Smith v. Village of Lansing
| Decision Date | 05 March 1957 |
| Docket Number | No. 11919.,11919. |
| Citation | 241 F.2d 856 |
| Parties | Charles SMITH, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. The VILLAGE OF LANSING, a Municipal Corporation; Donald P. McFadyen, Evert C. Schultz and Jesse Wright, Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit |
Arthur Poorman, Chicago Heights, Ill., for appellant.
John J. Flynn, Chicago, Ill., Jack E. Walker, Lansing, Ill., for defendants-appellees.
Before DUFFY, Chief Judge, and FINNEGAN and SCHNACKENBERG, Circuit Judges.
Plaintiff is the owner of certain real estate in the Village of Lansing, Cook County, Illinois. On this property is located a frame and stucco building containing three apartments. At the time the complaint herein was filed, defendant Schultz was the Mayor, and defendant Wright was the Building Commissioner of the Village. Defendant McFadyen was described as an attorney who was active in real estate and in building of new homes in the Village of Lansing.
The Village of Lansing brought a suit against plaintiff herein in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, Docket No. 51 C 3771. The pleadings in that case are not before us. However, it can be gathered from the record that the Village brought the suit to require demolition of plaintiff's building which was alleged to be so physically deteriorated as to be a fire and health hazard. Plaintiff herein appeared in that case and defended upon the merits. A decree favorable to the Village was entered. The Court found the building to be a menace to the health of the occupants of the building and the inhabitants of the Village; also, that the building was a fire hazard imperiling the occupants thereof and the Village as a whole.
The case was submitted to the Supreme Court of Illinois. Village of Lansing v. Hacker, 7 Ill.2d 258, 130 N.E.2d 265. It was also submitted to the Appellate Court of Illinois, First District. The Supreme Court found no constitutional questions had been presented or decided below and dismissed the appeal. Plaintiff herein then filed an application for leave to appeal to the Appellate Court which court considered plaintiff's contentions as to errors of law and fact to be without merit and, therefore, denied the application.
In the complaint filed in the court below plaintiff alleges defendants Wright, Schultz and McFadyen conspired against him with intent to deprive him of his property rights in the Village of Lansing, and that the defendants committed unlawful acts against him, such as obstructing his efforts to secure permits for repairs and remodeling, although defendants knew the building could be repaired and made satisfactorily usable. It was further alleged the individual defendants unlawfully induced the Village to bring suit against him and that in the course of said litigation they indulged in trickery, subornation of perjury and perjury. Plaintiff further averred defendants misled the Circuit Court of Cook County into entering a decree requiring the demolition of his building within 120 days with the proviso that if he refused to do so, plaintiff herein would be punished for contempt of court.
Plaintiff sought a temporary restraining order without notice and without bond. Plaintiff also asked that the restraining order be made permanent that the Village of Lansing be ordered to permit him to make all necessary repairs and remodeling, and that he be awarded actual and punitive damages in the sum of Fifty Thousand ($50,000.00) Dollars. The District Court granted the motions of the defendants to dismiss with prejudice.
No diversity of citizenship exists. The only possible basis for bringing this action in a Federal Court is a claimed violation of plaintiff's civil rights. Plaintiff does assert conclusions such as "Plaintiff has no adequate remedy in the state courts against the village of Lansing * * * and the three individual defendants," and "That this Honorable Court has the power and jurisdiction to enjoin the illegal confiscation and destruction of his property, personal punishment and further pecuniary losses in violation of the rights guaranteed him by the United States Constitution." The scope of the instant suit is explained by plaintiff in his brief: "This suit was filed first, for the purpose of preventing enforcement of an unjust, unconscionable and confiscatory decree and second, for recovery of damages due to defendants'...
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Cameron v. Johnson, Civ. A. No. 1891(H).
...of § 2283.4 Unfortunately, the Third Circuit merely stated its conclusion without illuminating its rationale. In Smith v. Village of Lansing, 241 F.2d 856 (7 Cir. 1957),5 and Goss v. State of Illinois, 312 F.2d 257 (7 Cir. 1963), the Seventh Circuit, without considering Cooper, held that se......
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Shaw v. Garrison, Civ. A. No. 68-1063.
...337 F.2d 579 (4th Cir., 1964), cert. den. Chase v. McClain, 381 U.S. 939, 85 S.Ct. 1772, 14 L.Ed.2d 702 (1965); Smith v. Village of Lansing, 241 F.2d 856 (7th Cir., 1957); Goss v. State of Illinois, 312 F.2d 257 (7th Cir., 1963); Sexton v. Barry, 233 F.2d 220 (6th Cir., 1956), cert. den. 35......
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Dombrowski v. Pfister
...authorized' exception to § 2283. Compare Cooper v. Hutchinson, 184 F.2d 119, 124 (C.A.3d Cir.1950), with Smith v. Village of Lansing, 241 F.2d 856, 859 (C.A.7th Cir. 1957). See Note, 74 Harv.L.Rev. 726, 738 3. See, e.g., Beal v. Missouri Pac. R. Corp., 312 U.S. 45, 61 S.Ct. 418, 85 L.Ed. 57......
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Baines v. City of Danville
...court proceeding, it found there was no basis for any relief and none was awarded.9 On the other hand, it was held in Smith v. Village of Lansing, 7 Cir., 241 F.2d 856, in Goss v. Illinois, 7 Cir., 312 F.2d 257, and in Sexton v. Barry, 6 Cir., 233 F.2d 220, that the Civil Rights Act's autho......