Francis I. duPont & Co. v. O'KEEFE
| Decision Date | 21 September 1966 |
| Docket Number | No. 15486.,15486. |
| Citation | 365 F.2d 141 |
| Parties | FRANCIS I. duPONT & CO., a partnership, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. James L. O'KEEFE, Public Administrator of Cook County, Illinois, Elfriede Herrmann, Hedwig W. Frankenreiter, Matilde, W. Heinzmann, Heinrich Herrmann, Emil Herrmann, Gertrud Herrmann Birkert, Liesel N. Nonnenmacher, Johanna Herrmann, Else W. Heydlauf and Hedwig Schiebel, Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit |
Edwin H. Conger, Lyman W. Hull, Chicago, Ill., for plaintiff-appellant, Tenney, Bentley, Guthrie & Howell, Chicago, Ill., of counsel.
Morton John Barnard, Richard P. Fredo, Chicago, Ill., for defendant-appellee, James L. O'Keefe, admr. with will annexed of estate of Eugene Herrmann, Barnard & Barnard, Chicago, Ill., of counsel.
Before DUFFY, SCHNACKENBERG and KNOCH, Circuit Judges.
Plaintiff, Francis I. duPont & Co., a partnership, engaged, inter alia, in the business of a stock and commodity broker, filed its action for interpleader under Title 28, U.S.C.A. § 1335, with reference to a fund of in excess of $500 due one Eugene Herrmann, who was born in Rottenburg, Germany, and who died domiciled in the Federal Republic of Germany, having resided there for some years, but who was believed to have been a naturalized citizen of the United States of America. Plaintiff alleged that shortly before his death Mr. Herrmann had asked that the balance in his account with plaintiff's Chicago office be sent to him in Germany. A check in the amount of $104,562.42 was mailed out, but was returned to the Chicago office after Mr. Herrmann's death. A copy of Mr. Herrmann's Will, acknowledged before a Notary in March, 1964, in Rottenburg, Germany, was attached as an exhibit to plaintiff's complaint.
It was further alleged in the complaint that claimants in interpleader were James L. O'Keefe, Public Administrator of Cook County, Illinois, who had secured issuance of Letters of Administration with the Will Annexed of the Estate of Eugene Herrmann, deceased, in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois; and all the legatees who where named in the Will, all of whom were residents of Germany, and who included in their number all the known intestate heirs of the decedent.
Plaintiff asserted a state of dubiety as to whether the decedent had lost (or had regained his German citizenship, whether a German court to whose jurisdiction plaintiff might be subject because of its maintenance of an office in Frankfurt, Germany) would apply German or United States law in any determination of the validity of the Will, whether plaintiff might not ultimately be required to pay over the sum in its hands to the heirs under German law who might or might not claim interests in the estate apart from the Will which left the bulk of the estate to a non-relative, despite the fact that the only actual claim made was that of the Public Administrator of Cook County armed with Letters of Administration.
The plaintiff paid in the sum in question to the registry of the United States District Court to abide the judgment of that Court.
Plaintiff sought judgment (1) restraining the various defendant-claimants from instituting action against plaintiff for this sum, (2) requiring them to interplead and settle their respective rights to the sum involved, (3) discharging plaintiff from any liability, and (4) awarding plaintiff its costs and attorneys' fees.
Eight of the defendant-claimants appeared by counsel, answered the complaint, and asked for payment of the...
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Am. Fid. Fire Ins. Co. v. Construcciones Werl, Inc.
...Life Insurance Company v. Beardslee, 216 F.2d 456 (7th Cir. 1954), cert. denied 348 U.S. 964 (1955), Francis I. du Pont & Co. v. O'Keefe, 365 F.2d 141 (7th Cir. 1966), and Fulton v. Kaiser Steel Corp., 397 F.2d 580 (5th Cir. 1968). [3] As noted, supra, the requisite adversity is normally fo......
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Am. Fidelity Fire Ins. Co. v. Construcciones Werl, Inc.
...Beardslee, 216 F.2d 457 (7th Cir. 1954), cert. denied, 348 U.S. 964, 75 S.Ct. 523, 99 L.Ed. 751 (1955); Francis I. du Pont & Co. v. O'Keefe, 365 F.2d 141 (7th Cir. 1966), and Fulton v. Kaiser Steel Corp., 397 F.2d 580 (5th Cir. As noted, supra, the requisite adversity is normally found to e......
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Hearing v. Minn. Life Ins. Co.
...parties and knew it had no claim to the funds and could not assert a claim without their consent); Francis I. duPont & Co. v. O'Keefe, 365 F.2d 141 (7th Cir.1966) (finding interpleader inappropriate when only one of the competing parties claimed entitlement to the funds and all other “compe......
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Hearing v. Minn. Life Ins. Co.
...parties and knew it had no claim to the funds and could not assert a claim without their consent); Francis I. duPont & Co. v. O'Keefe, 365 F.2d 141 (7th Cir.1966) (finding interpleader inappropriate when only one of the competing parties claimed entitlement to the funds and all other “compe......