Rooker v. Fidelity Trust Co

• Citation: 43 S.Ct. 288,261 U.S. 114,67 L.Ed. 556
• Decision Date: 19 February 1923
• Docket Number: No. 285,285
• Parties: ROOKER et al. v. FIDELITY TRUST CO. et al
• Court: United States Supreme Court

261 U.S. 114

43 S.Ct. 288

67 L.Ed. 556

ROOKER et al.

v FIDELITY TRUST CO. et al.

No. 285.

Submitted on Motion to Dismiss or Affirm Jan. 1, 1923.

Decided Feb. 19, 1923.

Mr. Wm. V. Rooker, of Indianapolis, Ind., for plaintiffs in error.

Mr. Charles E. Cox, of Indianapolis, Ind., for defendants in error.

Mr. Justice VAN DEVANTER delivered the opinion of the Court.

For present purposes this case may be shortly stated. A wife and husband, both financially embarrassed, transferred certain land in Indiana to a corporate trustee pursuant to an arrangement whereby the trustee was to advance moneys for their benefit, assist in procuring advances from others, protect the title, ultimately sell the land, use the proceeds in satisfying such mortgages or liens as might be superior to the rights of the trustee and in repaying moneys advanced by it and by others, and turn the residue over to the wife, her personal representatives or assigns. The purpose of the transfer and the engagements of the parties were set forth in two deeds and a trust agreement, all executed the same day. Differences afterwards arose between the parties, and the grantors brought a suit in a state court in Indiana against the trustee charging that it had violated and repudiated the trust, demanding damages and an accounting, and praying that the trustee be removed and a receiver appointed to administer the trust. The trustee answered taking issue with portions of the complaint, and in an amended cross-complaint set up what it claimed had been done under the trust agreement, alleged in substance that the trustee was not in default, but stood ready to carry out the trust and was being hindered and obstructed by the plaintiffs, and prayed that the title of the trustee, as such, be quieted, that further hindrance and obstruction by the plaintiffs be enjoined, that an accounting be had, and that the trustee then be directed to make a sale under the trust agreement and to distribute the proceeds according to its provisions. The plaintiffs traversed portions of the amended cross-complaint. Thereafter a trial of the issues was had, and the court made a special finding of facts favorable to the trustee and entered judgment thereon substantially as prayed in the amended cross-complaint. The Supreme Court of the state affirmed the judgment (131 N. E. 769), and at the solicitation of the plaintiffs the Chief Justice of that court allowed the present writ of error.

The trustee challenges our jurisdiction on the ground that the case is not one the judgment in which may be reviewed by us on writ of error. The challenge is well taken unless the case comes within that part of section 237 of the Judicial Code, as amended September 6, 1916, c. 448, § 2, 39 Stat. 726 (Comp. St. § 1214), which provides:

'A final judgment or decree in any suit in the highest court of a state in which a decision in the suit could be had, where is drawn in question the validity of a treaty or statute of, or an authority exercised under the Unite States, and the decision is against their validity; or where is drawn in question the validity of a statute of, or an authority exercised under any state, on the ground of their being repugnant to the Constitution, treaties, or laws of the United States, and the decision is in favor of their validity, may be reexamined and reversed or affirmed in the Supreme Court upon a writ of error.'

It is conceded that there was no effort to question the validity of any treaty or law of, or authority exercised under, the United States. But the plaintiffs insist that the validity of a statute of Indiana relating to conclusions stated in pleadings and the mode of securing better statements (chapter 322, Acts 1913; chapter 62, Acts 1915) was drawn in question by them on the ground of the statute's repugnance to various provisions of the Constitution of the United States and that the court upheld and applied the statute. Of course, in determining whether that question was raised and decided we must be guided by the record. Butler v. Gage, 138 U. S. 52, 56, 11 Sup. Ct. 235, 34 L. Ed. 869; Zadig v. Baldwin, 166 U. S. 485, 488, 17 Sup. Ct. 639, 41 L. Ed. 1087. It has been examined and we find it does not show that the question was raised in any way prior to the judgment of affirmance in the Supreme Court. In their assignments of error on the appeal to that court the plaintiffs said nothing about the statute or its validity; nor was there any reference to either in the court's opinion. All that appears is that after the judgment of affirmance the plaintiffs sought to raise the question by a petition for rehearing, which was denied without opinion. But that effort came too late. Bushnell v. Crooke Mining & Smelting Co., 148 U. S. 682, 689, 13 Sup. Ct. 771, 37 L. Ed. 610; Godchaux Co. v. Estopinal, 251 U. S. 179, 40 Sup. Ct. 116, 64 L. Ed. 213; Citizens' National Bank v. Durr, 257 U. S. 99, 106, 42 Sup. Ct. 15, 66 L. Ed. 149. Federal questions,...