Seaboard Air Line R. Co. v. Savannah Union Station Co., 12985.
| Decision Date | 25 April 1950 |
| Docket Number | No. 12985.,12985. |
| Citation | 181 F.2d 267 |
| Parties | SEABOARD AIR LINE R. CO. v. SAVANNAH UNION STATION CO. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
James B. McDonough, Jr., Asst. Gen. Counsel, Seaboard AirLine R. Co., Norfolk, Va., G. W. Botts, Jacksonville, Fla., for appellant.
Charles Cook Howell, Wilmington, N. C., Henry L. Walker, Washington, D. C., for appellee.
Before HUTCHESON, Chief Judge, and WALLER and RUSSELL, Circuit Judges.
The appellant, referred to as the New Seaboard, is the purchaser of the properties and successor to the rights and operations of the Seaboard Air Line Railway Company, referred to as the Old Seaboard, by virtue of proceedings had in reorganization of the Old Seaboard in the United States District Courts for the Eastern District of Virginia and the Southern District of Florida. The operating agreement under which the Old Seaboard had used the trackage and terminals of appellee, referred to as the "station company" at Savannah, Georgia, was one of many of such agreements the New Seaboard acquired in accordance with the plan of reorganization and sale, as is in the decrees provided. By the decree the New Seaboard was allowed one year from July 31, 1946, or such additional time as the Courts might by order or decree permit, within which to reject any such operating agreements, and it was provided that no use of rights prior to the expiration of the time allowed should conclude the purchaser or, if rejection be chosen, be deemed as an assumption of such contracts or leases. The time allowed for rejection was extended by successive orders of the Court to January 31, 1949. The plan of reorganization and proceeding was approved by the Interstate Commerce Commission but that body in its order, as to the privilege of rejection, referred to a one year period without express reference to any extension by Court order.
On January 26, 1949, within the time allowed by the Court orders, the New Seaboard elected to reject the Savannah Union Station Company operating agreement and evidenced the rejection by an appropriate instrument filed in the Florida Court on January 25, 1949. The notice of rejection was served upon the appellee. The appellee replied that it did not concede or agree to the validity of the rejection of the operating agreement and insisted that it was binding upon the New Seaboard, and further, that any use by the New Seaboard "of the facilities of Savannah Union Station Company will be taken, held and considered as under, pursuant to and in conformity with said agreement and not otherwise." The New Seaboard continued to use the property, and while it paid some of the amounts billed for such use, did not pay all. The Station Company thereupon instituted in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia, at Savannah, a suit for declaratory relief and recovery of the balance due, computed in accordance with the terms of the operating agreement, for the months of January, February and March, 1949. The New Seaboard filed in the United States District Court of Florida a complaint alleged to be ancillary to the original reorganization proceeding seeking declaratory relief and that the Station Company and its attorneys be required to dismiss the...
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Seaboard Air Line R. Co. v. Savannah Union Station Co.
...notice of election not to adopt. The suit is the "Savannah action" referred to in our decision in Seaboard Air Line R. Co. v. Savannah Union Station Co., 5 Cir., 181 F.2d 267, in which we considered the unsuccessful effort of appellant to secure from the receivership Court an injunction aga......