Sandidge v. Rogers
| Decision Date | 27 May 1958 |
| Docket Number | No. 12221.,12221. |
| Citation | 256 F.2d 269 |
| Parties | Mary Lucille SANDIDGE, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Ralph J. ROGERS et al., Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit |
George E. Weigle, J. Frederick Hoffman, Louis Pearlman, Jr., Lafayette, Ind., for appellant.
Alan W. Boyd, Indianapolis, Ind., Robert L. Mellen, Atty., Bedford, Ind., Louis A. Highmark, Indianapolis, Ind., for defendants-appellees. Barnes, Hickam, Pantzer & Boyd, Indianapolis, Ind., of counsel.
Before FINNEGAN, SCHNACKENBERG and HASTINGS, Circuit Judges.
From an order of the district court,2 holding that plaintiff's amended complaint fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, and dismissing the same as well as plaintiff's action, without leave to amend, plaintiff appeals to this court.
The amended complaint states that this action arises under §§ 1, 2 and 7 of the Sherman Act and §§ 4, 7, 12 and 14 of the Clayton Act, said acts being now known as 15 U.S.C.A. §§ 1, 2, 15, 18, 22 and 24.
It is alleged that the defendants at the times and in the manner hereinafter set forth, acted individually and in conspiracy with each other and with others unlawfully, to restrain and monopolize trade and commerce among the several states in violation of the Sherman Act and Clayton Act, thereby causing injury and damage to the property of the plaintiff.
The residences of individual defendants and also business locations of each of the corporate defendants are stated. (They are all in the Southern District of Indiana.)
Condensed somewhat, for brevity, the following additional allegations are made.
Plaintiff is owner of described land in Lawrence county, Indiana,3 on, in and under which is 5 million tons of limestone and other types of stone suitable for commercial use. The only market available to the owners of land containing limestone, consists of large quarry operators owning equipment for the removal and crushing of limestone; the initial outlay required for the purchase and construction of stone removal equipment, crushing equipment, conveyors and trucks is extremely high and the annual upkeep and operating expenses are so great that few persons engage in the business of removing and crushing limestone; the limestone prior to being crushed is bulky, heavy and incapable of being transported from the land economically for the purpose of being crushed, and the land owner is at the mercy of the crusher.
The standard agreements between stone crushers and landowners provide a right to the crusher to refrain from removing and crushing stone for any reason at any time, and during such period to pay only a modest minimum stipend for the unexercised privilege of removing and crushing limestone.
In order to acquire the power to terminate the production of plaintiff's stone, the defendants did the following acts:
that the defendant Rogers is engaged in the business of quarrying, crushing and selling limestone and other types of stone in commerce among the several states; that the plaintiff and the defendants as landowners, lessors, licensors and otherwise, are or were at the times mentioned herein competitors in trade or commerce in stone among the several states; that for many years prior to 1952, Rogers has engaged in and directed a plot, plan and conspiracy in restraint of trade and to establish a monopoly of the stone business among the several states, and particularly in Lawrence and Monroe counties, Indiana, by acquiring control of land in which commercial grades of stone were located, by purchase, lease, option, and acquisition by assignment of leases and licenses to quarry stone, from landowners, lessors, lessees, licensors, licensees and option holders, the names of all of said persons not being within the knowledge of this plaintiff at the date of the filing of this complaint, but being within the knowledge of the defendants herein; that among the devices used by Rogers in the plot, plan and conspiracy in restraint of trade and to establish and maintain a monopoly in the business of quarrying, crushing and selling stone, and to establish a monopoly for himself in the business of quarrying, crushing and selling stone, was the practice of purchasing lands, leasehold interests, licenses, options and stock in competing corporations, from individuals, partnership, and corporations engaged in the business of quarrying, crushing and selling stone in Southern Indiana, Southern Illinois, and other states. Also used was the device of setting up, organizing and incorporating dummy corporations and alter ego corporations for the purpose of quarrying, crushing and selling stone, as well as for the purpose of acquiring lands, leases, options, licenses, assets of competing corporations, and corporate stock of competing corporations, so that he and/or his codefendants could control through ownership of corporate stock, land leases, options, and licenses, the business of quarrying, crushing and selling stone in commerce among the several states, and particularly in Lawrence and Monroe counties, Indiana, all the names of which corporations, grantors, lessors, lessees, licensors, licensees and option holders, are within the special knowledge of Rogers and the codefendants, and not within the knowledge of the plaintiff at this time.
It is further alleged that, prior to November, 1951, Rogers had in pursuance of his conspiracy to create a monopoly and restrain trade in the stone business, purchased land adjoining plaintiff on the east, and purchased land adjoining plaintiff on the west for the purpose of intimidating plaintiff and her lessees so that either she, they, or both would sell to him at a price determined by him; that at said time there existed in Lawrence county, Indiana, the Springville quarry owned by Ralph Rogers & Company, Inc., and plaintiff's quarry being operated under lease with Nally, Ballard & Cato, Inc.; that if the defendant Rogers, and/or his coconspirators could eliminate Nally, Ballard & Cato from competition, they would thereby acquire the power to eliminate the plaintiff from competition and her stone from the market for the benefit of said defendants' Springville quarry; that on the 14th day of September, 1955, Nally, Ballard & Cato, Incorporated, changed its name to Knox County Sand Company, under which name, Nally, Ballard & Cato, Incorporated, is now doing business in Southern Indiana and other states; that at the date of filing plaintiff's suit and at the present time, Rogers now owns and controls the Mitchell Crushed Stone Company, Knox County Sand Company, formerly Nally, Ballard & Cato, Incorporated, and the Springville quarry, all in Lawrence county, which constitutes 100% of the producing crushed stone quarries in Lawrence county, and which quarries produce 100% of the stone crushed and sold in Lawrence county; that in 1952, Ralph Rogers & Company and Nally, Ballard & Cato, Incorporated, were the major producers of crushed and broken limestone in Lawrence county; that Ralph Rogers & Company, Inc. and the codefendants were in 1951 and 1952, and are now, the largest producers of crushed limestone in Indiana; that crushed and broken stone constitutes 95 per cent of the stone tonnage in Indiana; virtually all of the largest crushed stone producing counties in Indiana are in the southern section of the state, and include Lawrence, Putnam and Crawford counties; that the total crushed stone production in Indiana and in Lawrence county for 1953, 1954, 1955 and 1956, in short tons, was:
Lawrence
Year Indiana County
---- --------- --------
1953 8,461,533
1954 8,870,470 698,757
1955 11,234,740 762,942
1956 631,866
that on the basis of plaintiff's production from 1947 through 1952, plaintiff's quarry would have produced at least 40 per cent of the total Lawrence county crushed stone production for the years 1953 through 1956; that as a result of the acts of the defendants, one of the two major producers of crushed stone in Lawrence county has been eliminated from competition and said competitor's crushed stone eliminated from the market, and plaintiff deprived of a market for her stone, to the injury of the public generally, and plaintiff.
It is further averred that Mitchell Crushed Stone Company, Inc., proceeded to prepare, build, construct and move quarrying equipment on the land adjoining plaintiff's quarry on the west; that, in constructing Mitchell...
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Shapiro v. General Motors Corp.
...test of "target area". The Seventh Circuit's approach is uncertain, although it appears closer to "target area". Compare Sandidge v. Rogers, 256 F.2d 269 (7th Cir. 1958) with Congress Building Corp. v. Loew's, Inc., 246 F.2d 587 (7th Cir. 1957). In ascribing positions to the various circuit......
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In re Multidistrict Vehicle Air Pollution MDL No. 31
...test of "target area". The Seventh Circuit's approach is uncertain, although it appears closer to "target area". Compare Sandidge v. Rogers, 256 F.2d 269 (7th Cir. 1958) with Congress Building Corp. v. Loew's, Inc., 246 F.2d 587 (7th Cir. 1957). In ascribing positions to the various circuit......
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Sandidge v. Rogers
...a claim upon which relief could be granted see 156 F.Supp. 286 and for the reversing opinion of the United States Court of Appeals see 7 Cir., 256 F.2d 269. The second amended complaint2 and the answer in denial and the affirmative defense of the statute of limitations3 thereto make up the ......
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