65 F. 667 | U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Western Virginia | 1895
This case is before me on motion of defendants to dissolve the injunction granted on the 8th day of June, 1894, as prayed for in plaintiff’s bill. In order to fairly understand the questions involved in this controversy, and to appreciate those now disposed of, it is necessary that the main points raised in the case of Paul Hutchinson, administrator of Charles Hutchinson, deceased, et al., against the Wytheville Insurance & Banking Company, .and in the petition filed therein in the name of Blount & Boynton and others against said defendant and others, as also in the amended and supplemental bill, in the nature of a cross bill, filed in said cause by Blount & Boynton et al. against H. G. Wadley and others, to all of
On the 16th day of May, 1.894, in the county court of Wythe county, Va., an indictment against said H. G-. Wadley was returned by the grand jury then attending that court, in which he was charged with the embezzlement and misappropriation of the funds of the Wytheville Insurance & Banking Company, in the particular instances and amounts as reported by the said master in his report so filed in this court. The bill I now consider was presented on the 8ih day of June, 1894, in which, after reciting much of the history of the litigation to which I have made reference, it is charged that the same creditors who so submitted themselves to the jurisdiction of this court, and who so petitioned this court to consider and adjudicate the matters referred to in said suits, are the identical parties who, acting by counsel employed by them for that purpose, — the same counsel who so represented and now represent such creditors in this court, — caused said indictment to be instituted, and are now conducting the criminal prosecution founded thereon; and, also, it is charged therein that the same matters, rights, and issues are involved in said criminal procedure, as are set forth in the civil pleadings so theretofore submitted by such creditors to the determination of this court; that Wadley is the same person pursued by them in their proceedings in the civil suits in this court and in the criminal procedure in the county court of Wythe county, Va. It is also alleged that Wadley has been taken into custody by the said county court, and is now held under a bail bond to appear and answer said indictment. And it is. further charged that after said master had made up his report, and when the nature of the same and the contents thereof had been communicated to said creditors, they and their counsel, after consultation together, decided to and did offer a proposition for the settlement of the debts mentioned in the report to the said Wadley, they agreeing to accept fifty cents on the dollar in full satisfaction of their said claims, the said offer being communicated to Wadley by a committee of the creditors appointed for that purpose at the consultation alluded to, and being by him promptly rejected; it being set forth in the same, which was reduced to writing, that it was only to remain in force for the period of 10 days. The plaintiff now charges that said offer was intended as a threat, the object being to intimidate him, and force him to pay the debts of said company. The said proposition, showing the terms thereof, the names of the creditors who participated in it, and the
The plaintiff insists that his rights as a citizen of the United States were thus violated, as it is provided in the fifth amendment of the constitution that no person shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself; and that, in pursuance of this provision, congress has enacted section 860 of the Revised Statutes, prohibiting the use of pleadings and evidence taken in judicial proceedings as testimony in criminal prosecutions. As I dispose of this case on other grounds, I will not discuss the questions relating to the use of copies of the master’s report and plaintiff’s deposition in the criminal procedure in Wythe county court, in the state of Virginia, hut, in passing them by, will remark that I cannot conceive of any proper way by which such papers could have been used as evidence before the grand jury of that county, under the circumstances as set forth in the hill and proceedings of this cause; and, but for the uncontradicted testimony of a number of witnesses, I would not think it possible that such action could be had before any grand jury duly impaneled by any court in tbis country. Nor will I intimate by any ruling on the matter at this time that any court of the state of Virginia will during the trial of a criminal cause permit such copies or evidence of that character to be offered for the consideration of the jury. Should I be; mistaken in this, tbe remedy would, I think, he plain, and the relief without doubt.
There are other allegations in the bill, relative to the action of said creditors and the rights of the plaintiff, but I do not find it necessary to allude to them now. On consideration of the hill, the exhibits, and the proceedings had in the original cause, I directed an order in substance restraining the further prosecution of said indictment until the matters referred to by plaintiff could be heard and determined by this court. The creditors have filed their joint answer, in which they admit the allegations of the bill, relative to the proceedings in this court, in the suit of Paul Hutchinson, administrator, etc., against the Wytheville Insurance & Banking Company, and their connection with the same. They admit, that this court, to the fullest extent, obtained complete jurisdiction over the subject-matter of and the parties to said suit; but they insist that Wadley himself was not a party thereto. They admit the examination of
Tbe defendant J. L. Gleaves files bis separate answer, in which be claims that be is tbe attorney for tbe commonwealth for Wythe county, Va., and that it is bis duty to prosecute said Wadley on tbe indictment so found, and that this court has no right, authority, or jurisdiction to enjoin and prohibit him from so doing. He claims that be was not a party to tbe litigation pending in this court, and not familiar with tbe proceedings bad therein, and be admits that this court obtained in proper and lawful manner complete jurisdiction over all tbe parties and the issues involved in tbe suit of Hutchinson, administrator, etc., against tbe Wytbeville Insurance & Banking Company. • He denies that tbe creditors who submitted themselves to tbe jurisdiction of this court are tbe parties who are conducting tbe criminal proceedings against Wadley, and insists that tbe state of Virginia, acting through her grand jury, instituted tbe same, and that be in bis official capacity has charge of it. He also denies that “any federal record” was unlawfully used, in procuring said indictment, but that it was returned on tbe evidence of witnesses regularly summoned by him for that purpose. Tbe other matters set out in the answer of defendant Gleaves, as to what transpired in tbe county court of Wythe county subsequent to tbe finding of tbe indictment against Wadley, or as to what can foe made to appear from tbe books, records, and papers of tbe Wytbeville Insurance & Banking Company relative to bis misappropriation of tbe funds of that institution, are not material to tbe points on which I think this case must be decided.
After examining tbe entire record of all tbe mass of litigation drawn into this controversy, I find that, so far as tbe questions now presented are concerned, the greater part thereof can be eliminated as not germane, and that tbe real issue is a simple one, elementary in character, — not “startling and unusual,” as counsel have claimed, — tbe decision of which follows as matter of course when we apply the facts, as found and admitted, to tbe law, about which there is bo controversy. That this court, by proceedings instituted in Qctober¿ 1893, obtained jurisdiction over the property, of tbe
The question, then, is, shall a court which has first acquired jurisdiction of the parties to, and the subject-matter of, a controversy, retain the exclusive control of the same until it has fully disposed of the questions raised by the pleadings before it? The authorities answer this question in the affirmative; the decisions are all one way; and the rule is the same in both civil and criminal cases. The only matter to be determined is as to the court first securing jurisdiction. II! that he a court of the state, then the courts of the United States must not and will not interfere. The state courts should observé the same rule, and they generally do. This court will not permit its process to be used, either civil or criminal, by parties engaged in litigation in the courts of the state of Virginia, relative to the subject-matter of such litigation, thereby impeding the administration of justice by rendering' it impossible for those materially interested
The suggestion made in the answer of the attorney for the commonwealth that judicial comity requires that one court shall grant to another the use of its records and copies of the papers in its custody, and that it will also direct its officers to obey a subpoena duces tecum relative thereto, when satisfied that the same are material as evidence in a case pending in the court issuing such summons, is, as a general proposition, true; but it would be extending the matter of courtesy beyond reasonable limits for that court which has complete jurisdiction over a cause pending before and undetermined by it to authorize or consent to the use by another court of the pleadings, commissioners’ reports, and depositions filed in said cause, before they have been considered for the purposes for which they were intended, it appearing, also, that the court so desiring them designs to use them in a case over which it had assumed jurisdiction even after the making and filing of the particular papers asked for, and which involved the same parties and the identical, subject-matter as does the case so before it. No precedent can be found for such a request, and I indulge the hope that no court will ever so rule as to furnish an authority that would justify such a proceeding.
It appears that the county court of Wythe county was fully advised of the pendency in this court of the litigation referred to; that it expressed a desire to prevent the improper use of copies of certain parts thereof before its grand jury; and that counsel called its attention to the fact that the-inatters set out in the indictment were the same as those involved in said suit, insisting at the same time that said indictment had been procured by the unlawful use of said copies, and also suggesting that the prosecution of the same, under the circumstances, would be discourteous to this court. I trust I may be permitted to say that it would have been well had that court then recalled and exercised the judicial comity to which its able and energetic prosecutor now so eloquently alludes.
On the question of jurisdiction, and the right of the court first acquiring it to retain exclusive control of the subject-matter and the parties until it has fully disposed of the questions submitted to it, if authority is desired, it can be found in the following cases: Union Trust Co. v. Rockford, R. I. & St. L. R. Co., 6 Biss. 197, Fed. Cas. No. 14,401; Sedgwick v. Menck, 6 Blatchf. 156, Fed. Cas. No. 12,616; Judd v. Telegraph Co., 31 Fed. 182; Schuehle v. Reiman, 86 N. Y. 270; Hagan v. Lucas, 10 Pet. 400; Williams v. Benedict, 8 How. 111; Taylor v. Carryl, 20 How. 583; Freeman v. Howe, 24 How. 450; Buck v. Colbath, 3 Wall. 334; Covell v. Heyman, 111 U. S. 176, 4 Sup. Ct. 355; Heidritter v. Oil-Cloth Co., 112 U. S. 294, 5 Sup. Ct. 135; Railroad Co. v. Gomila, 132 U. S. 478, 10 Sup. Ct. 155.
I find from the testimony in this case that after the creditors of the Wytheville Insurance & Banking Company had intervened and been
We now have nothing to do with the questions which involve the guilt or innocence of Wadley, on the charges set forth in the indictment, or his liability because of mismanagement by him of the affairs of said Wytbeville Insurance & Banking Company, as alleged in the proceedings before referred to. Those matters, in the regular discharge of judicial procedure, in due time and place will be considered and disposed of. We are now concerned in seeing that all the parties to this litigation, plaintiffs and defendants, creditors and debtors, accusers and accused, shall each and all have every proper opportunity to fairly present their respective claims, and also that the court is neither delayed nor hampered in reaching a just conclusion.
If circumstances can exist under which it is proper for a court of the United States to restrain parties from prosecuting a cause in a stab1 court, they certainly are now before us, and that there are cases where it is entirely proper so to do has been declared by courts worthy of our confidence and commanding our respect. It is claimed that section 720 of the Bevised Statutes of the United States pro
In Story’s Equity Jurisprudence (volume 2, § 893) it is said:
“There are, however, eases in which courts of equity will not exercise any jurisdiction by way of injunction to stay proceedings at law. In the first place, they will not interfere to stay proceedings in any criminal matters, or in any cases not strictly of a civil nature; as, for instance, they will not grant an injunction to stay proceedings on a mandamus or an indictment or an information or a writ of prohibition. But this restriction applies only to cases where the parties seeking redress by such proceedings are not the plaintiffs in equity; for, if they are, the court possesses power to restrain them personally from proceeding at the same time, upon the same matter of right, for redress in the form of a civil suit and of a criminal prosecution. In such cases the injunction is merely incidental to the ordinary, power of the court to impose terms upon parties who seek its aid in furtherance of their rights.” <
In Beach’s Modem Equity Practice (volume 2, § 761) we find the following:
“It is a rule of almost universal application both in England and in this country that a court of equity has no jurisdiction by injunction to restrain a criminal proceeding, whether it be by indictment or summary process, unless the criminal proceeding be brought by a party to a suit already pending in the equity court, and to try the same right that is in issue there.”
On this subject, see the following authorities: Turner v. Turner, 15 Jur. 218; Mayor of York v. Pilkington, 2 Atk. 302; Lord Montague v. Dudman, 2 Ves. Sr. 396; Attorney General v. Cleaver, 18 Ves. 220; Kerr v. Preston, 6 Ch. Div. 463; Spink v. Francis, 19 Fed. 670, 20 Fed. 567; Eden, Inj. p. 42, c. 2; Jeremy, Eq. Jur. bk. 3, p. 308, c. 2; 3 Wood. Lect. 56; 3 Daniell, Ch. Prac. p. 1721; In re Sawyer, 124 U. S. 200, 211, 8 Sup. Ct. 482, in which Mr. Justice Gray, in delivering the opinion of the court, said:
*677 “The modern decisions in England, by eminent equity judges, concur in bolding that a court of chancery has no power to restrain criminal proceedings, unless they are instituted by a party to a suit already pending before it, and to try the same right that is in issue there.”
For the reasons mentioned, 1 shall sustain the plaintiff’s bill, and continue in force the restraining order heretofore granted. Other questions, interesting in character, and of great general importance, are raised by the plaintiff, and were discussed by counsel; but I do not find that their consideration is essential to the disposition of this case, and therefore I shall not now allude to them. I will pass a decree declaring that, as the equity jurisdiction of this court first attached to both the parties and the subject-matter involved in this litigation, it will he improper to use the pleadings, proofs, and papers filed herein, or any of them, or copies thereof, in any proceeding, civil or criminal, in any other court, against any party to this suit, while it is pending in and is unadjudicated by this court; and an injunction may issue restraining such use, and enjoining all of the parties hereto, including their attorneys, clerks, and agents, either directly or indirectly, and the attorney for the state for Wythe county, Va., from all further prosecution of the indictment now pending in the county court of said county, in the name of the commonwealth of Virginia against H. G. Wadley, in which he is charged with the embezzlement of the funds of the Wvtheville Insurance & Banking Company, until the final hearing shall have been had and disposition made of the said cause of Paul Hutchinson, administrator, etc., against the Wytheville Insurance & Banking Company and others, and the petitions and supplemental, amended, and cross bill, filed therein, and until the further order of this court.