Venner v. Michigan Cent Co
| Decision Date | 26 April 1926 |
| Docket Number | No. 190,190 |
| Citation | 271 U.S. 127,46 S.Ct. 444,70 L.Ed. 868 |
| Parties | VENNER v. MICHIGAN CENT. R. CO |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
Mr. Frederick A. Henry, of Cleveland, Ohio, for appellant.
Mr. Samuel H. West, of Cleveland, Ohio, for appellee.
This is an appeal from a decree of a federal District Court dismissing a suit for want of jurisdiction. The suit was begun in a state court, and then removed into the federal court, on the defendant's petition, by reason of the diverse citizenship of the parties. Want of jurisdiction was adjudged, because the court was of opinion that the suit was essentially one to annul or set aside an order of the Interstate Commerce Commission made under section 20a of the Interstate Commerce Act, as added by Act Feb. 28, 1920, c. 91, 41 Stat. 494, § 439 (Comp. St. Ann. Supp. 1923, § 8592a); that the United States was a necessary defendant and had not consented to be sued in a state court; and that the removal did not give the federal court jurisdiction, when the state court had none.
A short description of the suit as displayed in the plaintiff's amended bill will suffice to show its nature. The plaintiff is a minority stockholder of a railway company which owns and operates an interstate railroad, and that company is the sole defendant. The purpose with which the suit is brought is to enjoin the defendant company from carrying out an agreement with two other railroad companies under which the three, collectively styled 'New York Central Lines,' are to acquire a large number of locomotives for use on their respective roads in both interstate and intrastate commerce; are to obtain money to pay for this equipment by issuing certificates, payable at intervals during a period of 15 years, with semiannual dividend warrants representing interest; and are to covenant jointly and severally to pay rentals for the equipment sufficient to pay the certificates and dividend warrants as they mature. On application by the three companies pursuant to section 20a, the Interstate Commerce Commission, after notice and investigation, made an order approving the agreement and authorizing the acts contemplated therein. The order was made the day before the suit was begun.
The plaintiff alleges in his amended bill that to issue the certificates and provide for their payment in the manner proposed will be in violation of the laws of the state wherein the defendant company was incorporated and of the other states into which its road extends, unless the approval of designated agencies of those states be secured; that such approval has not been and is not intended to be secured; and that the defendant company is relying on the order of the Interstate Commerce Commission, and is proceeding to carry out the agreement as approved by that order. He also alleges that the order, and the provisions of section 20a, under which it was made, transcend the limits of federal power, and encroach on the power of the states before named. The prayer is that the defendant company be enjoined from carrying out the agreement, notwithstanding its approval by the Interstate Commerce Commission under that section.
The defendant challenged the court's jurisdiction by a motion to dismiss on the grounds before stated, and it was on consideration of that motion that the decree of dismissal was entered. The decree was entered and the present appeal was allowed prior to the change made in our appellate jurisdiction by the Act of February 13, 1925 (43 Stat. 936).
By section 20a the Commission is empowered to entertain an application by any carrier by railroad engaged in interstate commerce for authority to issue bonds or other evidences of indebtedness, or to asume obligations or liabilities as a lessor or lessee, or as a guarantor or surety of another carrier, and is further empowered, after notice to 'the Governor of each state in which the applicant carrier operates,'...
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