Schick v. City of New Orleans, 5884.

• Decision Date: 17 June 1931
• Docket Number: No. 5884.,5884.
• Citation: 49 F.2d 870
• Parties: SCHICK v. CITY OF NEW ORLEANS et al.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

49 F.2d 870 (1931)

SCHICK v. CITY OF NEW ORLEANS et al.

No. 5884.

Circuit Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

May 16, 1931.

Rehearing Denied June 17, 1931.

Claude L. Johnson, of New Orleans, La. (Claude L. Johnson and James F. Pierson, both of New Orleans, La., on the brief), for appellant.

Michel Provosty, City Atty., and Henry B. Curtis, Asst. City Atty., both of New Orleans, La., for appellees.

Before BRYAN, FOSTER, and WALKER, Circuit Judges.

WALKER, Circuit Judge.

The appellant, who is a citizen of the United States, domiciled in the city of New Orleans, and engaged in that city in the business of transferring and storing household goods, office furnishings and effects, and other light commodities, filed his bill in equity praying that an injunction be issued restraining the enforcement against himself of provisions of an ordinance of that city, adopted March 6, 1928, which, omitting its title, reads as follows:

"Section 1. Be it ordained by the Commission Council of the City of New Orleans, that it is hereby made the duty of all persons, firms or corporations owning or operating within the City limits of New Orleans, any dray, moving van, furniture car, transfer wagon, express wagon, or any other vehicle who shall haul or move, or cause to be hauled or moved, household goods or personal effects other than baggage of any person in the City of New Orleans, which person is changing the place of his or her abode, to make report thereof to the Chief Police, which report shall be made within one day thereafter on a blank form which is hereinafter described.

"Section 2. Be it further ordained, that it shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation causing the removal of any property herein described, to give the owner or operator of any vehicle employed to haul such property, a fictitious name, or refuse to give the correct name of the owner or party in possession of such property, so as to wilfully deceive such operator as to same.

"Section 3. Be it further ordained, That the form or blank to be filled in by the person in Section 1 herein, shall be as follows:

...... Moved from ...... Moved to (Signed) ...... (Owner of Vehicle) Date Moved ...... Date filed with Chief of Police ......

"Section 4. Be it further ordained, that it shall be the duty of the Chief of Police to keep in a well bound book, open for inspection at the Police Station, all such certificates or blanks alphabetically indexed, as required by Section 3 hereof, provided the entire expense and cost of executing and carrying out the provisions of this Section shall be free of cost to the City of New Orleans, except the expense of furnishing said book, blank or certificate.

"Section 5. Be it further ordained, that any person, firm or corporation violating the provisions of Sections one and two of this ordinance shall, upon conviction thereof before any Court of competent jurisdiction, be fined not more than $25.00 and imprisoned not more than ten days, or both, at the discretion of the Court."

Provisions of that ordinance were challenged on the grounds that they violate rights secured to the appellant by the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments of the Constitution of the United States, by imposing the additional involuntary labor upon appellant of obtaining information required to make prescribed reports and of making such reports under penalty of fine, and imprisonment for failing to do so, and by arbitrarily depriving him of his property without due process of law; by arbitrarily and wrongfully depriving him of the equal protection of the law, and...