office in Houston, Texas and to testify concerning “purchases, sales, exchanges and processing of crude oil and the purchase and sale of its refined product[s]” by Hill Petroleum Company and Goldberg Refining, Ltd. When Hill and Pinkerton declined to comply with the subpoenas, the Government sought enforcement in the District Court for the District of Columbia, which effected extraterritorial service of process. The Government alleged that the District Court had jurisdiction to enforce the subpoenas under section 645 of the DOEOA, 1 section 13(e) of the Federal Energy Administration Act (“FEAA”), 2 and section 206 of the Economic Stabilization Act (“ESA”). 3 The District Court rejected appellants’ several attacks on the validity of the subpoenas and ordered their enforcement, basing its jurisdiction solely on section 645 of the DOEOA. United States v. Hill, 525 F.Supp. 621 (D.D.C.1981). 4

Dennis Juren, appellant in No. 82-1204, and Edward W. Cromey, appellant in No. 82-1205, are both officers of the Tesoro Petroleum Company, a Texas corporation. On July 17,1981, the DOE issued subpoenas ad testificandum directing them to appear at the DOE office in Washington, D.C. and to testify concerning transactions between their company and several other petroleum companies. Juren and Cromey refused to comply, and the Government sought enforcement of the subpoenas in the District Court for the District of Columbia. The court’s process was served extraterritorially, and the Government asserted the same jurisdictional grounds as it had in Hill. As in Hill, the District Court rejected appellants’ challenges to the subpoenas and ordered their enforcement, again basing its jurisdiction solely on section 645 of the DOEOA. United States v. Juren, Misc. No. 82-15 (D.D.C. Feb. 17,1982); United States v. Cromey, Misc. No. 82-16 (D.D.C. Feb. 17, 1982); see Transcript of February 16, 1982 Hearing at 41-42, reprinted in Juren Appendix at 21-22.

*260 The four respondents to the subpoena enforcement actions appealed the three District Court orders to this court, which originally affirmed by order. United States v. Hill, 684 F.2d 1033 (D.C.Cir.1982) (speaking order). The cases are now before the court on appellants’ petition for rehearing. This court has jurisdiction to review the final orders of the District Court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 (1976). FTC v. Texaco, Inc., 555 F.2d 862, 873 n. 21 (D.C.Cir.) (en banc), cert. denied, 431 U.S. 974, 97 S.Ct. 2940, 53 L.Ed.2d 1072 (1977); see Cobbledick v. United States, 309 U.S. 323, 330, 60 S.Ct. 540, 543, 84 L.Ed. 783 (1940). 5

II. Jurisdiction of the District Court

A. General Principles

1. Subject Matter Jurisdiction

We begin our analysis of the District Court’s authority to enforce subpoenas issued by the DOE with the accepted premise that federal courts must “scrupulously confine their own jurisdiction to the precise limits which [a federal] statute has defined.” Victory Carriers, Inc. v. Law, 404 U.S. 202, 212, 92 S.Ct. 418, 425, 30 L.Ed.2d 383 (1971) (quoting Healy v. Batta, 292 U.S. 263, 270, 54 S.Ct. 700, 703, 78 L.Ed. 1248 (1934)).

It is a principle of first importance that the federal courts are courts of limited jurisdiction.... They are empowered to hear only those cases that (1) are within the judicial power ..., and (2) that have been entrusted to them by a jurisdictional grant by the Congress.
... The presumption is that a federal court lacks jurisdiction in a particular case until it has been demonstrated that jurisdiction over the subject matter exists.

13 C. Wright, A. Miller & E. Cooper, Federal Practice and Procedure § 3522 (1975) (footnotes omitted). It is clear, moreover, *261 that “[t]he fact that Congress has legislated in a specific area, without more, does not empower a federal court to adjudicate matters arising from or requiring an interpretation of that legislation. Rather, a specific grant of subject matter jurisdiction must exist before a federal tribunal may so act.” Murray v. Murray, 621 F.2d 103, 107 (5th Cir.1980). Unless district courts have been accorded subject matter jurisdiction to enforce DOE subpoenas under section 645 of the DOEOA, the trial court was without authority to act as it did in these cases.

2. Personal Jurisdiction

Even if the District Court possessed subject matter jurisdiction under section 645 or some other statutory provision, see Part II.D.l. infra, that would not end our inquiry. The court must also have had personal jurisdiction over the appellants to enforce the DOE subpoenas against them. On this latter point, there is no doubt that “[ajpart from specific exceptions created by Congress the jurisdiction of the district courts is territorial.” Georgia v. Pennsylvania Railroad, 324 U.S. 439, 467, 65 S.Ct. 716, 731, 89 L.Ed. 1051 (1945).

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

Related

Scott v. Conley
937 F. Supp. 2d 60 (District of Columbia, 2013)
Sierra Club v. Tennessee Valley Authority
905 F. Supp. 2d 356 (District of Columbia, 2012)
U.S. International Trade Commission v. ASAT, Inc.
411 F.3d 245 (D.C. Circuit, 2005)
Labat-Anderson, Inc. v. United States
346 F. Supp. 2d 145 (District of Columbia, 2004)
Doe v. Ashcroft
334 F. Supp. 2d 471 (S.D. New York, 2004)
Recording Industry Ass'n of America v. Verizon Internet Services
257 F. Supp. 2d 244 (District of Columbia, 2003)
Silverman v. Berkson
661 A.2d 1266 (Supreme Court of New Jersey, 1995)
United States of America, Plaintiff-Counterclaim Defendant-Appellee-Cross-Appellant, Florida Keys Citizen Coalition, Florida Audubon Society, Florida Wildlife Federation, Environmental Defense Fund, Sierra Club, National Wildlife Federation, Wilderness Society, National Parks & Conservation Association, Defenders of Wildlife and Treasure Coast Environmental Coalition, Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida, Intervenor v. Southern Florida Water Management District and Florida Department of Environmental Regulation, Tilford Creel, Defendants-Counterclaim Carol Browner, City of Belle Glade, City of Clewiston, Intervenor-Defendants-Appellants-Cross-Appellees, Western Palm Beach County Farm Bureau, Inc., Florida Sugar Cane League, Inc., Roth Farms, Inc. And K.W.B. Farms, Intervenor-Defendants- Counterclaim, Plaintiffs- Appellants- Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association, Intervenor-Defendant, South Bay Growers, Inc., Movant, Colonel Bruce A. Malson, Counterclaim United States of America, Plaintiff-Counterclaim Florida Keys Citizen Coalition, Intervenor-Plaintiff-Appellee, Florida Audubon Society, Intervenor-Plaintiffs v. South Florida Water Management Division, Florida Department of Environmental Regulation, Defendants-Counterclaim Tilford Creel, City of Belle Glade, City of Clewiston, Intervenor-Defendants-Appellants, West Palm Beach County Farm, Florida Sugar Cane League, Inc., Roth Farms, Inc. And K.W.B. Farms, Intervenor-Defendants-Counterclaim, Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association, Intervenor-Defendant, South Bay Growers, Inc., Movant, Colonel Bruce A. Malson, Counterclaim
28 F.3d 1563 (Eleventh Circuit, 1994)
United States v. Rivieccio
661 F. Supp. 281 (E.D. New York, 1987)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
694 F.2d 258, 224 U.S. App. D.C. 138, 1982 U.S. App. LEXIS 24212, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-andrew-e-hill-and-je-pinkerton-united-states-of-cadc-1982.