Hobbs v. Pollock, 20
| Decision Date | 09 December 1929 |
| Docket Number | No. 20,20 |
| Citation | 74 L.Ed. 353,50 S.Ct. 83,280 U.S. 168 |
| Parties | HOBBS, Commissioner of Insurance, et al. v. POLLOCK, District Judge |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
Messrs. John G. Egan and William R. Smith, both of Topeka, Kan., and John F. Rhodes, of Kansas City, Mo., for petitioner.
[Argument of Counsel from page 169 intentionally omitted] Mr. Robert J. Folonie, of Chicago, Ill., for respondent.
This is a petition for a writ of mandamus directing Judge Pollock, of the District Court of the United States for the District of Kansas, to call to his assistance two other Judges under § 266 of the Judicial Code as amended (U. S. Code, Title 28, § 380 (28 USCA § 380)), to determine the prayer for interlocutory and final injunctions against the petitioners in certain suits. An order to show cause was issued and the Judge has made a return. We are of opinion that the writ must be denied upon the incontrovertible portions of the return, and therefore need to consider nothing else.
One hundred and fifty stock fire insurance companies doing business in Kansas have bills in equity, of which the bill considered in this case is a type, pending in the District Court of the United States for the District of Kansas. These bills allege diversity of citizenship and also that the defendant Commissioner of Insurance, one of the present petitioners, has made an order affecting the rates to be charged for the issue of policies of fire insurance that is confiscatory and contrary to the Fourteenth Amendment, but that if not obeyed he will enforce by revoking the plaintiffs' licenses to do business in Kansas. The bills also allege that the statutes of Kansas as construed to authorize the order are unconstitutional like it and for the same reason. The bills pray for a restraining order ad interim, an interlocutory injunction after a hearing before three Judges, and a permanent injunction by final decree.
On April 3, 1928, the parties appeared before the present respondent, and on his suggestion the defendants, the present petitioners, agreed to take no action that would be subject to restraint by a temporary restraining order, without first giving notice of intention to do so in ample time for the plaintiff to resort to the Court. An order embodying the agreement and stating that the Court therefore refrained from entering any temporary restraining order was entered at that date, and remained in force for over a year. Shortly after the entry the petitioners presented to the Judge a motion to dismiss the suit, on the ground that the matter was res judicata by reason of certain proceedings in the State Court, and also for want of equity, which after argument was overruled. On May 10, 1929, the case was referred to a Master to make findings of fact and conclusions of law concerning the issues in the case. This was upon motion of the plaintiff made on May 4. On May 6 the defendants, the petitioners, notified the plaintiff that they would proceed to enforce the rate order on and after May 20, 1929, and on May 7 filed a motion for a hearing before three Judges, on the plaintiff's application for an interlocutory injunction. This came up on May 10 along with the plaintiff's motion to refer to a Master. The plaintiff 'definitely stated that it did not intend to press its prayer contained in its bill of complaint;' meaning thereby its prayer for an interlocutory injunction based upon the...
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