Lewis v. Quality Coal Corporation

• Decision Date: 23 May 1957
• Docket Number: No. 11921.,11921.
• Citation: 243 F.2d 769
• Parties: John L. LEWIS, Charles A. Owen and Josephine Roche, as Trustees of the United Mine Workers of America Welfare and Retirement Fund, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. QUALITY COAL CORPORATION, a Corporation, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

243 F.2d 769 (1957)

John L. LEWIS, Charles A. Owen and Josephine Roche, as Trustees of the United Mine Workers of America Welfare and Retirement Fund, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. QUALITY COAL CORPORATION, a Corporation, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 11921.

United States Court of Appeals Seventh Circuit.

April 25, 1957.

Rehearing Denied May 23, 1957.

William L. P. Burke, Chicago, Ill., Frank J. McAdam, Jr., Chicago, Ill., for appellant.

Harold H. Bacon, Washington, D. C., Louis D. Nattkemper, Terre Haute, Ind., Dewey & Nattkemper, Terre Haute, Ind., Val J. Mitch, Washington, D. C., M. E. Boiarsky, Charleston, W. Va., for appellees.

Before LINDLEY, SWAIM and SCHNACKENBERG, Circuit Judges.

LINDLEY, Circuit Judge.

On October 31, 1955, plaintiffs, as trustees of the United Mine Workers of America Welfare and Retirement Fund, brought suit in the district court to recover from defendant, a coal mining operator, so-called royalties claimed to be due on coal mined by the operator. In due course, defendant filed a motion to dismiss on the ground that the complaint failed to state a claim upon which relief could be had, and plaintiffs moved for summary judgment. The court eventually denied the motion to dismiss and entered summary judgment for plaintiffs for $39,955.07. Upon appeal, defendant urges that the court erred in both respects.

As to the assigned error of denial of defendant's motion to dismiss, it should be observed that the complaint stated tersely that plaintiffs were trustees of the United Mine Workers of America Welfare Fund, a charitable trust, located in Washington, in the District of Columbia; that the fund had been created by contract dated March 5, 1950, to which defendant was a party; that the amount in controversy exceeded $3,000; that diversity of citizenship existed; that between the first of October, 1952, and the 30th of September, 1955, defendant was engaged in mining coal; that on October 4, 1952, it signed the National Bituminous Coal Wage Agreement of 1950, as amended September 29, 1952; that it signed the Wage Agreement of 1950, as amended September 1, 1955, on or about August 27, 1955; that under these agreements defendant promised to pay into the Fund the sum of 40¢ per ton on all coal produced for sale or use on and after October 1, 1952; that defendant produced between December 1, 1953 and September 30, 1955, approximately 116,886 tons and that, thereby, by virtue of the contracts, there became due plaintiffs the sum of $46,754.40, of which $6,799.33 had been paid, leaving a balance due of $39,955.07.

Under Rule 8(a) (2) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, 28 U.S.C.A., a sufficient complaint consists of a short and plain statement showing that plaintiff is entitled to relief. In Seymour v. Union News Company, 217 F.2d 168, we cited with approval our prior decision in Chicago & Northwestern Ry. Co. v. First National Bank of Waukegan, 200 F.2d 383, 384 where it was stated: "A complaint is not subject to dismissal unless it appears to a certainty that the plaintiff cannot possibly be entitled to relief under any set of facts which could be proved in support of its allegations. * * * in considering a motion to dismiss, the allegations of the complaint must be viewed in a light most favorable to the plaintiff, and all facts well pleaded must be admitted and accepted as true." From an examination of plaintiffs' averments, it seems obvious to us that it can not be said, as a matter of law, that the complaint states no claim upon which relief can be had under any proper evidence. As the Supreme Court said in United States v. Employing Plasterers Association of Chicago, 347 U.S. 186, 189, 74 S.Ct. 452, 454, 98 L.Ed. 618: "* * * where a bona fide complaint is filed that charges every element necessary to recover, summary dismissal of a civil case for failure to set out evidential facts can seldom be justified. If a party needs more facts, it has a right to call for them under Rule 12(e) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, 28 U.S.C.A. And any time a claim is frivolous an expensive full dress trial can be avoided by invoking the summary judgment procedure under Rule 56."

In this connection defendant argues that the trustees should have pleaded in the complaint performance upon their own part of the contract upon which suit was brought. But we find in the agreement, which we shall discuss later, no provision that the trustees were obliged to perform any conditions precedent whatsoever before bringing suit to recover the royalties promised to be paid by defendant. It is averred that they are the trustees; that, by virtue of the contract, under which they have been appointed, to which the operator is a signatory, title to all sums collected or owing, is vested in them. They and they alone have the right to maintain suits to recover that which the operators agreed to pay to them. Under Title Guaranty & Surety Co. v. Nichols, 224 U.S. 346, 32 S. Ct. 475, 56 L.Ed. 795, it is obvious that no conditions precedent were presented by the record and that if it were asserted that there were conditions subsequent which affected...