Jones v. Hulse

Decision Date11 April 1967
Docket NumberNo. 66 C 357(1).,66 C 357(1).
PartiesF. Leland JONES, Plaintiff, v. Fred B. HULSE, General Chairman of Bar Committees of Missouri Bar Administration and Forrest M. Hemker, C. Wallace Walter, Clyde J. Linde, James M. Reeves, Members of the Advisory Committee of the Missouri Bar Administration, Defendants.
CourtU.S. District Court — Eastern District of Missouri

Charles F. Hamilton, St. Louis, Mo., and F. Leland Jones, Associate Counsel pro se, for plaintiff.

D. Jeff Lance and Frederick H. Mayer, St. Louis, Mo., for defendants.

HARPER, District Judge.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

This matter is before the court on the defendants' joint motion to dismiss the plaintiff's second amended complaint, or for summary judgment.

The motion has been submitted on briefs of the parties and oral argument.

On January 10, 1966, the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri, after an extensive hearing had been held before a special commissioner, entered a mandate suspending the plaintiff's license to practice law in the State of Missouri for a minimum period of three years.

On February 15, 1966, the Supreme Court of Missouri stayed the said mandate for a period of ninety days to allow the plaintiff to petition the Supreme Court of the United States for a writ of certiorari. On May 13, 1966, the plaintiff petitioned the Supreme Court of the United States for a writ of certiorari. On May 17, 1966, the Supreme Court of the United States ordered a stay of the said mandate pending their consideration of the plaintiff's petition for a writ of certiorari, and on October 12, 1966, the plaintiff's petition was denied.

Thereafter, on October 14, 1966, the plaintiff brought the present action, and on the same day the Supreme Court of Missouri stayed the said mandate until further notice — presumably until the outcome of the present action.

The second amended complaint is in two counts and contains the following jurisdictional allegation:

"3. As hereinafter more fully appears, this action arises under the First, Fifth, Ninth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States and the Civil Rights Act, 42 USCA sec. 1983; the amount in controversy, exclusive of interest and costs, exceeds the value of Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00); by reason of the facts stated in this paragraph 3, this Court has jurisdiction over the subject matter of this action; and this action is brought under the provisions of 28 USC secs. 1331 and 1343."

Count I of the second amended complaint alleges, in substance, that certain of the plaintiff's Federal constitutional rights were violated in the proceedings leading up to the mandate of the Supreme Court of Missouri suspending the plaintiff's license to practice law in the State of Missouri; and that because of said alleged constitutional violations the defendant Hulse, as General Chairman of the Bar Committee of the Missouri Bar Administration, and the defendants Hemker, Walter, Linde and Reeves, as members of the Advisory Committee of the Missouri Bar Administration, should be enjoined from initiating, taking or participating in any action through the Advisory Committee or any circuit bar committee of the Missouri Bar Administration to enforce the said mandate of the Supreme Court of Missouri.

Count II is identical to Count I except that it prays for an order enjoining the defendant, Marion Spicer, as clerk of the Supreme Court of Missouri, from delivering, mailing, issuing, or otherwise publishing or causing the delivery, mailing, issue, or other publication of the said mandate of the Supreme Court of Missouri.

The present motion sets forth various grounds for dismissal of the plaintiff's second amended complaint, among which is lack of jurisdiction over the subject matter. For reasons hereinafter stated, this court need consider only the issue of lack of jurisdiction.

It is well settled that Federal courts do not have jurisdiction to review an order of a state court disbarring an attorney in that state for personal and professional misconduct. In the Matter of the Disbarment of Rhodes, 370 F.2d 411 (CA8); Clark v. State of Washington, 366 F.2d 678 (CA9); Gately v. Sutton, 310 F.2d 107 (CA10); Howard v. United States District Court for the District of Colorado, 318 F.2d 521 (CA10); and Keeley v. Evans, 271 F. 520 (CA9), App. dismissed 257 U.S....

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7 cases
  • Getty v. Reed, Civ. A. No. 76-14.
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Kentucky
    • March 12, 1976
    ... ... denied, 387 U.S. 935, 87 S.Ct. 2061, 18 L.Ed.2d 998 (1967) (hereinafter Ginger); Cf. Gately v. Sutton, 310 F.2d 107 (10th Cir. 1962); Jones" v. Hulse, 267 F.Supp. 37 (E.D.Mo.1967), aff'd, 391 F.2d 198 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 393 U.S. 889, 89 S.Ct. 206, 21 L.Ed.2d 167 (1968) ...     \xC2" ... ...
  • Collis v. Reed, Civ. A. No. 76-11.
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Kentucky
    • March 11, 1976
    ... ...         Coogan, supra at 1211. This view of the Civil Rights Act is held by many, if not all, jurisdictions. See Jones v. Hulse, 267 F.Supp. 37 (E.D.Mo.1967), aff'd, 391 F.2d 198 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 393 U.S. 889, 89 S.Ct. 206, 21 L.Ed.2d 167 (1968). Cf. Gately ... ...
  • Mackay v. Nesbett
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of Alaska
    • May 27, 1968
    ... ... Sutton, 310 F.2d 107 (10th Cir. 1962); Clark v. State of Washington, 366 F.2d 678 (9th Cir. 1966); Jones v. Hulse, 267 F.Supp. 37 (E.D.Mo.1967); and Campbell v. Washington State Bar Association, 263 F. Supp. 991 (W.D.Wash.1967) ...         The ... ...
  • Potts v. Honorable Justices of Supreme Court of Hawaii
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of Hawaii
    • October 20, 1971
    ... ... 1968); Clark v. Washington, 336 F. 2d 678, 680 (9th Cir. 1966); Gately v. Sutton, 310 F.2d 107 (10th Cir. 1962); Jones v. Hulse, 267 F.Supp. 37, 39 (E.D. Mo.1967), aff'd 391 F.2d 198, 202 (8th Cir. 1968); In re MacNeil, 266 F.2d 167, 172 (1st Cir. 1959); Saier v ... ...
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