Coast v. Hunt Oil Co., 1361.

Decision Date15 May 1952
Docket NumberNo. 1361.,1361.
Citation195 F.2d 870
PartiesCOAST v. HUNT OIL CO. et al.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

William H. Bronson, Shreveport, La., for appellant.

Arthur O'Quin, Shreveport, La., David T. Searls, Jack D. Head, Houston, Tex., Ralph B. Shank, Dallas, Tex., Riley B. Fell, Shreveport, La., for appellees.

Before SIBLEY, RUSSELL, and RIVES, Circuit Judges.

RIVES, Circuit Judge.

"Any person who shall be injured in his business or property by reason of anything forbidden in the antitrust laws may sue therefor" etc. 15 U.S.C.A. § 15. Under that provision, this case presents two questions. The first is: does the cause of action belong exclusively to a partnership, Coast Oil Company, in which the appellant, Jack Coast, (sometimes hereafter referred to as plaintiff) owns a forty-nine (49%) per cent interest, or may the plaintiff sue in his own right. Assuming the answer to be that the cause of action is that of the partnership, the second question is whether or not the plaintiff may cause its enforcement by making his unwilling partner, Justin R. Querbes, a party defendant or by making the partnership an involuntary plaintiff.

The case is so fully stated in the opinion and supplemental opinion of the district court reported in 96 F.Supp. 53 et seq., that a brief reference here to a few facts will be sufficient. Plaintiff owns in his own right an undivided forty-nine (49%) per cent interest, and Querbes a fifty-one (51%) per cent interest in an oil refinery operated by Coast-Oil Company, a commercial partnership organized under the laws of Louisiana owned by plaintiff and Querbes in the same proportions of forty-nine (49%) per cent and fifty-one (51%) per cent, respectively. Plaintiff is the managing partner and is obligated to devote his entire time to the operation of the refinery. Querbes refused to participate in this action either jointly with plaintiff or in behalf of the partnership. The complaint alleged that the defendants and others entered into agreements for the exclusive refining and processing of their distillate and the exclusive marketing of products therefrom which agreements and the action thereunder constituted a conspiracy and combination in restraint of and an attempt to monopolize trade and commerce among the several states, in violation of the antitrust laws of the United States, and that as a result the Coast Oil Company refinery was completely closed down for a time and thereafter never operated at full capacity. Plaintiff sought to recover forty-nine (49%) per cent of the refinery's alleged loss of profits and prayed for treble damages.

This Court has had occasion to note that "Under the Louisiana law a partnership is a fictitious being, distinct from the partners composing it." Esteve Bros. & Co. v. Harrell, 5 Cir., 272 F. 382, 383. The Supreme Court of Louisiana, speaking through Judge Dawkins, stated the rule succinctly in E. B. Hayes Machinery Co. v. Eastham, 147 La. 347, 84 So. 898, 899:

"Under the civil law, which prevails in this state, a partnership is a legal entity entirely separate and distinct from the persons who compose it, and may have its own creditors and debtors to the same extent as the individual partners. Newman v. Eldridge, 107 La. 315, 31 So. 688; Stothart v. Hardie & Co., 110 La. 696 700, 34 So. 740; Smith v. McMicken, 3 La.Ann. 319 322. So long as the partnership is not dissolved, it alone can maintain an action on the firm\'s claims, and even though all its members join therein, such a suit cannot be maintained in the absence of the partnership as a party plaintiff. Wolf v. New Orleans Tailor Made Pants Co., 52 La.Ann. 1357, 27 So. 893."

Assuming for the purposes of this decision that the complaint alleged a violation of the antitrust laws and consequent damage, that damage consists of loss of profits in the partnership business and we think the cause of action is vested in the partnership, a distinct legal entity under Louisiana law.1 The district court, we think, has correctly distinguished the cases upon which the appellant relies, D.C., 96 F.Supp. 53, at page 60.

Appellant makes the further contention that, even if it be held that the cause of action for injury to the business was vested in the partnership, that the complaint alleges an injury to the property of the plaintiff because it alleges that, "Plaintiff in his own right owns an undivided forty-nine (49%) per cent interest in the refinery * * * By virtue of his...

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  • Randolph-Sheppard Vendors of America v. Weinberger
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit
    • July 30, 1986
    ...to join a necessary party."). Absent standing, argue appellees, the Court should not reach the question of joinder. Coast v. Hunt Oil Co., 195 F.2d 870, 872 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 344 U.S. 836, 73 S.Ct. 46, 97 L.Ed. 651 (1952).17 The District Court also cited Randolph-Sheppard Vendors of......
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    ...a partner cannot, in his individual capacity, bring suit to recover a debt or damages owed to the partnership. Coast v. Hunt Oil Co., 195 F.2d 870, 871 (5th Cir. 1952); Dalby v. United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co., 365 So.2d 568 (La.App.1978); Apex Sales Company v. Abraham, 201 So.2d 184,......
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    ...because there was no trust relationship between appellant and the Post Office who each had an “independent right”); Coast v. Hunt Oil Co., 195 F.2d 870, 871–72 (5th Cir.1952) (no involuntary joinder of partner with 51% interest under Rule 19(a)). For these reasons, the decision in this case......
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    ...because there was no trust relationship between appellant and the Post Office who each had an “independent right”); Coast v. Hunt Oil Co., 195 F.2d 870, 871–72 (5th Cir.1952) (no involuntary joinder of partner with 51% interest under Rule 19(a) ).For these reasons, the decision in this case......
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