Meadows v. Greyhound Corporation
Decision Date | 28 June 1956 |
Docket Number | No. 15847.,15847. |
Citation | 235 F.2d 233 |
Parties | Barbara L. MEADOWS and Molly Thomason, Appellants, v. The GREYHOUND CORPORATION and Martha Maddox, as Administratrix of the Estate of Joseph Galentine, deceased, Appellees. |
Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
Murray Sams, Jr., Phillip Goldman and Sams & Anderson, Miami, Fla., for appellants.
Willis H. Flick, Warren D. Hamann and T. J. Blackwell, John G. Poole, Jr., Blackwell, Walker & Gray, Miami, Fla., for appellee, the Greyhound Corp.
Before TUTTLE, CAMERON and JONES, Circuit Judges.
In this appeal from a summary judgment in favor of one of two defendants sued as joint tort-feasors in a suit brought by passengers of a Greyhound bus against the bus company and the personal representative of the deceased driver of the automobile which collided with the bus, the Court must first determine whether the judgment below is appealable. The question arises under a construction of Rule 54(b), F.R.C.P.1 The courts have not always treated uniformly the problem presented when a trial court enters a judgment as to one of several joint defendants or cross-defendants where but a single cause of action or claim is involved. A good analysis of the subject is contained in Steiner v. 20th Century-Fox Film Corporation, 9 Cir., 220 F.2d 105.
This Court had not passed directly on this question until, in the case of Nettles v. General Accident Fire and Life Assurance Corporation, 5 Cir., 234 F.2d 243, the precise question was presented and decided by the Court. There the joint defendant had not appealed from a judgment dismissing the action against it as one of several defendants until after the entire case was tried and disposed of on its merits. Upon such later appeal the joint defendant moved to dismiss on the ground that the appeal was not timely presented in view of the failure of the plaintiff to take advantage of Rule 54(b) and take a direct appeal within the required time. This Court there said:
Here, also, there was a dismissal as against one of two joint tort-feasors in an action constituting but a single "claim." Much can be said both for and against enlarging the language of the rule to include judgments for or against less than all the parties in a single claim. In a particular case it may appear to be unfortunate that the plaintiff in a case such as this may have to go to trial against only one of two parties he claims are jointly liable to him. Such plaintiff will argue that he should have a decision of the appellate courts on this question of the liability of the eliminated party before...
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