United States v. 243.22 Acres of Land

• Decision Date: 26 June 1942
• Docket Number: No. 349.,349.
• Citation: 129 F.2d 678
• Parties: UNITED STATES v. 243.22 ACRES OF LAND IN TOWN OF BABYLON, SUFFOLK COUNTY, N. Y., et al.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit

129 F.2d 678 (1942)

UNITED STATES v. 243.22 ACRES OF LAND IN TOWN OF BABYLON, SUFFOLK COUNTY, N. Y., et al.

No. 349.

Circuit Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.

June 26, 1942.

Before SWAN, CHASE, and FRANK, Circuit Judges.

Norman M. Littell, Asst. Atty. Gen., Harry T. Dolan, Sp. Asst. to Atty. Gen., and Vernon L. Wilkinson and Roger P. Marquis, Attys., Department of Justice, both of Washington, D. C., for the United States.

E. John Ernst, Jr., of New York City, for defendant-appellant.

FRANK, Circuit Judge.

On December 17, 1940, the Secretary of War, in a letter to the Attorney General, requested the institution of proceedings to condemn appellant's lands, stating that such acquisition was necessary for military purposes under the Act of July 2, 1940, 54 Stat. 712, 41 U.S.C.A. preceding section 1. Respondent filed its petition in the court below to acquire the lands on December 19, 1940, attaching the Secretary's letter as an exhibit to the petition. At the same time, it filed a declaration of taking (signed by the Secretary), pursuant to the Act of February 26, 1931, 40 U.S.C.A. § 258a, and deposited in court the estimated compensation of $111,809.40. Judgment was entered the next day, December 20, 1940, declaring that fee simple title had vested in the United States and that the right to just compensation had vested in the persons entitled thereto, and directing immediate delivery of possession to respondent.

Appellant, by answer filed September 11, 1941, asked dismissal of the proceeding on the ground that, rather than for public use, the land was being taken for the private use of the Republic Aviation Corporation, the answer alleging that the United States had leased the land to that company for five years with an option in the company to purchase at the expiration of the lease. The answer also alleged that the deposit was so small as to violate appellant's right to just compensation, and that the proceeding was not authorized by law. An amended petition was then filed by respondent, alleging the claims of ownership with greater particularity. Appellant answered this petition three days later; this answer, repeating the defenses contained in the original answer, alleged that the court had no jurisdiction and that the petition did not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action. Appellant subsequently moved for a bill of particulars seeking inter alia, details as to the arrangement with Republic Aviation Corporation.¹ The trial court, on November 3, 1941, denied this motion. Appellant also made demand for a jury trial on the issues raised by its answer; on November 8, 1941, the court, by order, granted a motion to strike this demand.²

Trial then ensued on the issues other than compensation. Respondent's evidence consisted of the Secretary's letter and of the declaration of taking signed by him. The court excluded appellant's offered evidence relating to negotiations between appellant and Republic and Republic Aviation Corporation concerning purchase of the land and to the alleged lease of the land to the company by the United States. On January 20, 1942, a judgment of condemnation was entered. Subsequently, on motion of respondent, the court entered an order directing that compensation be determined by the court rather than by commissioners.

Appellant appeals from the judgment of January 20, 1942, and from the several orders above mentioned.

1. A question is raised as to our jurisdiction to entertain the appeal from the judgment of condemnation entered, on January 20, 1942, after a trial upon issues other than that of compensation, but when compensation still remained to be determined. Our appellate jurisdiction is limited to "final decisions," with exceptions here irrelevant. 28 U.S.C.A. § 225. The judgment here, if it is not final, is not one of the kinds of interlocutory orders from which appeal is allowed under 28 U.S.C.A. § 227.

"Final" is not a clear one-purpose word; it is slithery, tricky. It does not have a meaning constant in all contexts. What was said as to "final" orders a half century ago still holds: "The cases, it must be conceded, are not altogether harmonious."³ There is, still, too little finality about "finality."⁴ "`A final decision' is not necessarily the ultimate judgment or decree completely closing up a proceeding."^4a But it is not easy to determine what decisions short of that point are final.

In Latta v. Kilbourn, 150 U.S. 524, 14 S. Ct. 201, 37 L.Ed. 1169, a decree in a suit for an accounting was held not to be appealable where it determined that a partnership existed and that one partner was entitled to a share of the profits but referred the case to a master to state an account. Appellate jurisdiction was denied, in Clark v. Roller, 199 U.S. 541, 26 S.Ct. 141, 50 L.Ed. 300, of an appeal from a decree confirming the report of commissioners in a partition sale, ordering a conveyance and sale, with such distribution as might be ordered when the sale was confirmed. A similar decision was made in Rexford v. Brunswick-Balke-Collender Co., 228 U.S. 339, 33 S.Ct. 515, 57 L. Ed. 864, where, in a suit to cancel deeds to growing timber and to enjoin defendant from cutting the same, the decree adjudged defendant to have the right of possession, but appointed a master to take further evidence as the identity of trees covered by the deeds. In Keystone Manganese & Iron Co. v. Martin, 132 U.S. 91, 10 S.Ct. 32, 33 L.Ed. 275, a decree of injunction restraining the defendant from trespassing on plaintiff's land and from taking mineral ore therefrom was held not appealable where the decree also provided that defendant account for ore already taken. In Smith v. Vulcan Iron Works, 165 U.S. 518, 17 S.Ct. 407, 41 L.Ed. 810, a decree adjudged a patent valid and infringed, and granted an injunction; but also ordered an accounting. That decree was appealable under the explicit terms of what is now 28 U.S.C.A. § 227, permitting an appeal from an interlocutory order granting an injunction; the Court held that, on such an appeal, the merits could be considered; even that ruling was limited in Ex parte National Enameling & Stamping Co., 201 U.S. 156, 162-163, 26 S.Ct. 404, 50 L.Ed. 707, which case was later approved in Simmons Co. v. Grier Bros. Co., 258 U.S. 82, 90, 42 S.Ct. 196, 66 L.Ed. 475 (citing Keystone Manganese & Iron Co. v. Martin, supra). The admiralty cases, where appeals from decrees are allowed, although damages remain to be determined, are founded on the express provisions of 28 U.S.C.A. § 227 as to interlocutory appeals in admiralty.⁵

We may perhaps disregard, as not too relevant here, the cases relating to an appeal where suit is dismissed as to some but not all the parties,⁶ and those where suit is dismissed as to some but not all of several so-called "causes of action."⁷ Although Collins v. Miller, 252 U.S. 364, 370, 371, 40 S. Ct. 347, 64 L.Ed. 616, may be distinguished on that ground and for other reasons,⁸ its summary of the pertinent rules⁹ cannot be ignored here, even if we have in mind the caution found in Cohens v. Virginia, 6 Wheat. 264, 339, 5 L.Ed. 257,¹⁰ as to the limited precedential value of excessive generalizations in opinions.

There is, however, a different category of cases. In Forgay v. Conrad, 6 How. 201, 204, 12 L.Ed. 404, a decree set aside certain deeds as fraudulent and void; it ordered that certain lands and slaves should be delivered to the complainant, that one of the defendants should pay a certain sum of money to the complainant and that the complainant should have execution for these matters; it also provided that a master should take an account of the profits of the lands and slaves and of certain monies and notes. The court held that this decree was appealable. It said: "If these appellants, therefore, must wait until the accounts are reported by the master and confirmed by the court, they will be subjected to irreparable injury. For the lands and slaves which they claim will be taken out of their possession and sold, and the proceeds distributed among the creditors of the bankrupt, before they can have an opportunity of being heard in this court in defence of their rights. We think, upon sound principles of construction, as well as upon the authority of the cases referred to, that such is not the meaning of the acts of Congress. And when the decree decides the right to the property in contest, and directs it to be delivered up by the defendant to the complainant, or directs it to be sold, or directs the defendant to pay a certain sum of money to the complainant, and the complainant is entitled to have such decree carried immediately into execution, the decree must be regarded as a final one to that extent, and authorizes an appeal to this court, although so much of the bill is retained in the Circuit Court as is necessary for the purpose of adjusting by a further decree the accounts between the parties pursuant to the decree passed."¹¹ The same ruling was made in Thomson v. Dean, 7 Wall. 342, 345, 19 L. Ed. 94. There, in a suit relating to the ownership and transfer of certain shares of stock, the decree decided that the right of both was in the plaintiff and directed the shares to be delivered by the defendant to the complainant; the decree left to be adjusted certain accounts between the parties. The court said: "In this case the decree directs the performance of a specific act, and requires that it be done forthwith. The effect of the act when done is to invest the transferees with all the rights of ownership. It changes the property in the stock as absolutely and as completely as could be done by execution on a decree for sale. It looks to no future modification or change of the decree. No such change or modification was possible after the term, except on rehearing or by bill of review in the Circuit Court, or through appeal in this court."

Cf. Gulf Refining Co. v. United States, 269 U.S. 125, 136, 46 S.Ct. 52, 70 L.Ed....