Nelson v. Knox, 12490.
| Decision Date | 09 February 1956 |
| Docket Number | No. 12490.,12490. |
| Citation | 230 F.2d 483 |
| Parties | Alice P. NELSON, Administratrix of the Estate of Ronald Nelson, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. David R. KNOX et al., Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
Theodore F. Hughes, Berkley, Mich., Hugh K. Davidson, Joseph A. Lang, Detroit, Mich., on brief, for appellant.
Arthur E. Moore, Royal Oak, Mich., Bratton, Bratton & Brooke, Detroit, Mich., of counsel, for appellees.
Before SIMONS, Chief Judge, and ALLEN and McALLISTER, Circuit Judges.
Ronald Nelson, during his lifetime, was the owner of a building in Huntington Woods in which, for several years, he had operated a garage business. Appellees are various officials of the city who participated in the enactment of certain ordinances to regulate, control, and license garage businesses and businesses for the sale of secondhand automobiles, and gasoline and oil.
Claiming that appellees, purporting to act under color and guise of law, brought about the enactment of patently illegal ordinances and repeatedly and specifically directed police enforcement of them to his injury, Mr. Nelson brought an action for damages against them under 42 U.S.C.A. § 1983, the so-called Civil Rights Statute, claiming that by their malicious conduct, they had intentionally destroyed his business and forced him to close his garage.
Answers were filed and, subsequently, appellees filed motions to dismiss the complaint on the various grounds that a cause of action was not stated therein; that the plaintiff was foreclosed from maintaining the suit by res judicata; and that defendants were immune from civil liability for their actions. All of these motions were denied by the district court. Subsequent to the denial of the above mentioned motions, Mr. Nelson died, and his widow, appellant herein, as Executrix of his estate, filed a petition for substitution as party plaintiff, which was granted. Thereafter, defendants moved to dismiss the complaint for the reason that the action did not survive the death of Mr. Nelson. The district court thereupon dismissed the complaint on the ground that it did not survive and pass to decedent's personal representative upon his death.
The only question presented for determination is whether the action brought by Mr. Nelson under the Civil Rights Statute claiming damages for violation and destruction of his property rights survived his death.
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Cinnamon v. Abner A. Wolf, Inc.
...v. Bekins Moving & Storage Co. (C.A.9, 1937), 87 F.2d 583, applying federal law without discussion to an antitrust action; Nelson v. Knox (C.A.6, 1956), 230 F.2d 483, applying federal law without discussion to a civil rights Various federal courts have considered the problem of survivabilit......
-
Hall v. Wooten, 73-2078
...(6th Cir. 1969), Denman v. Wertz, 372 F.2d 135 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, 389 U.S. 941, 88 S.Ct. 300, 19 L.Ed.2d 293 (1967), Nelson v. Knox, 230 F.2d 483 (6th Cir. 1956), Tyree v. Smith, 289 F.Supp. 174 (E.D.Tenn.1968), Krum v. Sheppard, 255 F.Supp. 994 (W.D.Mich.1966), aff'd, 407 F.2d 490 (6......
-
Nelson v. Knox
...and discriminatory ordinances. Upon the death of Ronald Nelson, his administratrix was substituted as plaintiff. See Nelson v. Knox, 6 Cir., 1956, 230 F.2d 483. After two days of a trial hearing the district court, at the conclusion of the plaintiff's case, granted the defendants' motion to......
-
Bay Ridge Utility Dist. v. 4M Laundry, 01-85-0735-CV
...U.S.C. sec. 1983 is fully assignable if it arises in connection with an injury to the plaintiff's business or property. Nelson v. Knox, 230 F.2d 483, 484 (6th Cir.1956). In Knox, the plaintiff sued various city officials alleging that various actions of the city officials destroyed his busi......