248 F. 106 | 8th Cir. | 1917
Appellant, hereafter called plaintiff, commenced this action against appellees, hereafter called defendants, except when' separately named, and in his complaint prayed that said defendants be perpetually enjoined from violating the provisions of the commodities clause of the Interstate Commerce Act, from violating the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, and also prayed that a receiver be appointed to take charge of the property and assets of the coal companies, to the end that they might be operated independently of the railroad company. Defendants filed motions to dismiss the complaint, and upon argument the same was dismissed for want of equity. From the judgment of dismissal, plaintiff appealed.
The complaint alleged: That plaintiff was a citizen of the state of Oregon; that the defendant the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad Company, hereafter called railroad company, was a corporation of the state of Utah, and was incorporated on or about June 9, 1909; that the defendant Utah Fuel Company was a corporation of the state of
That plaintiff was at the time of the bringing of the suit (June 14, 1916), and for some time theretofore had been, a stockholder of the defendant railroad company and the owner of 10 shares of the common capital stock of said company, of the par value of $1,000 and of substantial market value; that the railroad company had no authority tinder its charter or the laws of Utah to own or hold corporate stock generally, nor corporate stock in coal-mining or coal-owning companies or corporations, nor to engage in the business of coal or coke producing; that by the articles of incorporation of said railroad company the ownership of stock in any coal owning, mining, or operating company was only permissible or authorized as a means or method of the railroad company to own the mine itself and the product thereof; that the defendant Pleasant Valley Coal Company was incorporated-in the year 1882, and was engaged in .the business of acquiring and holding coal lands as a mere arm, instrumentality, department, and agency of the railroad company; that the defendant Utah Fuel Company was incorporated about the year 1901, and since such time its sole business had been the same as that of the Pleasant Valley Coal Company, being the nominal owner of the entire capital Stock of the Pleasant Valley Coal Company, and that the complete control of its
That said railroad company maintains, and for a long time has maintained, a station known as Castle Gate, in Carbon county, Utah, and publishes tariffs showing traffic rates, both freight and passenger, thereto and therefrom; nevertheless it gives out and pretends that it has no real property at said point, and permits said subsidiaries to occupy, direct, and control all the railroad facilities and loading and unloading places at said point, and to prevent competitors in the coal business from unloading their freight at said station; that the Ketchum Coal Company was, and for several years had been, a corporation owning and attempting to operate a coal mine about 1,300 feet northerly from the railroad tracks of the defendant railroad company at said Castle Gate station; that said Ketchum Coal Company brought a suit against the defendants, and others, to condemn a right of way over ground claimed to be owned by said defendants from its said mine to the
That on or about November 24, 1915, at Salt Fake City, Utah, in a conference concerning facilities for the Ketchum Coal Company at Castle Gate, between Truman A. Ketchum and L. R. Eccles, representing the Ketchum Coal Company, and said Edward T. Jefferey and A. 11. Cowie, representing the defendants herein, the said A. H. Cowie declared he would deplete the treasury of the Utah Fuel Company before he would allow the Ketchum Coal Company to ship one car of coal from that camp, and the said Edward T. Jefferey then and there declared that he would not agree to the Ketchum Coal Company operating at Castle Gate; that by reason of the constitution of
That said railroad company ever since its organization has been in legal effect the ownér of and has had a pecuniary interest in the coal mines of said coal companies, and ever since the organization of said railroad company it has been largely engaged through the instrumentality of its said agencies and departments, namely, its said codefendants, in producing large quantities of coal and coke, and at all said times the said defendant railroad company has been transporting in interstate commerce for commercial purposes» many hundreds of tons of said coal and coke daily, all in violation of the act of Congress commonly known as the Interstate Commerce Act; that by reason of the acts of said railroad company it continually and daily incurs a liability to suits and prosecutions under the laws of the United States, and of having its funds diverted from their proper purposes to the payment of heavy damage?, costs, expenses, forfeitures, penalties, and fines because of the violation of said laws, and also the liability of having its charter revoked and to be dissolved as a corporation and lose its franchises, thereby rendering its shares of capital stock, especially its common stock, entirely and utterly worthless, to the great and irreparable damage and loss of tire plaintiff and all other common stockholders in said corporation.
So far as the plaintiff is personally concerned, the case presented by the complaint does not appear to us to present any equity in his behalf. The relief prayed for is extraordinary. Before a court of equity would take charge through a receiver of the immense business detailed in the complaint, and break up the business combination' as it now exists, it would require a very meritorious case. Plaintiff alleges
It cloes not appear from the complaint that the plaintiff has heen damaged by the acts of the defendants hi any sum whatever. On the contrary, it would seem that the arrangement complained of is very beneficial to the railroad company, and therefore to its stockholders. The plaintiff seems to rely u|i>on the allegation that the acts of the defendant railrqad company, if continued, will subject, it to suits for penalties and forfeitures; hut the fear of such a result is greatly lessened when we take into consideration that for about seven years the acts complained of have been committed, and no suits for penalties have yet been commenced. We think it also plainly appears from the complaint that the real trouble which has given rise to the present suit is the quarrel between the Ketchum Coal Company and the railroad company in regard to the shipment of coal, and, while this fact would not bar the plaintiff from instituting this action, it does bear strongly upon the equities alleged to exist in his behalf.
“And the Commission is hereby authorized and required to execute and enforce the provisions of this act; and, upon the request of the Commission, it shall be the duty of any district attorney of the United States to whom the Commission may apply to institute in the proper court and to prosecute, under the direction of the Attorney General of the United States, all necessary proceedings for the enforcement of the provisions of this act, and for the punishment of all violations thereof.”
But, if we are in error in regard to this last proposition, we are satisfied that the plaintiff has not made a sufficient showing of wrongs suffered to authorize a court of equity to grant the extraordinary relief prayed for. Dimpfell v. Ohio, etc., Co., 110 U. S. 209, 3 Sup Ct. 573, 28 L. Ed. 121; Taylor v. Holmes, 127 U. S. 489, 8 Sup. Ct. 1192, 32 L. Ed. 179; Corbus v. Gold Mining Co., 187 U. S. 455. 23 Sup. Ct. 157, 47 L. Ed. 256; Dannmeyer v. Coleman (C. C.) 11 Fed. 97; Venner v. A., T. & S. F. Ry. Co. (C. C.) 28 Fed. 581; Beshoar v. Chappell, 6 Colo. App. 323, 40 Pac. 244; Sparhawk v. Union Pass. Ry. Co., 54 Pa. 401.
The decree below is therefore affirmed.