Morrison v. Heller, 9850.
| Decision Date | 15 June 1950 |
| Docket Number | No. 9850.,9850. |
| Citation | 183 F.2d 38 |
| Parties | MORRISON et al. v. HELLER et al. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit |
Isidore Kay, New York City, pro se.
Before McLAUGHLIN and O'CONNELL, Circuit Judges, and FEE, District Judge.
This is an action brought on a claim by Olyve H. Morrison against Paul Heller, Walter M. Heller and Heller Brothers Company, Arthur H. Hunter, Heller-Hunter Steel Company and Lebanon Steel & Iron Corporation. Isidore Kay is the assignee of a portion of the Morrison claim and a co-plaintiff. Morrison, an osteopath, is the husband of Mrs. Morrison, plaintiff, and is the actor in this drama where her money was loaned.1 Granger is an accountant and an intimate of Morrison, with whom the action starts.
The complaint was drafted by Kay, who is a lawyer who had not practiced for thirty years. Kay's own analysis of this prolix document is the only possible guide to the intention of the claims. He says the first cause of action is for money had and received, the second for fraud and deceit with a claim for punitive damages, the third for accounting and specific delivery of shares of stock, which it is claimed defendants agreed to issue to plaintiff, or for damages, the fourth charges conspiracy of the Hellers and Hunter to do the acts previously enumerated, and the fifth is a reiteration and summary of the preceding charges. The answer may be characterized as a general denial. Indeed, it is difficult to understand how any other defense would be possible. No pretrial order was drawn. At the trial a confused mass of evidence, oral and documentary, was introduced. Since there were few intelligible issues, all were without guidance in a labyrinth of uncoordinated and extraneous data. The Trial Judge was constantly called upon to keep out irrelevant and duplicatory material. However, he gave plaintiffs full liberty and encouragement to develop their case.
The burden of proof was upon the plaintiffs. Neither the Trial Court nor this Court has any responsibility to require the record to be made fuller than it is, to require other witnesses to be produced nor to see that the case is skillfully presented. Upon the first and only clear cut count for money had and received, plaintiffs proved explicitly and beyond cavil that Morrison advanced on loan to Hunter $10,160.00, which has never been repaid. The evidence just as clearly showed that the Hellers, the only defendants concerned in this appeal, did not receive a single cent of this money. In an astounding denouement, after all this had been conclusively established, plaintiffs took a voluntary dismissal on the first count, not only as to the Hellers but as to Hunter, who unquestionably owed the money and was the defendant with whom the Hellers were jointly charged of fraud and conspiracy.
The Trial Judge seems to have rightly considered this a highly pertinent circumstance. After the close of all the evidence and after all parties had been heard, the Court directed a verdict against plaintiffs on the four counts as to the Hellers, appellees here. Thereupon, it is significant that plaintiffs requested and were allowed a voluntary dismissal against Hunter and the remaining defendants as to each of these counts.
The motion of appellants made on appeal to bring in additional documents, which was reserved, is now denied, and these exhibits are stricken from the record. It should suffice to say that these documents relate to a transaction which occurred over two years after this case was pending upon appeal. These documents were therefore not a part of the record upon which the Trial Judge acted in directing a verdict. The introduction of this evidence would make this a complete new trial. If this Court had competence to receive such evidence, it should likewise have the power to return a verdict and enter judgment thereon. Litigation would otherwise be interminable. This maneuver seems to be an attempt to bring before this Court the fact that the Hellers paid $2,000.00 to settle an action brought by the Trustee in Bankruptcy of Hunter against the Hellers. This record discloses that Hunter had obtained some contracts from the Government for the Hellers, but the question here is not whether the Hellers owed Hunter anything, but whether the Hellers owed Morrison anything. This maneuver further characterizes the present action as what is vulgarly called a "strike suit." The learned Trial Judge apparently believed this when all the evidence was in.
The course of this case on appeal is another indication of the same motivation. The notice of appeal was filed February 14, 1947. The appeal lay dormant over two years without action. On April 18, 1949, the Hellers, stung by this apathy, moved to dismiss the appeal, instead of buttering the fingers of Kay and Morrison. According to the evidence here, the Hellers had tried the latter path on another claim assigned to Kay and out of which these two apparently received the proceeds. Out of extreme fairness, this Court permitted the filing of the records and briefs by appellant after the accumulation of over two and one-half years had been dusted off the notice of appeal.
After reviewing the record with utmost care — a barren labor — we are of opinion that the failure to proceed with the appeal should not have been forgiven. The deliberate noncompliance with the rules of appeal warrants dismissal.
Our above view is fortified by the fact that the record reveals no substance to appellants' contentions.
The Hellers, through Heller Brothers Company, were the manufacturers of steel tool products. In order to obtain the benefits of government contracts for manufacture of steel products, which began to bulk large at the time owing to the commencement of war in Europe and preparations here, the Hellers entered into a joint venture with Hunter. They agreed to pay Hunter one-half of the net profits realized by Heller Brothers Company from orders to be procured by Hunter from customers produced by him. The plant of Heller Brothers Company was to be expanded to take care of these anticipated orders by means of government financing of the "Diston" type procured by Hunter as a condition precedent. Under his profit sharing agreement, Hunter was to finance the performance of his obligations under the agreement and was to form a corporation and assign to it one-half of the anticipated profits for the purpose of manufacturing gun-type steel for exclusive sale to Heller Brothers Company, which had no steel manufacturing adjunct to its plant. The company thus to be formed was to be called Heller-Hunter Steel Company. The manufacturing operations and executive costs were to be divided between Heller Brothers Company and the new enterprise. Half of the proceeds of this operation were then to go to Hunter and half to the Hellers. However, this latter corporation could not operate until financing had been secured. Hunter was to obtain a United States Government loan for $500,000.00 for Heller-Hunter Steel Company, and he believed this to be secure because of the Heller backing. For the purpose of obtaining loans and orders, Hunter was made one of the executive personnel of Heller Brothers Company and was so accredited to the Government. On one occasion at least, he was referred to as one of the Hellers' steel men. There were regular conversations between the Hellers and Hunter regarding the progress of the loans to be obtained from the Government and orders which he also expected to obtain. Unquestionably, until the end of the relationship, they believed him reliable. They did advance him considerable sums as expenses while he was attempting to obtain orders and finances from the United States, notwithstanding he had assumed this obligation as a part of his contribution to the joint venture. The result of Hunter's efforts, as far as the joint venture was concerned, was nil. He did obtain some orders from the Government. He made an assignment of one-half of the profits which he expected to realize therefrom to the Heller-Hunter Steel Company, which was incorporated but which was probably never organized and certainly issued no stock. The government financing was not obtained for Heller Brothers Company or for Heller-Hunter Steel Company or, in a later stage, for the Lebanon Steel & Iron Corporation. Neither the Heller-Hunter Steel Company nor the Lebanon Steel & Iron Corporation operated or manufactured any steel from which there could be any profit to be divided with...
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