Driscoll v. Burlington-Bristol Bridge Co.
| Decision Date | 25 February 1949 |
| Docket Number | Civ. No. 11907. |
| Citation | 82 F. Supp. 975 |
| Parties | DRISCOLL et al. v. BURLINGTON-BRISTOL BRIDGE CO. et al. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of New Jersey |
Russell E. Watson, of New Brunswick, N. J., for plaintiff Alfred E. Driscoll.
Walter D. Van Riper, of Trenton, N. J., for plaintiff Alfred E. Driscoll and pro se.
Pitney, Hardin, Ward & Brennan and William J. Brennan, Jr., all of Newark, N. J. (Donald B. Kipp and William P. Reiss, both of Newark, N. J., of counsel), for defendants Chemical Bank & Trust Co. and B. J. Van Ingen & Co., Inc.
Milton M. & Adrian M. Unger, and Milton M. Unger, all of Newark, N. J., for defendants Sarjem Corporation, Richard C. Nongard, Tuthill Ketcham and Rowland H. Murray, individually and as partners trading as Ketcham and Nongard, Robert M. Sherritt, Thomas J. Christensen, Irene E. Powell, Paul A. Powell, Mildred P. Meader, Clifford R. Powell, Robert K. Bell, Theodore R. Hanff, Richard W. Parks and Gladys A. Parks.
Robert L. Hood, of Newark, N.J., for defendants Burlington-Bristol Bridge Co., Tacony-Palmyra Bridge Co., Board of Chosen Freeholders of Burlington County, Burlington County Bridge Commission, Daniel Lichtenthal, Fred C. Norcross, Jr., and Howard R. Yocum, individually and as members of the Burlington County Bridge Commission.
A civil action in the form of an "Information and Complaint" was originally filed in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Chancery Division, Burlington County, by Alfred E. Driscoll, Governor of the State of New Jersey, and Walter D. Van Riper, Attorney General of the State of New Jersey (hereinafter referred to as plaintiffs). It was removed to this court on the petition of two of the defendants, Chemical Bank and Trust Company and B. J. Van Ingen & Company, Inc., (referred to herein as petitioners) who rested their claim to the right of removal upon the ground that it is a civil action of which this court has original jurisdiction wherein the matter in controversy exceeds the sum of $3,000 exclusive of interest and costs and arises under the Constitution and laws of the United States and Acts of Congress regulating commerce. Subsequently the following defendants consented to joinder with the latter in their petition for removal: Sarjem Corporation; Richard C. Nongard, Tuthill Ketcham and Rowland H. Murray, individually and as partners trading as Ketcham and Nongard; Robert M. Sherritt; Thomas J. Christensen; Irene E. Powell; Paul A. Powell; Mildred O. Meader; Clifford R. Powell; Robert K. Bell; Theodore R. Hanff; Richard W. Parks; Gladys A. Parks; Burlington-Bristol Bridge Company; Tacony-Palmyra Bridge Company; Burlington County Bridge Commission; Daniel Lichtenthal; Fred C. Norcross, Jr., and Howard R. Yocum, individually and as members of the Burlington County Bridge Commission; and the Board of Chosen Freeholders of the County of Burlington.*
The matter is now before the court on the motion of the plaintiffs to remand the case to the State court.
Because the "frame of reference" in this type of motion is contained within the four corners of the complaint, it is necessary to refer at considerable length to the "Information and Complaint" filed by the plaintiffs in which they allege, among other things, as follows:
That the Tacony Bridge Company was incorporated June 25, 1926 under Chapter 247 of the New Jersey Laws of 1925 entitled "An Act to authorize the formation of companies for the purpose of constructing, maintaining and operating bridges over the Delaware river, and regulating the same," N.J.S.A. 48:5-13 et seq.; that the Burlington Bridge Company was incorporated on March 27, 1928 under the same law;
That the Tacony Bridge Company was authorized by an Act of Congress, Chapter 56, Session II, Jan. 25, 1927, 44 Stat. 1024, to construct a bridge across the Delaware River between Palmyra in the County of Burlington, New Jersey and Tacony, in the City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and that it constructed the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge completing it on August 14, 1929 pursuant to the said Act of Congress and the law of the State of New Jersey as aforesaid;
That Burlington Bridge Company, as assignees of Joseph R. Cheeseman and Clifford A. Anderson, who were authorized by an Act of Congress, Chapter 351, Session I, March 21, 1926, 44 Stat. 588, to construct a bridge between the City of Burlington, New Jersey and the City of Bristol, Pennsylvania, completed the Burlington-Bristol Bridge on May 1st, 1931, pursuant to the said Act of Congress and the law of the State of New Jersey;
That the Burlington Bridge Company and the Tacony Bridge Company, pursuant to Section 9 of said Chapter 247 of the New Jersey Laws of 1925, N.J.S.A. 48:5-22 to 24, gave their lawful consents to the State of New Jersey acting in conjunction with any adjoining state or municipality thereof to acquire said bridges subject to the acquisition of the same by the State of New Jersey or by any political subdivision thereof pursuant to the terms and conditions stated in the aforementioned Acts of Congress That the State of New Jersey had and has a vested right to acquire an entire, as well as an undivided partial interest, in said bridges in accordance with the formula, terms and conditions set forth in the laws of the State of New Jersey and the Acts of Congress aforementioned and in addition to its usual sovereign right to acquisition by eminent domain the State of New Jersey was vested with the right to purchase the bridges after 20 years from their completion in accordance with the formula, terms and conditions set forth in the laws of New Jersey and Congress; that the 20 year period will expire on August 14, 1949 as to the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge and on May 1, 1951 as to the Burlington-Bristol Bridge, and that as of the expiration of the said 20 year periods the applicable price or value of the bridges would be approximately $5,000,000;
That under Chapter 318, Laws of New Jersey 1946, N.J.S.A. 27:19-26 et seq., Boards of Freeholders of any County were authorized to create Bridge Commissions with authority as set forth in said legislation; that by Chapter 288 of New Jersey Laws of 1948, the Legislature of New Jersey unconstitutionally amended Chapter 318 of New Jersey Laws of 1946, N.J.S.A. 27:19-26, et seq., in that the said amendment of 1948 is an abrogation and violation of the compact or agreement made between the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the State of New Jersey creating the Delaware River Joint Commission as a body corporate and politic, as set forth in N.J.S.A. 32:3-1 to 18, which compact was approved by the 72nd Congress of the United States by Public Resolution No. 26, June 14, 1932, 47 Stat. 308 and the said amendment of 1948 purports to grant to Bridge Commissions the right to acquire bridges as may be in part within the limits of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania or of the Delaware River Joint Commission.
The "Information and Complaint" further charges that defendants Theodore R. Hanff, Clifford R. Powell, Tuthill Ketcham, Richard C. Nongard, Rowland H. Murray, Thomas J. Christensen, Robert K. Bell, Richard W. Parks, Fitzgerald & Co., Inc., B. J. Van Ingen & Co., Inc., and the Sarjem Corporation, between September 1, 1946 and the date of the filing of the "Information and Complaint", December 3, 1948, schemed and conspired to acquire and purchase all of the outstanding stock of the Burlington Bridge Company and of the Tacony Bridge Company and all the rights of the two companies in and to the said bridges respectively with the purpose thereafter to sell the said two bridges and the outstanding stock of the said two companies at an excessive and unconscionable price to a Bridge Commission which they and their agents would cause to be created for the County of Burlington by means of exercising coercion and undue influence upon the members of the Board of Freeholders of Burlington County and upon the members of the Burlington Bridge Commission that would be and afterward was created by the Board of Freeholders; by causing the creation of a bridge commission consisting of persons who would be entirely subservient to them and who would act obediently to their directions and would accept from them and their agents without using independent study and judgment legal opinions prepared by them and their agents as to the validity of the contemplated transactions and the value of the bridges and would thereupon adopt and pass resolutions prepared by them and their agents purporting to be resolutions of the Burlington Bridge Commission approving the purchase of the two bridges and the capital stock of the two bridge companies for the sum of $12,000,000 and issue bonds aggregating $12,400,000 to obtain the funds for the purpose of such purchases and would act in secrecy and with speed concealing the transaction from the public, the Government of the State and others lawfully and properly interested therein; and by means of fraud and misrepresentations, offer and promise of reward, and by counselling, aiding and abetting the members of the said Bridge Commission to act in violation of their public trust and in disregard of their duties to the public, the County of Burlington and State of New Jersey.
The plaintiffs claimed that on or about September 7, 1946 the defendants Powell, Hanff and their associates and agents entered into an agreement to purchase the Burlington Bridge Company from its then owners either by a direct purchase of the bridge or by purchase of the outstanding stock of the said company for $1,350,000 and consummated the agreement in October 1947 when the defendants Hanff, Powell, Ketcham, Nongard, Murray, Christensen, Parks, Bell and Fitzgerald & Co., Inc., purchased the capital stock of the Burlington Bridge Company and covered the purchase price by notes and mortgages and investing a total of $50,000 in cash;
That pursuant to the alleged conspiracy, on May 1, 1948, Ketcham and defendant Robert M. Sherritt,...
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