Lambert Run Coal Co v. Baltimore Co, No. 153
| Court | United States Supreme Court |
| Writing for the Court | BRANDEIS |
| Citation | 258 U.S. 377,42 S.Ct. 349,66 L.Ed. 671 |
| Parties | LAMBERT RUN COAL CO. v. BALTIMORE & O. R. CO |
| Docket Number | No. 153 |
| Decision Date | 10 April 1922 |
v.
BALTIMORE & O. R. CO.
Page 378
Messrs. Frank E. Harkness and Rush C. Butler, both of Chicago, Ill., and John A. Howard, of Wheeling, W. Va., for appellant.
Messrs. A. G. G.utheim, of Washington, D. C., R. V. Fletcher, of Chicago, Ill., Hugh L. Bond, Jr., of Baltimore, Md., and George E. Hamilton, of Washington, D. C., for appellee.
Mr. Justice BRANDEIS delivered the opinion of the Court.
The distribution of coal cars in times of car shortage has been a fertile field of controversy. The subject has received much attention from Congress, the Interstate Commerce Commission and the courts. Definite rules for distribution were promulgated by the Commission; and they remained in force for many years. Among these
Page 379
was the so-called assigned car rule declared by the Commission in Railroad Commission of Ohio v. Hocking Valley Railway Co., 12 I. C. C. 398, and Traer v. Chicago & Alton Railroad Co., 13 I. C. C. 451, and sustained by this Court in Interstate Commerce Commission v. Illinois Central Railroad Co., 215 U. S. 452, 30 Sup. Ct. 155, 54 L. Ed. 280.1 As an incident of the war this rule was modified by the Railroad Administration acting in conjunction with the Fuel Administration, and the assignment of cars for railroad fuel was abandoned. When by the Transportation Act, 1920, provision was made for restoring the railroads to private control, section 1 of the Act to Regulate Commerce was amended, among other things, by inserting a paragraph numbered 12, which deals specifically with the distribution of coal cars. Act Feb. 28, 1920, c. 91, § 402, 41 Stat. 456, 476.
In June, 1920, the Lambert Run Coal Company, a West Virginia corporation, which owns and operates a mine in that state, brought, in the circuit court of Marion county, this suit against the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company, a Maryland corporation. The bill alleged that there was an acute car shortage; that the railroad had refused to make the distribution required by paragraph 12 of section 1 of the Act to Regulate Commerce, and in violation thereof distributed cars in accordance with its own rules 8, 9, and 10, set out in the margin2, and that this course was resulting in irreparable injury to plaintiff. The bill
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prayed that the railroad be restrained from observing these rules and that it be required to furnish cars in accordance with the established ratings.
The defendant removed the case to the federal court for the Northern district of West Virginia and there filed in a single pleading a motion to dismiss and an answer. As grounds for the motion it alleged that the case was not one within the jurisdiction of the state court; that since it did not appear that the Commission had taken any action in respect to the matter complained of, neither court had jurisdiction of the controversy; that the plaintiff had concealed the fact that the rules of the carrier complained of were, as plaintiff knew, rules which had been promulgated by the Commission; that the bill was thus one to restrain enforcement of an order of the Commission; and that the United States and the Commission were indispensable parties. The answer set forth the facts supporting these allegations and, among other things, that the rules promulgated by the Commission and adopted by the carrier had been issued on April 15, 1920, in pursuance of the emergency provision known as paragraph 15, inserted in section 1 of the Act to Regulate Commerce by the Transportation Act, 1920, supra, 41 Stat. 456, 476.
Plaintiff then moved in the District Court for an interlocutory injunction. The defendant, insisting that the
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proceeding was one to stay an order of the Commission, objected to a consideration of the motion in the absence of two other judges as provided by Act Oct. 22, 1913, c. 32, 38 Stat. 208, 220 (Comp. St. § 998). Both this objection and the motion to dismiss were overruled by the District Judge; and an interlocutory injunction in accordance with the prayer of the bill was issued. From this order defendant appealed to the Circuit Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. That court stayed the injunction pending the determination of the appeal, and later reversed the decree below with directions to dissolve the injunction and dismiss the bill. 267 Fed. 776. The reasons given by the Circuit Court of Appeals for its decision are, in substance, that the car distribution rule complained of appeared on uncontroverted facts to be that prescribed by the order of the Commission issued April 15, 1920; that this order was issued under paragraph 15 of section 1 of the Act to Regulate...
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Associated General Contractors v. Otter Tail Power, Civ. No. A78-1009.
...to be protected is within the zone of interests protected by the statute. 4 See Lambert Run Coal Co. v. Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Co., 258 U.S. 377, 382, 42 S.Ct. 349, 351, 66 L.Ed. 671 (1922) where the Court stated as follows: As the state court was without jurisdiction over either the sub......
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State of Conn. v. Levi Strauss & Co., Civ. No. H-78-455.
...improper, and dismissal would be required under the anomalous but enduring authority of Lambert Run Coal Co. v. Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, 258 U.S. 377, 382, 42 S.Ct. 349, 66 L.Ed. 671 (1922). See Freeman v. Bee Machine Co., 319 U.S. 448, 451, 63 S.Ct. 1146, 87 L.Ed. 1509 (1943); Washington......
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Hughes v. Blue Cross of Northern California, No. A032025
...only cases properly within the jurisdiction Page 861 of state court are subject to removal. (Lambert Co. v. Balt. & Ohio R.R. Co. (1922) 258 U.S. 377, 382, 42 S.Ct. 349, 351, 66 L.Ed. 671; Avco Corp. v. Aero Lodge 735 (1968) 390 U.S. 557, 88 S.Ct. 1235, 20 L.Ed.2d 126; Wamp v. Chattanooga H......
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F.B.I. v. Superior Court of Cal., No. C-07-01876 PJH (JCS).
...that derivative jurisdiction applied, the court cited a 1922 Supreme Court case, Lambert Run Coal Co. v. Baltimore & Ohio R.R. Co., 258 U.S. 377, 42 S.Ct. 349, 66 L.Ed. 671 (1922), and the Ninth Circuit case Swett v. Schenk, 792 F.2d 1447 (9th Cir.1986). The action at issue in Lambert Run C......
-
Associated General Contractors v. Otter Tail Power, Civ. No. A78-1009.
...to be protected is within the zone of interests protected by the statute. 4 See Lambert Run Coal Co. v. Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Co., 258 U.S. 377, 382, 42 S.Ct. 349, 351, 66 L.Ed. 671 (1922) where the Court stated as follows: As the state court was without jurisdiction over either the sub......
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State of Conn. v. Levi Strauss & Co., Civ. No. H-78-455.
...improper, and dismissal would be required under the anomalous but enduring authority of Lambert Run Coal Co. v. Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, 258 U.S. 377, 382, 42 S.Ct. 349, 66 L.Ed. 671 (1922). See Freeman v. Bee Machine Co., 319 U.S. 448, 451, 63 S.Ct. 1146, 87 L.Ed. 1509 (1943); Washington......
-
Hughes v. Blue Cross of Northern California, No. A032025
...only cases properly within the jurisdiction Page 861 of state court are subject to removal. (Lambert Co. v. Balt. & Ohio R.R. Co. (1922) 258 U.S. 377, 382, 42 S.Ct. 349, 351, 66 L.Ed. 671; Avco Corp. v. Aero Lodge 735 (1968) 390 U.S. 557, 88 S.Ct. 1235, 20 L.Ed.2d 126; Wamp v. Chattanooga H......
-
F.B.I. v. Superior Court of Cal., No. C-07-01876 PJH (JCS).
...that derivative jurisdiction applied, the court cited a 1922 Supreme Court case, Lambert Run Coal Co. v. Baltimore & Ohio R.R. Co., 258 U.S. 377, 42 S.Ct. 349, 66 L.Ed. 671 (1922), and the Ninth Circuit case Swett v. Schenk, 792 F.2d 1447 (9th Cir.1986). The action at issue in Lambert Run C......