North American Cold Storage Company v. City of Chicago

• Decision Date: 07 December 1908
• Docket Number: No. 28,28
• Citation: 29 S.Ct. 101,211 U.S. 306,15 Ann. Cas. 276,53 L.Ed. 195
• Parties: NORTH AMERICAN COLD STORAGE COMPANY, Appt., v. CITY OF CHICAGO et al
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

211 U.S. 306

29 S.Ct. 101

53 L.Ed. 195

NORTH AMERICAN COLD STORAGE COMPANY, Appt.,

v CITY OF CHICAGO et al.

No. 28.

Argued November 13, 1908.

Decided December 7, 1908.

The bill of complaint in this case was dismissed by the circuit court for want of jurisdiction, and a certificate of the circuit judge was given that the jurisdiction of the court was in issue, and the question of jurisdiction alone was certified to this court, under paragraph 2 of § 5 of the act of March 3, 1891 (26 Stat. at L. 826, chap. 517, U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, p. 488). The appellant also appealed, and now asserts its right of appeal under paragraph 5 of the same section of the above act, on the ground that the case involves the construction or application of the Constitution of the United States, and hence may be brought directly to this court from the decision of the circuit court.

The bill was filed against the city of Chicago and the various individual defendants in their official capacities, commissioner of health of the city of Chicago, secretary of the department of health, chief food inspector of the department of health, and inspectors of that department, and policemen of the city,—for the purpose of obtaining an injunction under the circumstances set forth in the bill. It was therein alleged that the complainant was a cold storage company, having a cold storage plant in the city of Chicago; and that it received, for the purpose of keeping in cold storage, food products and goods as bailee for hire; that, on an average, it received $20,000 worth of goods per day, and returned a like amount to its customers, daily, and that it had on an average in storage about two million dollars' worth of goods; that it received soem 47 barrels of poultry on or about October 2, 1906, from a wholesale dealer, in due course of business, to be kept by it and returned to such dealer on demand; that the poultry was, when received, in good condition and wholesome for human food, and had been so maintained by it in cold storage from that tiem, and it would remain so, if undisturbed, for three months; that on the 2d of October, 1906, the individual defendants appeared at complainant's place of business and demanded of it that it forthwith deliver the 47 barrels of poultry for the purpose of being by them destroyed, the defendants alleging that the poultry had become putrid, decayed, poisonous, or infected in such a manner as to render it unsafe or unwholesome for human food. The demand was made under § 1161 of the Revised Municipal Code of the City of Chicago for 1905, which reads as follws:

'Every person being the owner, lessee, or occupant of any room, stall, freight house, cold storage house, or other place, other than a private dwelling, where any meat, fish, poultry, game, vegetables, fruit, or other perishable article adapted or designed to be used for human food shall be stored or kept, whether temporarily or otherwise, and every person having charge of, or being interested or engaged, whether as principal or agent, in the care of or in respect to the custody or sale of any such article of food supply, shall put, preserve, and keep such article of food supply in a clean and wholesome condition, and shall not allow the same, nor any part thereof, to become putried, decayed, poisoned, infected, or in any other manner rendered or made unsafe or unwholesome for human food; and it shall be the duty of the meat and food inspectors and other duly authorized employees of the health department of the city to enter any and all such premises above specified at any time of any day, and to forthwith seize, condemn, and destroy any such putrid, decayed, poisoned, and infected food, which any such inspector may find in and upon said premises.'

The complainant refused to deliver up the poultry, on the ground that the section above quoted of the Municipal Code of Chicago, in so far as it allows the city or its agents to seize, condemn, or destroy food or other food products, was in conflict with that portion of the 14th Amendment which provides that no state shall deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

After the refusal of the complainant to deliver the poultry the defendants stated that they would not permit the complainant's business to be further conducted until it complied with the demand of the defendants and delivered up the poultry, nor would they permit any more goods to be received into the warehouse or taken from the same, and that they would arrest and imprison any person who attempted to do so, until complainant complied with their demand and delivered up the poultry. Since that time the complainant's business has been stopped and the complainant has been unable to deliver any goods from its plant or receive the same.

The bill averred that the attempt to seize, condemn, and destroy the poultry, without a judicial determination of the fact that the same was putrid, decayed, poisonous, or infected, was illegal; and it asked that the defendants, and each of them, might be enjoined from taking or removing the poultry from the warehouse, or from destroying the same, and that they also be enjoined from preventing complainant delivering its goods and receiving from its customers, in due course of business, the goods committed to its care for storage.

In an amendment to the bill the complainant further stated that the defendants are now threatening to summarily destroy, from time to time, pursuant to the provisions of the above-mentioned section, any and all food products which may be deemed by them, or either of them, as being putrid, decayed, poisonous, or infected in such manner as to be unfit for human food, without any judicial determination of the fact that such food products are in such condition.

The defendants demurred to the bill on the ground, among others, that the court had no jurisdiction of the action. The injunction was not issued, but, upon argument of the case upon the demurrer, the bill was dismissed by the circuit court for want of jurisdiction, as already stated.

Messrs. L. A. Stebbins and W. H. Sears for appellant.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 310-312 intentionally omitted] Messrs. Emil C. Wetten, George W. Miller, and Edward J. Brundage for appellees.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 312-313 intentionally omitted] Statement by Mr. Justice Peckham:

Mr. Justice Peckham, after making the foregoing statement, delivered the opinion of the court:

In this case the ordinance in question is to be regarded as in effect a statute of the state, adopted under a power granted it by the state legislature, and hence it is an act of the state within the 14th Amendment New Orleans Water Works Co. v. Louisiana Sugar Ref. Co. 125 U. S. 18, 31, 31 L. ed. 607, 612, 8 Sup. Ct. Rep. 741.

The circuit court held that the defendants, being sued in their official capacities, could not be held for acts or threats which they had no power or authority under the ordinance to make or perform; that, although it was alleged that the defendants acted under the provisions of the section of the Code already quoted, yet that under no possible construction of that ordinance could the defendants claim the right to the entire stoppage of the business of the complainant in storing admittedly wholesome articles of food, so that it would seem that these acts were mere trespasses, and plainly without the sanction of the ordinance; as to these acts, therefore, the remedy was to be pursued in the state courts, there being no constitutional question involved necessary to give the court jurisdiction.

The court further held that the allegation that the intention to seize and destroy the poultry without any judicial determination as to the fact of its being unfit for food was in violation of the 14th Amendment could not be sustained; that such amendment did not impair the polic power of the state, and that the ordinance was valid, and not in violation of that amendment. The demurrer was therefore sustained and the bill dismissed, as stated by the court, for want of jurisdiction.

We think there was jurisdiction, and that it was error for the court to dismiss the bill on that ground. The court seems to have proceeded upon the theory that, as the complainant's assertion of jurisdiction was based upon an alleged Federal question which was not well founded, there was no jurisdiction. In this we think that the court erred. The bill contained a plain averment that the ordinance in question violated the 14th Amendment, because it provided for no notice to the complainant or opportunity for a hearing before the seizure and destruction of the food. A constitutional question was thus presented to the court, over which it had jurisdiction, and it was bound to decide the same on its merits. If a question of jurisdiction alone were involved, the decree of dismissal would have to be reversed. The complainant, however, has, in addition to procuring the certificate of the court as to the reason for its action, also appealed from the decree of dismissal directly to this court under the 5th paragraph of § 5 of the act of 1891. Such appeal can be heard without resort to the certificate and may be decided on its merits. Giles v. Harris, 189 U. S. 475, 486, 47 L. ed. 909, 912, 23 Sup. Ct. Rep. 639. A constitutional question being involved, an appeal may be taken directly to this court from the circuit court.

Holding there was jurisdiction in the court below, we come to the merits of the case. The action of the defendants, which is admitted by the demurrer, in refusing to permit the complainant to carry on its ordinary business until it delivered the poultry, would seem to have been arbitrary and wholly indefensible. Counsel for the complainant, however, for the purpose of obtaining a decision in regard to the constitutional question as to the right to seize and...