Benz v. Compania Naviera Hidalgo, SA

• Citation: 205 F.2d 944
• Decision Date: 01 August 1953
• Docket Number: No. 13750 to 13752.,13750 to 13752.
• Parties: BENZ et al. v. COMPANIA NAVIERA HIDALGO, S.A. MacRAE et al. v. COMPANIA NAVIERA HIDALGO, S.A. MORRISON et al. v. COMPANIA NAVIERA HIDALGO, S.A.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (9th Circuit)

205 F.2d 944 (1953)

BENZ et al. v. COMPANIA NAVIERA HIDALGO, S.A.

MacRAE et al. v. COMPANIA NAVIERA HIDALGO, S.A.

MORRISON et al. v. COMPANIA NAVIERA HIDALGO, S.A.

Nos. 13750 to 13752.

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

June 30, 1953.

Rehearing Denied August 1, 1953.

K. C. Tanner and Richard R. Carney, Portland, Or., for appellants.

Wood, Matthiessen, Wood & Tatum, John D. Mosser and Gunther F. Krause, Portland, Or., for appellee.

Before DENMAN, Chief Judge, ORR and POPE, Circuit Judges.

POPE, Circuit Judge.

These are appeals from interlocutory injunctions issued in three separate suits brought by the appellee, a Panamanian Corporation. It is the owner and operator of the S.S. Riviera, a vessel registered under the Liberian flag. The appellants, defendants in the several actions below, are citizens of the State of Oregon and of states or countries different from that of the plaintiff.

The Riviera arrived at the Port of Portland, Oregon, September 3, 1952. Her crew were all foreign nationals, chiefly Germans and British, who between March and August, 1952, signed British articles agreeing to work on the ship on a voyage from Bremen, Germany, for a period of two years, and agreeing that British maritime board conditions should apply to their wages, hours of employment and working conditions. About September 9, the crew entered upon a strike, in the nature of a sit-down strike, and withheld possession of the vessel from the owners until September 26, 1952, when they were required by an order and decree in admiralty issued out of the district court to leave the vessel. Following October 14, 1952, the Sailors' Union of the Pacific picketed said vessel and the appellee, asserting that the effect of the picketing was to prevent the owner from fitting and equipping the vessel for a prospective trip, brought an action against the appellants in No. 13,750, naming them individually and as representatives of the Sailors' Union of the Pacific, asking temporary and permanent injunctions against the picketing, and for damages. An interlocutory injunction, restraining those appellants during the pendency of the suit from picketing the vessel, was issued November 26, 1952. The appeal in No. 13,750 is from that injunction.

Two days after that injunction was issued, another picket line was established at the vessel by persons purporting to act for Local 90 of the National Organization of Masters, Mates and Pilots. On December 9, 1952, an interlocutory injunction was issued by the court below in another suit brought by appellee against the appellants in No. 13,751, individually and as the representatives of the members of said Local 90. That action also was predicated upon allegations of diversity of citizenship and sought temporary and permanent injunctions, and relief by way of damages. On the day following that injunction, picketing of the vessel was begun by persons purporting to act for the Seafarers International Union. This was followed by a third action, this time against the appellants in No. 13,752. They were named individually and as representatives of such Seafarers International Union. In that action, which was similar to the others, an interlocutory injunction against the picketing was issued on December 12, 1952. The several appeals above listed are from the several interlocutory injunctions mentioned.

After these several picketing operations had been thus restrained, the Riviera completed its repairs and sailed from Portland, Oregon, on December 23, 1952, with a cargo of wheat pursuant to a charter. It has since completed that charter voyage and unloaded its cargo of wheat at Bombay, India, and is now under charter to carry a cargo of ore from India to Europe via the Suez Canal. Upon conclusion of that voyage the articles under which the vessel has been sailing since March, 1952, will be terminated. The Riviera is a tramp freighter and presently has no charter or commitments for return to any port in the United States. The members of the crew who went on strike at Portland were discharged and all but one of them have left for other places, and their whereabouts is unknown.

Showing these facts by affidavit, the appellee has moved to dismiss these appeals on the ground that the interlocutory injunctions, and the appeals therefrom have become moot. It is said that because of the departure of the vessel nothing remains upon which the injunctions could have any impact, as continued picketing of the vessel is now impossible. We are asked to grant said motion without prejudice to and without passing upon the rights of the parties respecting matters involved in the actions aside from the interlocutory injunctions. The actions insofar as they seek recovery of damages have not been tried and are not affected by these appeals.

On behalf of appellants it is urged that the appeals present important questions, such as the question presented below that these were cases involving or growing out of a labor dispute, and that the court was without jurisdiction to issue an injunction here by reason of the Norris-La Guardia Acts prohibitions against injunctions in such cases. See Title 29 U.S.C.A. §§ 101-114. It is contended that if and when the vessel returns to a port in the United States these appellants will desire to renew their claim of a right to picket the vessel and that their appeals should be determined at this time in order that their rights at such future times may be settled and determined.

We are of the opinion that as respects the interlocutory injunctions here involved, such injunctions and these appeals have become moot and that therefore we have no right or occasion to pass upon the merits of these appeals. Newcomb v. United States, 9 Cir., 98 F.2d 25; O'Brien v. Fackenthal, 6 Cir., 284 F. 850. Cf. United States v. Hamburg-American Co., 239 U.S. 466, 475, 36 S.Ct. 212, 60 L.Ed. 387; California v. San Pablo & T. R. Co., 149 U.S. 308, 314, 13 S.Ct. 876, 37 L.Ed. 747. In the Hamburg-American case, supra, it was argued, as here, that the conditions...