Heitmuller v. Stokes

Decision Date16 May 1921
Docket NumberNo. 279,279
Citation41 S.Ct. 522,256 U.S. 359,65 L.Ed. 990
PartiesHEITMULLER v. STOKES
CourtU.S. Supreme Court

Mr. Chapin Brown, of Washington, D. C., for plaintiff in error.

Mr. Wharton E. Laster, of Washington, D. C., for defendant in error.

Mr. Justice DAY delivered the opinion of the Court.

Sylvanus Stokes brought suit in the municipal court of the District of Columbia to recover from Anna Heitmuller possession of premises No. 1505 Twenty-Second street, Northwest, in the city of Washington, D. C. Stokes claimed to be the purchaser of the premises, and the action was brought against Anna Heitmuller as tenant thereof. Trial was had in the municipal court, and judgment rendered in favor of the defendant. Stokes appealed to the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, and filed an affidavit after the docketing of the appeal as required by rule 19 of that court. Defendant filed an affidavit setting forth grounds of defense. The Supreme Court entered judgment for the plaintiff, Stokes, upon the ground that the defense as set forth by the defendant was insufficient to defeat the plaintiff's recovery. The case was taken to the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia, where the judgment of the Supreme Court was affirmed. 49 App. D. C. 391, 266 Fed. 1011. A writ of error brings the case to this court.

The errors assigned raise constitutional questions as to the validity of the so-called Saulsbury Resolution (40 Stat. 593), and of rule 19 of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia. Other errors, not necessary to notice, are also assigned.

The judgment of the Court of Appeals of the District, affirming that of the Supreme Court, was rendered on January 5, 1920, and on January 15, 1920, a writ of error was allowed bringing the case to this court. On February 5, 1920, Stokes, appellee in the Court of Appeals, and defendant in error here, filed a motion to dismiss the writ of error upon the ground that he had sold and conveyed the real estate, the possession of which was the subject-matter in dispute, and had no further interest in the cause, except to recover costs and rental due because of the wrongful detention of the property, and upon the further ground that no appeal bond had been filed by the appellant. The Court of Appeals denied the motion. After the allowance of the writ of error, the cause had passed beyond the jurisdiction of that court.

In this court the defendant in error, Stokes, moves to dismiss the writ of error, setting forth as grounds for the motion:

1. The cause of action between the parties hereto has ceased to exist, for that after the judgment of the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia, appellee sold and conveyed the real estate, the subject-matter of this suit, and therefore is not now entitled to the relief herein sought, namely, the possession of said premises.

2. There is now no actual controversy involving real and substantial rights between the parties to the record, and no subject-matter upon which the judgment of this court can operate.

3. The only question now involved in this appeal, is that of costs.

As the action was brought to recover the possession of real estate, and as the defendant in error has, pending review in this court, sold it, we agree with the contention that the case has become moot. The plaintiff in error, so far as the record discloses, is in possession, and, the defendant in error having sold and conveyed the property, a judgment, if in...

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71 cases
  • Alton & So. Ry. Co. v. International Ass'n of Mach. & AW
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit
    • April 11, 1972
    ...3, 1971): "Emergency Public Interest Protection Act." This report was called for by Public Law 91-541. 19 Heitmuller v. Stokes, 256 U.S. 359, 362, 41 S.Ct. 522, 65 L.Ed. 990 (1921); Wingert v. First National Bank, 223 U.S. 670, 672, 32 S.Ct. 391, 56 L.Ed. 605 20 Chicago & N. W. Ry. v. UTU, ......
  • DeFunis v. Odegaard
    • United States
    • Washington Supreme Court
    • December 12, 1974
    ...332, 63 L.Ed. 687 (1919); Commercial Cable Co. v. Burleson, 250 U.S. 360, 39 S.Ct. 512, 63 L.Ed. 1030 (1919); Heitmuller v. Stokes, 256 U.S. 359, 41 S.Ct. 522, 65 L.Ed. 990 (1921); and, (2) whenever mere dismissal of the appeal would leave a lower appellate determination still in force, not......
  • Ward v. Arkansas State Police, LR-C-77-256.
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Arkansas
    • July 29, 1980
    ...(Fortas, J., dissenting) ("controversy as to costs alone does not salvage an otherwise moot case"); Heitmuller v. Stokes, 256 U.S. 359, 361-62, 41 S.Ct. 522, 65 L.Ed. 990 (1921) (same). Any other rule would largely nullify the mootness doctrine with respect to cases brought under the myriad......
  • Boggess v. Berry Corporation
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit
    • May 2, 1956
    ...court will dismiss the appeal as moot. Brownlow v. Schwartz, 1923, 261 U.S. 216, 43 S.Ct. 263, 67 L.Ed. 620; Heitmuller v. Stokes, 1921, 256 U.S. 359, 41 S.Ct. 522, 65 L.Ed. 990; United States v. Hamburg-Amerikanische Packet-Fahrt-Actien Gesellschaft, 1916, 239 U.S. 466, 36 S.Ct. 212, 60 L.......
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1 books & journal articles
  • Avoiding collateral damage: vacating a judgment as part of a settlement.
    • United States
    • Defense Counsel Journal Vol. 77 No. 1, January 2010
    • January 1, 2010
    ...by "happenstance" provides sufficient reason to vacate). (5) Bonner Mall, 513 U.S. at 23, 115 S.Ct. at 390, citing Heitmuller v. Stokes, 256 U.S. 359, 362, 41 S.Ct. 522, 523-524 (1921). (6) American Library Association v. Barr, 956 F.2d 1178 (D.C. Cir. 1992). (7) Humane Society of the Unite......

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