Fettig Canning Co. v. Steckler, 10324.
| Decision Date | 21 March 1951 |
| Docket Number | No. 10324.,10324. |
| Parties | FETTIG CANNING CO. v. STECKLER, Judge. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit |
William C. Bachelder, Indianapolis, Ind., for petitioner.
John T. Grigsby, Vincent A. Kleinfeld, Department of Justice, Washington, D. C., Matthew E. Welsh, U. S. Atty., Indianapolis, Ind., for respondent.
Before MAJOR, Chief Judge, and DUFFY and FINNEGAN, Circuit Judges.
Writ of Certiorari Denied June 4, 1951. See 71 S.Ct. 1019.
This matter is here by reason of an order heretofore entered by this court directing respondent, a Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, to show cause why such court should not retain jurisdiction of the cases subsequently referred to. The show cause order issued in response to a petition for mandamus. Respondent, in answer to the petition, prayed that the relief requested be denied and the petition for mandamus dismissed. The cases are two actions brought by the United States of America as libels of information in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, Eastern Division, numbered 6863 and 6923, being entitled "United States of America v. 311 cases Tomato Catsup" and "United States of America v. 105 cases of Tomato Catsup." The libels were instituted under Title 21 U.S.C.A. § 334, of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, and the libeled goods were seized by the government within the jurisdiction of the Missouri District.
Petitioner Fettig Canning Company appeared in that court as claimant of the seized products and requested that the actions be transferred to the Southern District of Indiana, under the provision of Title 28 U.S.C.A. § 1404(a). The United States District Attorney for the Missouri District entered his consent and an order of transfer was accordingly entered. The seized goods were not transferred but remained in the jurisdiction of the Missouri court.
The transfers were appropriately docketed by the Indiana court, claimant answered the informations and the cases thus being at issue were set for trial. A jury was empaneled and part of the government's evidence heard, when the court on its own motion ordered "that the above causes, be and each cause is, hereby remanded to the Eastern District of Missouri, Eastern Division, for lack of jurisdiction." Thereupon, the jury was discharged but the order of remand was held in abeyance pending determination by this court of the question of the District Court's jurisdiction.
Petitioner contends that the Missouri court, under Title 28 U.S.C.A. § 1404(a), was authorized to make the transfers and that the Indiana court thereby acquired jurisdiction, and further, that the place of trial being one of venue rather than jurisdiction, no question can be raised in view of the fact that the parties consented to the Southern District of Indiana as the forum for trial. § 1404(a), entitled "Change of venue", provides: "For the convenience of parties and witnesses, in the interest of justice, a district court may transfer any civil action to any other district or division where it might have been brought." (Italics ours.)
The instant controversy turns entirely upon the scope to be given the italicized words. The libeled goods were introduced into commerce by petitioner at Elwood, Indiana, within the jurisdiction of the Southern District of that State, and shipped by it to a point within the Missouri District where they were seized. Petitioner contends that the libel actions might have been brought either in the District of Indiana wherein the shipment originated or in any other District through which the goods passed on their journey to Missouri, the place where they were seized. Respondent contends to the contrary, that is, that no action could have been brought prior to the time the goods were seized, and that the Missouri court was the only court which could or did acquire jurisdiction.
Petitioner relies almost in toto upon the construction which the Supreme Court has placed upon § 1404(a) in two recent decisions. Ex Parte Collett, 337 U.S. 55, 69 S.Ct. 944, 959, 93 L.Ed. 1207; United States v. National City Lines, 337 U.S. 78, 69 S.Ct. 955, 959, 93 L.Ed. 1226. In the Collett case, it was held that § 1404(a) was applicable to actions under the Federal Employers' Liability Act, 45 U.S.C. A. § 51 et seq., and in the National City Lines case, to civil suits by the government against corporations under the anti-trust laws. The controlling and determining factor, as we understand, in each of these cases was that the application of § 1404(a) did not modify or alter the existing rights of the parties, in one instance the rights as fixed by the Federal Employers' Liability Act, and in the other case the rights as fixed by the anti-trust laws. In the Collett case, the court stated, 337 U.S. at page 59, 69 S.Ct. at page 947, "Obviously, the express language gives no clue as to where the action `might have been brought'", and in sustaining the right of transfer the court stated, 337 U.S. at page 60, 69 S.Ct. at page 947,
In each case the transfer was to a District "where it might have been brought." There is nothing in these cases which holds or indicates that § 1404(a) was or would be applicable in the absence of this essential factor. In other words, the question as to the District "where it might have been brought" has been left untouched by these decisions, and the instant issue being whether the transferred actions were such as "might have been brought" in the Indiana District, the cited Supreme Court decisions furnish little, if any, support to petitioner's contention.
Title 21 U.S.C.A. § 334(a), on which the involved actions were predicated, provides, "Any article of food * * * that is adulterated or misbranded when introduced into or while in interstate commerce * * * shall be liable to be proceeded against while in interstate commerce, or at any time thereafter, on libel of information and condemned in any district court of the United States within the jurisdiction of which the article is found * *." (Italics ours.) A proviso of this paragraph provides for the transfer of cases under certain enumerated circumstances, none of which it is claimed or appear to be relevant to the instant situation.
No authority need be cited for the proposition that the jurisdiction of a Federal court is limited to that which Congress has expressly conferred. In view of the plain and unambiguous directive contained in the provision above quoted (italicized), it is not discernible how jurisdiction could be acquired by a District Court other than the one in whose territory the adulterated or misbranded articles were found. Jurisdiction has been made to depend upon that incident. A libel proceeding...
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