Walker v. Brooks
| Decision Date | 28 January 1958 |
| Docket Number | No. 13399.,13399. |
| Citation | 251 F.2d 555 |
| Parties | Henry B. WALKER, Jr., Trustee, James C. Bower, Executor and Trustee of the Estate of John M. Bower, deceased, James C. Bower, Henry B. Walker, Petitioners, v. The Honorable Henry L. BROOKS, United States District Judge for the Western District of Kentucky, Respondent. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
Henry B. Walker, Henry B. Walker, Jr., William G. Greif, Evansville, Ind., on brief, for petitioners.
No appearance for respondent.
Before ALLEN, MILLER and STEWART, Circuit Judges.
Petitioners have filed in this court their petition for writ of mandamus directing Honorable Henry L. Brooks, United States District Judge for the Western District of Kentucky, to execute the mandate of this Court issued in Walker v. Felmont Oil Corporation (Felmont Oil Corporation v. Ohio River Oil Company, Inc.), which cases are reported at 6 Cir., 240 F.2d 912.
Those cases involved conflicting claims of petitioners and others to the oil and gas rights in certain portions of the bed of the Ohio River that lie north of the thread of the stream opposite the Kentucky shore. The District Judge in an opinion reported at Walker v. Felmont Oil Corporation, 136 F.Supp. 584, ruled against the petitioners herein and also against the claim of Henderson County, Kentucky, and in favor of the State Property & Buildings Commission of Kentucky and those parties holding leases from it. In the trial in the District Court, the question of jurisdiction was not raised by any of the parties and was not discussed by the District Judge in making his ruling. On appeal to this court we held that jurisdiction of the Federal Court was doubtful, that it could not be conferred by agreement of the parties, and that it should be decided by the District Judge before the case was considered on its merits. We also held that although jurisdiction may exist it did not follow that in the declaratory judgment suit which was before him it must be exercised by the District Judge. We discussed in some detail the factors to be considered by the District Court in determining whether or not jurisdiction should be exercised if found to exist. In denying a petition for rehearing we stated that we were not ruling upon the two issues referred to but that the case was being remanded to the District Court for a consideration by the District Judge and his ruling on the question of jurisdiction and the exercise thereof. The mandate which was thereafter issued vacated the judgment of the District Court and remanded the cause "to the District Court for further proceedings in accordance with the views expressed in the opinion herein."
Following the remand to the District Court, Henderson County, Kentucky, moved for a stay of proceedings pending a ruling in a suit pending in the Henderson County, Kentucky, Circuit Court involving similar conflicting claims to the oil and gas rights in the bed of the Ohio River. The motion was opposed by other parties to the action and a hearing on the motion was held by the District Judge on September 11, 1957, following which an order was entered submitting the case to the Court "for decision on the issues raised in the opinions and order of the Circuit Court of Appeals denying the petition for rehearing and remanding this cause, upon the motion of Henderson County, Kentucky, for a stay of proceedings herein, and the responses thereto." The order further directed that the briefs filed in the Court of Appeals on the petition for rehearing be filed with the District Court for its consideration.
On September 30, 1957, the District Judge entered an order which stated that he did not believe it was necessary to determine the jurisdictional question The action was dismissed without prejudice. The petitioners herein have taken an appeal from that order of dismissal in addition to their present application for a writ of mandamus.
The present petition for writ of mandamus sets out the history of...
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