Farmer v. Arabian American Oil Company, 237

Decision Date30 December 1960
Docket NumberNo. 237,Docket 26659.,237
Citation285 F.2d 720
PartiesHoward FARMER, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. ARABIAN AMERICAN OIL COMPANY, Defendant-Appellee.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit

Kalman I. Nulman, New York City (William V. Homans, New York City, on the brief), for plaintiff-appellant.

Chester Bordeau, of White & Case, New York City, for defendant-appellee.

Before CLARK, WATERMAN, and FRIENDLY, Circuit Judges.

CLARK, Circuit Judge.

In Miller v. Town of Suffield, 2 Cir., 249 F.2d 16, 17, certiorari denied 356 U.S. 978, 78 S.Ct. 1143, 2 L.Ed.2d 1151, we affirmed the dismissal of an action brought by a persistent suitor without valid claim upon noncompliance with an order for "a moderate bond for costs," which we held "justified in view of the background of the prior litigation." While conditions such as these need not be exactly duplicated to support an order for a costs bond, yet they do illustrate the considerations which may properly affect judicial discretion in making such an order. And they highlight the contrast with the present case where a bond extraordinary and prohibitive under the circumstances has been sought — and obtained — apparently as a belated trial tactic, four years and four months after action brought and when an appeal to this court has disclosed a sufficient prima facie case for the plaintiff. Farmer v. Arabian American Oil Co., 2 Cir., 277 F.2d 46, certiorari denied Arabian American Oil Co. v. Farmer, 81 S.Ct. 60. We think the present order for a bond in the sum of $6,000, which for all practical purposes denies the plaintiff his day in court, transcends the bounds of sound judicial discretion and cannot stand.

From the previous appeal we learned that the plaintiff, Doctor Farmer, gave up his Texas medical practice to accept a firm offer of employment from the defendant and that he did actually go into service on the defendant's medical staff in Saudi Arabia, serving there for some eight months until his discharge for alleged improper medical treatment of an employee. The defendant's defense that the discharge was justified was tried before a jury which disagreed. Thereafter the district judge dismissed the action on grounds which were not applicable under the circumstances, viz., the parol evidence rule, the statute of frauds, and lack of authority in its employing agent.1 We reversed and the Supreme Court denied certiorari. There remains for disposition the important issue — upon which the defendant has the burden of proof — as to whether or not the discharge was legally justified. Indisputably the parties are sharply at odds here, and the emotions engendered by this charge and the plaintiff's countercharges are so strong that the normal prospects for settlement in this type of case have vanished. Obviously this situation calls for the definitive assuagement of trial which should desirably be had as soon as possible.

The action was commenced in the New York Supreme Court on May 24, 1956, and was removed by the defendant to the court below on the basis of the diverse citizenship of the parties. Not until September 2, 1960, did the defendant make its motion for security for costs. Nowhere does it offer any adequate explanation of its long delay.2 Meanwhile plaintiff had incurred expenses of over $3,000 in prosecuting his action, as he proved at the hearing below.3 Defendant's claim so extreme in amount is based upon an unusually expensive way of defending the suit. Thus it secured a bill of costs on its former trial — execution of which we naturally stayed on March 1, 1960, in view of our approaching reversal — in the total sum of $6,601.08, involving, inter alia, expenses of $3,995.50 for bringing three witnesses from Saudi Arabia,4 of $231.71 for other witnesses from places such as Delaware, New Jersey, and Ohio, of daily transcripts of trial minutes of $1,812.30, and of stenographers' fees for pre-trial hearings and examinations of $361.55. The necessity for all this and for the failure to use the deposition process is not shown convincingly; but defendant asserts the need of at least like expenditures on the forthcoming retrial. Defendant with its rich resources may well wish to try the case expensively, but it does not seem just that it should force the plaintiff without such resources to guarantee payment therefor in advance. It is clear that possible loss of reimbursement for costs, should defendant eventually become so entitled, may annoy it, but cannot really prejudice it in its...

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20 cases
  • Farmer v. Arabian American Oil Company
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit
    • November 6, 1963
    ...lavish travel expenditures in reversing an order for a bond for costs which plaintiff was unable to furnish. Farmer v. Arabian American Oil Co., 2 Cir., 285 F.2d 720. When the defendant persisted, it would seem that the extra expenditures should have been at its own risk and from its own tr......
  • Klein v. Spear, Leeds & Kellogg
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York
    • July 23, 1969
    ...prejudicing Klein in the pursuit of his claim. See Leighton v. Paramount Pictures Corp., supra, 340 F.2d at 861; Farmer v. Arabian American Oil Co., 285 F.2d 720 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 364 U.S. 824, 81 S.Ct. 60, 5 L.Ed. 2d 53 (1960). See also, Farmer v. Arabian American Oil Co., 379 U.S. ......
  • House v. Moomaw
    • United States
    • Ohio Court of Appeals
    • March 20, 1964
    ...F.2d 357; Dicker v. Bisno, 155 Cal.App.2d 554, 318 P.2d 159; Anderson v. Cummings, 81 Idaho 327, 340 P.2d 1111; Farmer v. Arabian American Oil Co. (C.C.A. 2), 285 F.2d 720. In the case before us the facts are entirely different from the facts in Baramore and Kleinhans. The plaintiff, in see......
  • Evans v. Yum Brands, Inc.
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of New Hampshire
    • July 14, 2004
    ...of success on the merits as a factor to consider in imposing a bond for costs under Rule 304, Hawes cited Farmer v. Arabian Am. Oil Co., 285 F.2d 720 (2d Cir.1960), noting that it reversed an order for $6,000 in security for the defendant's costs "where plaintiff had made a strong prima fac......
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