C. Brewer & Co. v. American President Lines

• Decision Date: 05 December 1940
• Citation: C. Brewer & Co. v. American President Lines, 1941 A.M.C. 30, 37 F. Supp. 230 (S.D. N.Y. 1940)
• Parties: C. BREWER & CO., Limited, et al. v. AMERICAN PRESIDENT LINES, Limited, et al.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York

37 F. Supp. 230

C. BREWER & CO., Limited, et al. v. AMERICAN PRESIDENT LINES, Limited, et al.

District Court, S. D. New York.

December 5, 1940.

Bigham, Englar, Jones & Houston, of New York City (John W. R. Zisgen, of New York City, of counsel), for libellants.

Hardin, Hess & Eder, of New York City (Harold B. Elgar, of New York City, of counsel), for respondent Canadian Pac. Ry. Co.

MANDELBAUM, District Judge.

The respondent Canadian Pacific Railway Company moves to dismiss the libel as against it for lack of jurisdiction. It further urges that the exercise of jurisdiction by this court would be unconstitutional as violating Article 1, § 8, Clause 3 of the Constitution.

After examining the facts as well as the authorities submitted by both sides, the court is inclined to deny the motion as a matter of discretion. The court would perhaps look with more favor upon this application if the court could relieve itself of this entire litigation which would be the case if all the parties were foreign citizens. Under such circumstances, this court has often declined to accept jurisdiction. At bar, however, 7 of the 10 libellants named in this libel are American citizens. A corporation, one of the respondents, is an American...