264 F. 399 | 8th Cir. | 1920
Lead Opinion
On October 30, 1916, upon the verified complaint of the Guaranty Trust Company of New York and J. J. Bodell, plaintiffs in a suit in equity against Division No. 691 of Springfield, Mo., of the Amalgamated Association of Street and Electric Rail
On March 9, 1917, the court below, upon affidavits specifying other specific violations of the. injunction by Jennings, issued another writ of arrest against him under which the marshal again arrested him and brought him before the court in the second case against him, which was entitled United States v. O. E. Jennings, No. 2661. On the representation of the. United States attorney that these two cases were actions for contempt against the same person, and that each was for the same class of offenses punishable by the same penalties, the court ordered them consolidated for trial. They were tried together, the jury found the defendant guilty in each case, and in each case the court sentenced the defendant to imprisonment for three months and the payment of the costs of the action.
Counsel for Mr. Jennings ask a reversal of the judgments in these cases on three grounds: First, because the court below had no jurisdiction of the suit in equity in which it issued the injunction and therefore no jurisdiction to issue it; second, because no indictment was found or information filed against the defendant below but he was tried on the attachments for his arrests and the complaints and affidavits on which the attachments were founded; and, third, because the two cases against him were consolidated for trial and each of the charges against him in the complaints and affidavits was not tried separately.
The Traction Company was the owner and was trying to operate the Springfield Street Railway. In the year 1911 it had mortgaged that railway and its property to the Guaranty Trust Company to secure the payment of its bonds to the amount of $300,000, some of which were owned by J. J. Bodell. O. E. Jennings and other defendants, who were former employés of the Traction Company, had struck, and had conspired togeth'er to interfere and were interfering with and obstructing the operation of the railway, by threatening and intimidating the employés of the Traction Company who were attempting to operate the street cars on it. Thereupon the Trust Company and Bodell brought the suit in equity, and joined as defendants the Traction Company, Division No. 691, of Springfield, O. E. Jennings, and others, some of whom were members of that division and were strikers, who, pursuant to the alleged conspiracy, were, by threats, intimidation, violent action, and the threat thereof, hindering and in large part preventing the operation of the railway, so that they were thereby depreciating the value of the property of the Traction Company and the security of the plaintiffs, and unless enjoined would irreparably injure that security, and destroy or render it of much less value than the amount
It is true that much is alleged in the complaint about a contract between the Traction Company and Division No. 691 and the breach of that contract, but the plaintiffs were not parties to that contract, and, if all that was written in the complaint on that subject had been omitted, the remaining averments therein were ample, if proved, to establish the equity the complainants claim and their rights to the injunction ordered! The gravamen of the complaint was the conspiracy of Jennings and his associates to interfere and their interference by threats, intimidations, violence, and the terror of violence with the operators of and the passengers on the stre'et cars, whereby their operation was prevented or impeded, and whereby the value of the plaintiffs’ security was being and would be irreparably destroyed or injured, unless such ácts were prevented by the injunction the plaintiffs sought, and these acts were unlawful, and entitled the plaintiffs to the injunction, and to equitable relief therefrom, regardless of the contract between the Traction Company and Division No. 691, or its breach.
And as the Traction Company was not an indispensable party to the equity suit, its joinder did not oust the jurisdiction of the court, because the plaintiffs or the court, at any time when objections to its jurisdiction on the ground of the presence of the Traction Company were made, might dismiss it from the suit, and, as other defendants were citizens of Missouri, the jurisdiction of the court was and is unassailable, even if the Traction Company was interested therein on the same side as the plaintiffs. Sioux City Terminal Ry. Co. v. Trust Co. of North America, 82 Fed. 124, 126, 27 C. C. A. 73, 75; Equity Rule No. 39 (198 Fed. xxix, 115 C. C. A. xxix) ; Silver King Coalition Mines Co. v. Silver King C. M. Co, 204 Fed. 166, 169, 177, 122 C. C. A. 402, 405, 413; Webb v. Southern Ry. Co. (D. C.) 235 Fed. 578, 584; Wallin et al. v. Reagan et al. (C. C.) 171 Fed. 758, 764; New York, N. H. & H. R. Co. v. City of New York (C. C.) 145 Fed. 661, 662.
The judgments below must be affirmed; and it is so ordered.
Concurrence Opinion
In stating my concurrence, I prefer to restrict concurrence, upon the question of jurisdiction, to the ground last stated in the opinion, to wit, that the Traction Company was not k necessary nor indispensable party to the bill and to the relief sought by complainants.