United States v. Mcintosh

• Citation: 57 F.2d 573
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Virginia
• Decision Date: 24 March 1932
• Parties: UNITED STATES v. McINTOSH.

57 F.2d 573 (1932)

UNITED STATES v. McINTOSH.

District Court, E. D. Virginia.

March 24, 1932.

R. H. Talley, U. S. Atty., of Richmond, Va., Paul W. Kear, Sp. Asst. to the Atty. Gen., and H. H. Rumble, Sp. Asst. to the Atty. Gen., and Asst. U. S. Atty., of Norfolk, Va.

E. C. Fletcher, of Washington, D. C., and Thomas H. Lion, of Manassas, Va., for defendant.

CHESNUT, District Judge.

In this equity case the United States of America, as complainant, has filed its bill to quiet its title to certain lands constituting a part of the Marine Corps Base, at Quantico, Va.; and, as incidental thereto, to enjoin the prosecution of an ejectment suit now pending in the circuit court of Prince William county, Va., brought by the defendant in this case against Smedley D. Butler and others, sued individually but by reason of the fact that they are custodians of the property.

The bill of complaint was filed May 27, 1931, and on October 12, 1931, Judge Way, after notice and hearing, granted a preliminary injunction against the further prosecution of the ejectment suit. On August 17, 1931, the defendant filed a motion to require the complainant to make the bill more definite and certain in some respects. And on January 12, 1932, the defendant filed a motion to dissolve the injunction.

After hearing counsel orally and studying briefs submitted by them, I have reached the conclusion that both motions should be overruled. My reasons therefor are as follows:

The bill of complaint alleges that during the recent war with Germany and Austria, during 1918, the Congress of the United States passed an act (40 Stat. 724, 738) authorizing the President to acquire lands (including those involved in this suit) as a permanent Marine Corps post at Quantico, Va., with authority to the President to take over immediate possession and title to the lands, the United States to make just compensation therefor in an amount to be determined by the President, and, if the amount was unsatisfactory to the owner, he should be paid 75 per cent. thereof immediately, with leave to sue for the deficiency in just compensation; that, pursuant to the provisions of the act, the President by proclamation dated November 4, 1918 (40 Stat. 1874), did take title to and possession of the lands and determined that just compensation would be $77,060; and that the owner, being dissatisfied with that amount, was then paid 75 per cent. thereof, to wit, $57,795, and thereafter sued in the Court of Claims for the balance of just compensation, receiving in that court an award of $22,905, which latter amount was paid to the owner on February 17, 1923.

The bill further alleges that the General Assembly of Virginia, by Act approved March 16, 1918, chapter 382, page 568, ceded jurisdiction over such lands as might be acquired in the state of Virginia by the United States for various governmental purposes, including sites acquired for military and naval camps or stations; and that, since the acquisition of title to and possession of said lands by the United States, it has expended large sums of money in improving and equipping the same as a Marine Corps base, and the property now constitutes an essential part of the naval defense of the government. It is further alleged that the whole Naval Base Station as it now exists was acquired by the government from more than fifty different owners, including the defendant owner, and that recently an ejectment suit has been brought by the defendant against Smedley D. Butler and others as individuals, but who are officers of the United States in custody of the property, to recover its possession, and that similar suits are about to be filed by other claimants affecting other properties now included in the Quantico Naval Base; and that other proceedings have been taken or are contemplated by the defendant and others alleged to be similarly situated to embarrass the United States in the quiet possession of the property. It is also pointed out in the bill that the United States is not a party to the ejectment suit and could not be sued therein without its consent, which has not been given; and that under the Constitution of the United States, section 2, article 3, and the United States Code, title 28, § 41 (28 USCA § 41), this court has sole and exclusive jurisdiction of this suit in equity brought by the United States to quiet its title to the land. An injunction, both preliminary and perpetual, is prayed for against the further prosecution of the ejectment suit already begun or other similar legal proceedings designed or intended to disturb the complainant in the possession, use, and enjoyment of the property.

While the defendant's answer has not yet been filed, his contention appears to be, in part at least, that the United States did not validly acquire title under the Proclamation by the President based on the war act of 1918, and that title could only be legally acquired under the general federal condemnation statute. Full consideration of this substantial title question is reserved for final hearing on the merits of the case.

The grounds assigned in the motion to dissolve the injunction are: (1) That injunctions against proceedings in a state court are specially prohibited by title 28, § 379, of the United States Code (28 USCA § 379); (2) that the preliminary injunction was issued without requiring the complainant to file a bond as required by the United States Code, title 28, § 382 (28 USCA § 382); (3) lack of equity in the bill; (4) the plaintiff comes into court with unclean hands; and (5) because there is complete and adequate remedy at law.

I think it unnecessary to discuss at any length reasons 3, 4, and 5 for the dissolution of the injunction. It is clear that the bill is one to quiet title to lands, which is a well-recognized branch of equity jurisdiction, and it also appears that, as the suit is brought by the United States of America, it is one within the exclusive jurisdiction of this court. The ejectment suit in the state court brought against the custodians of the property as individuals can obviously have no final and conclusive effect against the title or ownership of the United States in and to the property, because the United States is not a party to the ejectment suit and could not be made a party thereto. And under the allegations of the bill there seems to be no merit in the suggestion that the complainant comes into court with unclean hands. It is, I think, equally clear that the complainant does not have an adequate remedy at law.

More substantial questions are raised by the first and second grounds for dissolving the injunction.

Section 379 of title 28 of the Code, 28 USCA § 379 (formerly section 265 of the Judicial Code, and section 720, Revised Statutes), provides as follows: "The writ of injunction shall not be granted by any court of the United States to stay proceedings in any court of a State, except in cases where such injunction may be authorized by any law relating to proceedings in bankruptcy."

This statute is sweeping in the generality of its provision, and is literally broad enough to apply to the injunction in this case, if otherwise applicable to a suit of this nature. While the injunction does not specifically enjoin or stay the proceedings in the state court, nevertheless it does enjoin the defendant as a litigant, and is, in legal effect, a stay of proceedings in the state court. The substantial question is whether the statute, despite the generality of its language, is really applicable to this present equity suit of which this court has sole and exclusive jurisdiction. In this connection, it is to be borne in mind that, under the allegations of the bill, the United States is the sole and absolute owner of this property in law and in equity; that it has good and complete title thereto, has paid full and just compensation therefor, has been in undisputed possession of the property for more than thirteen years, has spent large sums of money in improving it, and the property constitutes an essential part of the naval defense of the United States, and the necessary effect of the prosecution of the ejectment suit in the state court would be to embarrass the United States in an important governmental function; and also that the result of the ejectment suit, if favorable to the plaintiff, would not be conclusive against the United States which is not a party thereto; and therefore no final and complete and binding adjudication of the title to and ownership of said lands claimed by the United States can possibly legally be had except in this court.

The question is whether a reasonable construction of section 379 above quoted makes it applicable to a case of this character. It was originally passed on March 2, 1793, a few years after the organization of the government under the Constitution. As a matter of history and judicial decision, it is clear that the main purpose of the statute was to prevent unseemly conflicts in the exercise of their respective jurisdictions by the state and federal courts. Under the Constitution and statutes of the United States, certain cases are within the concurrent jurisdiction of both state and federal courts. Where this is the situation, the desirability and importance of the application of section 379 is obvious. It was intended to give the force of positive law to the rules of comity which, even without the statute, should be recognized and applied as between state courts and federal courts having concurrent jurisdiction. Phelps v. Mutual Reserve Fund Life Association, 112 F. 453, 61 L. R. A. 717 (C. C. A. 6th), affirmed, 190 U. S. 147, 23 S. Ct. 707, 47 L. Ed. 987.

But in cases where the jurisdiction of the federal courts is exclusive, other federal statutes must be considered in connection with section 379, and particularly section 377 of title 28 of the Code (28 USCA § 377), which provides as follows: "The Supreme Court, the circuit courts of appeals,...