Crawford v. Courtney

• Decision Date: 24 November 1971
• Docket Number: No. 71-1146.,71-1146.
• Citation: 451 F.2d 489
• Parties: Hilda C. CRAWFORD et al., Appellants, v. Paul COURTNEY et al., Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

451 F.2d 489 (1971)

Hilda C. CRAWFORD et al., Appellants, v. Paul COURTNEY et al., Appellees.

No. 71-1146.

United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.

November 24, 1971.

James E. Crawford, Baltimore, Md., on brief for appellants.

Peter L. Chakmakian, Harpers Ferry, W. Va., on brief for appellees.

Before BRYAN, CRAVEN and BUTZNER, Circuit Judges.

CRAVEN, Circuit Judge:

This case presents the difficult question of whether the district judge abused his discretion in declining the exercise of federal diversity jurisdiction. We think he not unreasonably abstained in favor of a state court having prior jurisdiction, and affirm the district court order dismissing the complaint in the federal court.

This litigation began as a land condemnation action in a state court of West Virginia. Pursuant to the state power of eminent domain, the Circuit Court of Jefferson County, West Virginia, awarded compensation to the landowners in the amount of $29,400, and the money was deposited in that court pending determination of who is entitled to the fund. A dispute arose over the distribution of the fund between the trustees of the church property condemned and the heirs of the grantor of the church property. The heirs based their title on the deed to the church, which provided: "should at any time in the future the property * * * cease to be used as a place of worship * * * then and in that event, said real estate shall immediately revert to and revest in the grantors, their heirs or assigns in fee simple." West Virginia Code § 54-2-18 provides that in the event of conflicting claims the estate judge may appoint a commissioner to take evidence. The court or judge then determines "the right and claims of all persons entitled to the money. * * *" The district judge concluded there is no right to jury trial in the state court.

The parties before us are the same adverse claimants to the land and the resulting fund. While the state proceedings were pending, the heirs brought suit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia to establish their asserted right to the fund. Federal jurisdiction exists because of diversity of citizenship. The church trustees, noting that the heirs' complaint sought declaratory relief, moved to dismiss on the ground that all issues could be determined in the proceedings pending in the Circuit Court of Jefferson County. The parallel proceedings in the state court to determine which of the parties is entitled to the fund apparently have been stayed, pending the outcome of the federal litigation.¹ From an order of the district court, 320 F.Supp. 964, granting the trustees' motion to dismiss, the heirs have appealed.

While it is true that federal courts are not free to pick and choose what cases will be decided, compare Cohens v. Virginia, 6 Wheat. 264, 404, 5 L.Ed. 257 (1821), with Ashwander v. T. V. A., 297 U.S. 288, 346-48, 56 S.Ct. 466, 80 L.Ed. 688 (1933), and that the inferior federal courts must usually exercise that jurisdiction conferred by the Congress, the rule is not entirely without exception. The doctrine of abstention or declination of jurisdiction is now well established, although its proper scope and application is not at all clear. C. Wright, Law of Federal Courts 196 (2d ed. 1970). Compare Dombrowski v. Pfister, 380 U.S. 479, 85 S.Ct. 1116, 14 L.Ed.2d 22 (1965), with Younger v. Harris, 401 U.S. 37, 91 S.Ct. 746, 27 L.Ed.2d 669 (1971).

If in the interest of federalism there is some measure of discretion to decline jurisdiction, we think this case a peculiarly appropriate one for the exercise of that discretion.

Historically, possession of the property in dispute by a state court precludes jurisdiction by a federal court over the same dispute.

There is an ancient and important rule, not confined to those cases which are technically in rem but applicable to all cases involving specific property, that where the property is in the actual possession of one court of competent jurisdiction, such possession cannot be disturbed by any other court.

1 W. Barron & A. Holtzoff, Federal Practice and Procedure 245 (1960).

Comity is the heart of this historic rule. If a state court holds the specific property in dispute and a federal court undertakes to determine the disposition to be made of that property, it is possible each may proceed on collision course.

The principle, applicable to both federal and state courts, that the court first assuming jurisdiction over property may maintain and exercise that jurisdiction to the exclusion of the other, is not restricted to cases where property has been actually seized under judicial process before a second suit is instituted. It applies as well where suits are brought to marshal assets, administer trusts, or liquidate estates, and in suits of a similar nature, where, to give effect to its jurisdiction, the court must control the property. Farmers\' Loan & T. Co. v. Lake Street Elev. R. Co. 177 U.S. 51, 61, 20 S.Ct. 564, 44 L.Ed. 667, 671. If the two suits are in rem or quasi in rem, so that the court must have possession or control of the res in order to proceed with the cause and to grant the relief sought, the jurisdiction of one court must of necessity yield to that of the other. Penn General Casualty Co. v. Pennsylvania Schnader ex rel., 294 U.S. 189, 195, 55 S.Ct. 386, 79 L.Ed. 850, 855. This principle is applied in the discharge of the long recognized duty of this court to give effect to such "methods of procedure as shall serve to conciliate the distinct and independent tribunals of the States and of the Union, so that they may co-operate as harmonious members of a judicial system coextensive with the United States."

* * * * * *

Even where the District Court has acquired jurisdiction prior to state proceedings, the character and adequacy of the latter proceedings in relation to the administration of

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