Atchison, T.&S.F. Ry. Co. v. Andrews

• Decision Date: 25 October 1949
• Docket Number: Gen. No. 44394.
• Citation: 338 Ill.App. 552,88 N.E.2d 364
• Court: United States Appellate Court of Illinois
• Parties: ATCHISON, T. & S. F. RY. CO. v. ANDREWS et al. SOUTHERN PAC. CO. v. ANDREWS et al.

338 Ill.App. 552

88 N.E.2d 364

ATCHISON, T. & S. F. RY. CO.

v.ANDREWS et al.

SOUTHERN PAC. CO.

v.ANDREWS et al.

Gen. No. 44394.

Appellate Court of Illinois, First District, Second Division.

Oct. 11, 1949.

Rehearing Denied Oct. 25, 1949.

The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Company, a corporation, and the Southern Pacific Company, a corporation, brought actions which were consolidated, against Sol Andrews and others to enjoin them from prosecuting a large number of injury actions against the plaintiffs.

The Superior Court of Cook County, Ulysses S. Schwartz, J., granted a judgment for the plaintiffs, and the defendants appealed.

The Appellate Court, Scanlan, J., affirmed the judgment, holding that a court of equity has the power to enjoin an attorney from prosecuting actions secured through chasers and that evidence sustained finding that the actions in question were procured by means of chasers.Jesse H. Brown, Chicago, for appellants.

Poppenhusen, Johnston, Thompson & Raymond, Chicago, for appellees.

Jonathan C. Gibson, Thomas J. Barnett, Chicago, for Atchison, T. & S. F. Ry. Co.

George L. Buland, Lawrence L. Howe, San Francisco, Cal., Floyd E. Thompson, Chicago, of counsel, for Southern Pac. Co.

SCANLAN, Justice.

The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Company, a corporation (hereinafter also called Santa Fe), and Southern Pacific Company, a corporation (hereinafter also called Southern Pacific), plaintiffs, each brought an action against Sol Andrews, Noah Andrews and J. Shane, defendants, in which they prayed for certain temporary and permanent injunctions against defendants and all persons acting under them. The two cases were consolidated and tried together. Sol Andrews and Noah Andrews, defendants, appeal from a decree entered in favor of plaintiffs.

The complaint of Santa Fe alleges, in substance, that it operates a railroad which traverses nine states between its eastern terminus in Illinois and its western termini in California; that Sol Andrews, defendant, is an attorney at law, licensed to practice in Illinois, and resides and maintains a law office in Chicago; that he has never been a resident of California, Arizona or New Mexico and has never been licensed to practice law in said states; that J. Shane, defendant, is an associate of Sol Andrews; that Noah Andrews, defendant, is not an attorney at law, but that under the style ‘Sylvan Associates' (hereinafter also called Sylvan) he solicits clients for Sol Andrews; that Sylvan provides for the maintenance of said clients; that Sol Andrews has employed Noah Andrews, Floyd Kaneaster, and other laymen, as ‘chasers' to procure contracts with persons asserting claims against Santa Fe, and has provided these chasers with contingent fee contract forms and other paraphernalia used in the solicitation of his employment as an attorney by Santa Fe employees; that pursuant to said scheme he has filed against Santa Fe in the Superior court of Cook county between September 18, 1945, and March 4, 1946, 40 actions at law in behalf of persons residing in California, Arizona or New Mexico, which allege causes of action arising out of accidents alleged to have occurred in said states; that the average distance from Chicago to the point of the alleged accidents is 1,930 miles; that the aggregate of the damages claimed in said cases is $2,060,000; that notices of attorney's lien have been filed in other cases and that additional actions will be filed in due course in said court in cases of like character to the foregoing; that the foregoing cases were procured pursuant to representations by the chasers that the actions would be filed in Chicago; that Santa Fe will be put to great inconvenience and expense in defending the cases in Chicago; that it will have difficulty in procuring the attendance of witnesses there, and that favorable settlements will be obtained in most cases; that large verdicts will be procured in cases where settlements cannot be effected; that Sol Andrews will maintain the cases and support the clients while the cases are pending; that he and his confederates are disrupting the relations between Santa Fe and its employees and have induced some employees of plaintiff to secretly enter into the conspiracy; that there are duly functioning courts, state and federal, in said states, open to all litigants for the prompt and efficient adjudication of any meritorious claims against plaintiff arising out of injuries suffered by its employees and that the proceedings in said courts have always been conducted expeditiously; that Sol Andrews has never prosecuted a case in any of said courts and that he has no reputation in any of said states of skill in the trial of personal injury claims; that there are available to all claimants in said states capable and reputable attorneys licensed to practice in the courts of said states and who regularly practice in said courts; that Sol Andrews was a stranger to all the persons on behalf of whom he has filed actions at law against plaintiff in the Superior court and that he was retained by the plaintiffs in said cases solely as a result of solicitation by his chasers; that plaintiff is injured in its property by the acts of Sol Andrews and his confederates, by the misrepresentations made by said Andrews and his confederates as to the attitude of plaintiff toward its injured employees, and is injured by the said interference with the relations between plaintiff and its employees, and by the added expense and inconvenience of trying cases nearly 2,000 miles from the place of the alleged injury; that plaintiff has no adequate remedy at law against the illegal and inequitable conduct of Sol Andrews and his confederates and that unless it is granted relief from the scheme of said Andrews and his confederates it will be denied a certain remedy for the injuries and wrongs it has received, in violation of the Federal and State Constitutions. An amendment and supplement to the complaint alleges that the total amount of damages claimed in the ‘imported’ cases is $2,780,000, and challenges the validity of the notices of attorney's lien filed by said Andrews. Motions of defendants Sol and Noah Andrews to dismiss the complaint on the ground that it failed to allege facts setting forth a cause of action for equitable relief were overruled. Defendants then filed an answer to the complaint, in which they denied the allegations of the complaint and averred that the clients of Sol Andrews had a legal right to file their actions in Cook county, Illinois. Santa Fe, plaintiff, replied to the answer.

The complaint of Southern Pacific contains similar charges to those contained in the complaint of Santa Fe; also alleges that it operates lines of railroad, but not in the State of Illinois, and that its eastern termini are at Ogden, Utah, and Tucumcari, New Mexico; that between July 11, 1945, and April 12, 1946, defendant Sol Andrews, in furtherance of the alleged scheme, filed in the Superior court of Cook county 34 actions at law against it on behalf of plaintiffs residing in California, Arizona or New Mexico, in which actions the injuries are alleged to have been suffered in California, Arizona or New Mexico; that the average distance from the point of the alleged accidents to Chicago is 2,148 miles and that the total amount of damages claimed is $2,135,000; that notices of attorney's lien have been served by Sol Andrews in other cases of like character, and additional cases will be filed by him in the Superior court in due course. An amendment to the complaint alleges that the said notices of attorney's lien are void. After motions of defendants Sol and Noah Andrews to dismiss the complaint were overruled, they filed an answer denying the allegations of the complaint and averring that Sol Andrews' clients had a legal right to file their actions at law in Cook county, Illinois.

The consolidated cases were referred to a master in chancery and after a lengthy hearing he filed a report finding that the allegations of the respective complaints were proved without substantial dispute; that plaintiffs were entitled to the relief prayed, and recommended that a decree be entered in accordance with the prayers of plaintiffs. Defendants' objections to the master's reports were ordered to stand as exceptions and the cases came on for hearing before an able and experienced chancellor, Judge Schwartz, who delivered an opinion when he decided the cases. Therein the chancellor discussed at some length the question as to whether the Superior court was compelled to try the personal injury cases commenced by Sol Andrews under the Federal Employers' Liability Act, 45 U.S.C.A. § 51 et seq., and as to whether, under the facts, the principle of forum non conveniens could be invoked by the instant plaintiffs against the plaintiffs in the suits commenced by Sol Andrews. While the chancellor expressed his opinion upon the two questions, he properly concluded that as the plaintiffs in the suits commenced by Sol Andrews were not parties to the instant proceeding he could not dispose of their rights in the instant proceeding and that the trial judges would have the right to hear and determine these questions when the cases were reached for hearing. The two questions, therefore, are not involved in this appeal. We deem it helpful to quote certain salient parts of the opinion of the chancellor:

‘The above two cases * * * involve identical issues.

* * *

‘The Master heard the evidence consisting of more than four thousand pages of testimony and numerous exhibits [plaintiffs introduced 353 exhibits, and defendants, 110] and made his report. * * *

‘The Master, in his findings of fact, gives a detailed account of the conspiracy, commencing with the employment of Floyd Kaneaster in May, 1945. Kaneaster was at that time Yardmaster for the Santa Fe Railroad Company and Andrews employed him to investigate a personal injury case [against Santa Fe]. In June,...