City of Dallas v. Brown

• Decision Date: 22 May 1963
• Docket Number: No. 16193,16193
• Citation: 368 S.W.2d 240
• Parties: CITY OF DALLAS et al., Petitioners, v. Daniel C. BROWN et al. and James P. Donovan, Atty., Respondents.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

Page 240

368 S.W.2d 240

CITY OF DALLAS et al., Petitioners, v. Daniel C. BROWN et al. and James P. Donovan, Atty., Respondents.

No. 16193.

Court of Civil Appeals of Texas, Dallas.

May 22, 1963.

H. P. Kucera, City Atty., and N. Alex Bickley, Asst. City Atty., Dallas, for petitioners.

James P. Donovan, Dallas, for respondents.

PER CURIAM.

Original contempt proceedings. The City of Dallas, acting through its City Attorney, by motion duly verified, moves this Court to declare respondents to be in contempt of this Court for violation of a Writ of Prohibition and Ancillary Orders issued by this Court on April 16, 1963. For a proper understanding of the issues here presented it is both desirable and essential to relate the following relevant antecedent facts.

1. On April 4th, 1961 George S. Atkinson, and others, owners of property near Love Field, a municipal airport located in the City of Dallas, filed a class suit in the District Court of Dallas County seeking to restrain the City of Dallas from the construction of a runway at said airport. Said suit being No. 59027-H, styled George S. Atkinson, et al. v. City of Dallas, also attacked the validity of certain revenue bonds which the City of Dallas was about to issue to finance construction of the airport runway.

2. On July 17, 1961 the District Court granted a summary judgment in favor of the City denying permanent injunction sought by plaintiffs.

3. On December 15, 1961 this Court, on the appeal of the above case, affirmed the judgment of the trial court. Motion for rehearing was overruled on January 19, 1962. A detailed statement of the facts and issues involved will be found in this Court's opinion, styled Atkinson, et al. v. City of Dallas, and reported in 353 S.W.2d 275.

4. Appellants made application to the Supreme Court of Texas for a writ of error and, on March 14, 1962, the application was denied by the Supreme Court with the notation 'No Reversible Error'.

5. On June 25, 1962 the Supreme Court of the United States denied a writ of certiorari in the case, and on October 8, 1962 overruled a motion for rehearing. See Atkinson v. City of Dallas, 370 U.S. 939, 82 S.Ct. 1587, 8 L.Ed.2d 808, rehearing denied 371 U.S. 854, 83 S.Ct. 18, 9 L.Ed.2d 92. By the action of the Supreme Court of the United States the judgment of this Court of December 15, 1961 became final.

6. On September 24, 1962 Respondents herein filed Civil Action No. 9276, styled Brown, et al. v. City of Dallas, et al. in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division. By this suit they sought a permanent injunction against the City of Dallas to restrain said City from building the runway and from issuing certain revenue bonds. No temporary injunction was sought and none was granted. Forty of the plaintiffs in the case of Brown, et al. v. City of Dallas, et al. in the United States District Court were the same persons who were plaintiffs in the original suit filed April 3, 1961 in the District Court of Dallas County, Texas and other plaintiffs, all alleged to be property owners, were added in the Federal Court case.

7. On October 2, 1962, the City of Dallas and others filed an application for Writ of Prohibition and other Ancillary Mandatory Orders in this Court asking us to enforce our judgment in Atkinson v. City of Dallas by prohibiting the plaintiffs in the case of Brown v. City of Dallas, et al. in the United States District Court from attempting to relitigate the same issues and from interfering with the issuance and sale of the Love Field Revenue Bonds which this Court had declared to be valid in the Atkinson decision. This Court was also requested to direct that the plaintiffs in the Brown suit be required to dismiss said cause and refrain from filing any other litigation in reference to said runway and Love Field Revenue Bonds.

8. On October 6, 1962, the plaintiffs in the Brown suit filed an application in the United States District Court seeking to enjoin this Court from considering or acting upon the City's application for writ of prohibition.

9. On October 10, 1962, at the hearing, the United States Court dismissed the application for injunction to restrain this Court from further considering the City's application for a writ of prohibition.

10. On October 24, 1962, by a divided court, with Chief Justice Dixon and Associate Justice Williams filing a majority opinion, we denied the City of Dallas the relief sought in its application for writ of prohibition. Associate Justice Young filed a written dissenting opinion. The motion for rehearing filed by the City of Dallas was overruled on November 23, 1962. City of Dallas, et al. v. Brown, et al., Tex.Civ.App., 362 S.W.2d 372.

11. On December 8th, 1962, the City of Dallas, as petitioner, filed its original application for a mandamus in the Supreme Court of the State of Texas in which it was asked that the Supreme Court order and direct this Court of Civil Appeals to grant the relief prayed for and which relief this Court had denied in cause No. 16,193, styled City of Dallas, et al. v. Brown, et al, 362 S.W.2d 372.

12. The Supreme Court of the State of Texas in cause No. A-9340, styled City of Dallas, et al., Relators v. Dixon, Chief Justice, et al., Respondents, did by written opinion dated March 15 1963, issue its order, styled 'An Original Mandamus' directing this Court to issue a writ of prohibition and other ancillary orders granting to the City of Dallas the relief sought against further prosecution of the case involving the same issues as had been previously foreclosed in the Atkinson case. City of Dallas, et al. v. Dixon, Chief Justice, et al., Tex., 365 S.W.2d 919. The Supreme Court overruled motion for rehearing and notice was given to this Court to comply with the order of the Supreme Court.

13. Thereafter no action was taken by respondents to cause such decision of the Supreme Court of Texas to be reviewed by the Supreme Court of the United States.

14. The Supreme Court of Texas in its opinion, held that the parties in the case of Brown v. City of Dallas in the Federal Court were bound by the decision in Atkinson v. City of Dallas. In this regard the court said:

'It is immaterial that Brown is not a class action. The controlling fact is that Atkinson was a class action as authorized by Rule 42, Texas Rules of Civil Procedure; and being a class action of the hybrid type, the judgment in Atkinson binds all members of the class insofar as validity of the bonds and the right of the City to construct the runways are concerned if the class was adequately represented by those who sued on behalf of the class. McDonald, Texas Civil Practice, Vol. 1, Sec. 3.37, pp. 283-284; Hovey v. Shepherd, 105 Tex. 237, 147 S.W. 224. The description of the plaintiffs in Brown, quoted above, shows clearly that they are members of the class represented by the plaintiffs in Atkinson, and it is not suggested that they were not adequately represented in that suit. Their right to relitigate the same issues is foreclosed by our decision in Hovey v. Shepherd, supra. This must be so. If it were not so, different groups of Dallas citizens could halt all efforts of the City to improve its airport facilities indefinitely by filing new suits. Such an absurdity cannot be tolerated.'

15. The Supreme Court, by its opinion, also held that the issues sought to be litigated in the Federal Court are essentially the same as the issues litigated in Atkinson to final judgment. Thus the court said:

'An analysis of the petition in Brown discloses that the issues sought to be litigated are essentally the same as the issues litigated in Atkinson, and the prayer is for the same ultimate relief. Such additional collateral issues as are injected in Brown could, by diligence, have been litigated in Atkinson. They are, therefore, also foreclosed by the judgment in Atkinson.'

16. Pursuant to direct order of the Supreme Court of Texas, this court did, on April 16, 1963, grant its Writ of Prohibiition and Ancillary Orders, directed to the Respondents providing that said parties and all of them;

'together with all persons similarly situated, are hereby prohibited from prosecuting, urging or in any manner seeking to litigate, as attorney and/or plaintiffs, case No. 9276 styled Brown et al. v. City of Dallas, et al. now pending in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division, and they and each of them, individually, and as a class, are further prohibited and enjoined from filing or instituting any litigation, lawsuits and other actions, seeking to contest the right of the City of Dallas to proceed with the construction of the parallel runway as presently proposed at Love Field situated within the City of Dallas, Texas, or from instituting and prosecuting any further litigation, lawsuits or actions in any court, the purpose of which is to contest the validity of the airport revenue bonds heretofore issued under authority of Art. 1269-J, V.A.C.S. or that might be issued under said Article for the construction of the Love Field runway and the ancillary improvement in connection therewith, or from, in any manner interfering with or casting any cloud upon, or slandering the title of, or interfering with the delivery of, the proposed bonds by the City of Dallas, any of its agents or representatives or others seeking to assist them in the sale and delivery of the same.'

17. The City of Dallas filed a motion to dismiss the Brown suit in the Federal Court and at a preliminary hearing in the ...