City of Chicago v. Darius Mills
| Decision Date | 04 February 1907 |
| Docket Number | No. 286,286 |
| Citation | 27 S.Ct. 286,204 U.S. 321,51 L.Ed. 504 |
| Parties | CITY OF CHICAGO, Appt., v. DARIUS O. MILLS |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
Messrs. James Hamilton Lewis, Henry M. Ashton, and David K. Tone for appellant.
[Argument of Counsel from pages 322-323 intentionally omitted] Messrs. William D. Guthrie, John J. Herrick, and I. K. Boyesen for appellee.
This case is here upon a question of jurisdiction of the circuit court of the United States for the northern district of Illinois to entertain the suit. 26 Stat. at L. 826, chap. 517, U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, p. 488. The case originated in a bill filed in that court by the complainant, Darius O. Mills, a citizen of California, as a stockholder in the People's Gas, Light, & Coke Company, a corporation of the state of Illinois, to restrain the city of Chicago from enforcing a certain ordinance limiting the right of the gas company as to charges for furnishing gas.
Complainant averred a demand of the directors that an action be brought by the company to restrain the city from enforcing the ordinance, and alleged compliance with the ninety-fourth equity rule, and the refusal of the company to bring the action.
The original bill alleged that the ordinance impaired the obligation of the contract contained in the charter of the gas company, in contravention of the contract clause of the Federal Constitution; and, also, that the ordinance was illegal in that the city had no power to pass it.
The ordinance thus complained of was adopted by the city of Chicago, October 15, 1900, and provided that charges for gas in excess of 75 cents per 1,000 cubic feet should be illegal, and fixed a penalty of not less than $25 or more than $200 for each and every violation of the ordinance.
The objection made to the jurisdiction of the circuit court, and which is said to be established in the record and duly presented here, is based upon the allegation that the suit by Mills was brought in the Federal court by collusion between him and the gas company, and for the fraudulent purpose of invoking the jurisdiction of the Federal court concerning a controversy which was really between the company and the city of Chicago, parties lacking the requisite diversity of citizenship to maintain the suit in the Federal courts.
The record discloses that the appeal was allowed to this court solely upon the question of the jurisdiction of the court as a circuit court of the United States. A certificate entered the same term at which the appeal was allowed sets forth that the city objected to the jurisdiction of the court as a Federal court, and that the appeal was prayed solely upon the question of jurisdiction of the court as a circuit court of the United States, and that the appeal was granted solely upon the question of jurisdiction.
Portions of the proceedings, including the testimony on the question of jurisdiction, duly signed and sealed and made part of the record, are certified to this court by a certificate in the form of a bill of exceptions. Re Lehigh Min. & Mfg. Co. 156 U. S. 322, 39 L. ed. 438, 15 Sup. Ct. Rep. 375; G. H. Nichols Lumber Co. v. Fransom (decided at this term), 203 U. S. 278, ante, 102, 27 Sup. Ct. Rep. 102.
A preliminary objection is made that the certificate does not show whether the jurisdictional question arose from insufficient amount, want of diversity of citizenship, collusion, or otherwise. But we are of the opinion that an examination of the record, aided by the opinion of the court contained therein, and made part thereof, distinctly shows that the question of jurisdiction passed upon concerned the collusive character of the action of the complainant.
We think this brings the case within the ruling in Smith v. McKay, 161 U. S. 355, 40 L. ed. 731, 16 Sup. Ct. Rep. 490, in which the court, looking into the character of the appeal, the certificate of the court, and the certified copy of the opinion, made part of the record, sustained the court's jurisdiction, citing, with approval, Shields v. Coleman, 157 U. S. 168, 39 L. ed. 660, 15 Sup. Ct. Rep. 570, and Re Lehigh Min. & Mfg. Co. supra.
The circuit court, after an examination of the testimony, reached the conclusion that the action was not collusive, and, upon final decree, granted a perpetual injunction against the enforcement of the ordinance in question. On this appeal we are only concerned with the correctness of the conclusion reached in the circuit court as to the question of jurisdiction. This question is before us upon this record. Wetmore v. Rymer, us upon this record. Wetmore v. Rymer 169 U. S. 115, 42 L. ed. 682, 18 Sup. Ct. Rep. 293. In order to determine it it is necessary to consider briefly as may be the facts shown in this record.
The ordinance in question was passed October 15, 1900. The People's Gas, Light, & Coke Company, on the 21st of December, 1900, brought a suit in the circuit court of the United States for the northern district of Illinois, seeking to enjoin enforcement of the ordinance, upon the ground that it impaired the obligation of its charter contract, denied equal protection of the laws, and amounted to a confiscation of its property; and upon the further ground that no power had been conferred upon the city of Chicago by the legislature of Illinois to thus regulate the price of gas.
It is unnecessary to recite all of the proceedings of that suit in detail. The history of the litigation will be found in the opinion of the chief justice when the case came here from the circuit court on appeal (194 U. S. 1, 48 L. ed. 851, 24 Sup. Ct. Rep. 520).
To the bill as originally filed in that case the city of Chicago filed a general demurrer, and the circuit court, holding that no constitutional right of the company was impaired, decided that its jurisdiction would not extend to the question of the power of the council to pass the ordinance in question, and that such a question was one primarily for the state courts; thereupon the company filed an amended bill, limiting its rights to the alleged impairment of its contract. The city of Chicago also demurred to the amended bill, and, upon the hearing of the demurrer, it was sustained and the bill dismissed for want of jurisdiction, and a final decree was entered to that effect. An appeal was thereupon taken to this court.
When the litigation had progressed thus far, complainant, Mills, who was the largest stockholder in the company, consulted ...
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