Ex parte In the Matter of Ephraim Simon. riginal
| Citation | 52 L.Ed. 429,28 S.Ct. 238,208 U.S. 144 |
| Decision Date | 20 January 1908 |
| Docket Number | No. 13,O,13 |
| Parties | EX PARTE: IN THE MATTER OF EPHRAIM SIMON. riginal |
| Court | United States Supreme Court |
Messrs. Louis Marshall and Henry L. Lazarus for petitioner.
[Argument of Counsel from pages 144-146 intentionally omitted] Mr. Harry H. Hall for respondent.
The petitioner is in custody for contempt, he having violated a preliminary injunction issued by the circuit court of the United States. He brings this petition on the ground that the circuit court had no jurisdiction, and that therefore its decree might be disobeyed.
The jurisdiction of the circuit court over the cause depends on the allegations of the bill upon which the injunction was granted. That bill was brought by the Southern Railway Company against the petitioner. It alleges that Simon brought a suit against the railway in Louisiana surreptitiously and without its knowledge, and that, on the suggestion that the railway was a foreign corporation, doing business in the state without having named an agent to receive service, he served the citation upon the assistant secretary of state, whereas the railway was not a corporation doing business in the state, and the service was void. The suit proceeded to judgment for a fraudulently exaggerated sum, while the railway had no knowledge of the proceedings until after the judgment was rendered. As soon as it heard of it, it began this suit; in effect, to prevent the enforcement of the judgment, because unconscionable and fraudulently obtained, upon a cause of action to which it has a good defense if allowed to present the same.
The bill further alleges that Simon will attempt to collect the fraudulent judgment by fieri facias, and prays, as specific relief, an injunction against his further proceeding under the same, but the general scope and purpose of the bill is what we have stated. A preliminary injunction was issued, after a hearing on affidavits, on June 30, 1905, and Simon appears to have obeyed the order for over two years. A demurrer to the bill was overruled in December, 1906, and a plea to the jurisdiction, filed in February, 1907, was overruled in the following May. Simon answered in August and issue was joined in the same month. The contempt seems to have occurred in November. It consisted in obtaining a writ of fieri facias and directing a levy and the service of garnishment process to collect the judgment. It was admitted at the argument that this method was adopted in order to obtain a summary disposition of the cause by this court instead of awaiting the result of a trial in the regular way. The punishment was a small fine, and the imprisonment was ordered only until the fine was paid.
The facts stated seem to us enough to dispose of this case. The usual rule is that a prisoner cannot anticipate the regular course of proceedings having for their end to determine whether he shall be held or released, by alleging want of jurisdiction and petitioning for a habeas corpus. United States v. Sing Tuck 194 U. S. 161, 168, 48 L. ed. 917, 920, 24 Sup. Ct. Rep. 621; Riggins v. United States, 199 U. S. 547, 50 L. ed. 303, 26 Sup. Ct. Rep. 147; Whitney v. Dick, 202 U. S. 132, 140, 50 L. ed. 963, 966, 26 Sup. Ct. Rep. 584; Re Lincoln, 202 U. S. 178, 50 L. ed....
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