Waters-Pierce Oil Co. v. State

• Decision Date: 28 June 1907
• Citation: 103 S.W. 836
• Parties: WATERS-PIERCE OIL CO. v. STATE.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

103 S.W. 836

WATERS-PIERCE OIL CO. v.STATE.

Court of Civil Appeals of Texas.

June 28, 1907.

Appeal from District Court, Travis County; V. L. Brooks, Judge.

Suit by the state of Texas against the Waters-Pierce Oil Company.Defendant having appealed from orders, decrees, and judgments for plaintiff, plaintiff applies for relief against a receiver appointed by the United States Circuit Court and other orders protecting jurisdiction acquired by the appeal.

N. A. Stedman and Cochran & Penn, for appellant.R. V. Davidson, Atty. Gen., W. E. Hawkins, Asst. Atty. Gen., Jewell P. Lightfoot, Asst. Atty. Gen., John W. Brady, Co. Atty., G. W. Allen, and Gregory & Batts, for appellee.

FISHER, C. J.

On June 21, 1907, the state of Texas, a party to the above-styled cause, through and by its Attorney General and the county attorney of Travis county, and Robert J. Eckhardt, receiver of the property of the Waters-Pierce Oil Company, presented to this court an application on behalf of the state and the receiver, stating substantially that on the 22d day of September, 1906, the state instituted in the district court of Travis county, Tex., a suit against the Waters-Pierce Oil Company, a corporation organized under the laws of Missouri, and exercising and carrying on its business in this state under a permit so to do.The purpose and object of the suit was to recover of the oil company penalties and to cancel its permit to do business in the state on account of violation of certain provisions of the anti-trust laws of this state.That the case, upon issues joined, came on for trial on the 20th day of May, 1907, and terminated on June 1, 1907, with a verdict and judgment in favor of the state against the defendant for the sum of $1,623,900, and canceling the permit of the defendant to carry on and conduct its business within this state.That on the 1st day of June, 1907, after the return of the verdict and the entry of the judgment, the state presented to the judge of the court where the case was pending an application for the appointment of a receiver of the property and assets and business of the defendant corporation within the state of Texas, which application was set down for hearing on the 8th day of June, 1907.In that application the state also requested an injunction restraining the defendant from removing any of its property from the limits of the state of Texas; and also stating in the application that the state, by virtue of a recent act of the Legislature, had a lien upon all of the properties and assets of the defendant company for the satisfaction of the judgment that the court had rendered.At the same time, the court, upon application therefor, issued a temporary restraining order to the effect prohibiting the defendant, its agents, officers, and attorneys, from removing beyond the state any of the assets of the defendant corporation, which order, by subsequent decree, was kept alive and was not superseded by the appeal.Upon this application for receiver and injunction, etc., notice was issued and served on the defendant on the 1st day of June, 1907.The matter coming on for hearing on the 8th day of June, the court passed the same until the 10th day of June, when upon that day he announced that he would appoint a receiver, as requested, but would for 48 hours defer naming the person to be so appointed, in order to give the parties, through their respective counsel, opportunity to make any objections they so desired to Robert J. Eckhardt; otherwise, at the end of that time, Eckhardt would be appointed.Thereafter, on the 13th day of June, 1907, no objections being made, the court entered an order confirming the order of June 10th, providing for the appointment of a receiver, and named and appointed Eckhardt receiver of all of the property and assets of the defendantWaters-Pierce Oil Company within this state, or that may thereafter come within the state; and further provided that the temporary injunction previously granted should continue in force.On June 15th, the court, by amended order, specifically and more largely defined the duties of the receiver, but in no wise affected his power and authority to take possession of the property of the defendant company.

The amended order is as follows: "In District Court, Travis County, Texas, June 15, 1907.24,551.The State of Texas v. Waters-Pierce Oil Company.And now on this 15th day of June, A.D. 1907, at a regular term of this court, it is considered, ordered, adjudged, and decreed by the court that the orders of this court made and entered in said cause on the 10th day of June, A.D. 1907, and the 13th day of June, A.D. 1907, be so amended as to hereafter read as follows: And now on this 10th day of June, 1907, at a regular term of this court, there came on to be heard the application of the state of Texas for the appointment of a receiver of the property and assets of the Waters-Pierce Oil Company, a corporation, pending the further disposition of this cause, and the court, after duly considering said application, is of the opinion that the prayer should be granted and a receiver appointed to take charge of all the property and assets of the defendant, the Waters-Pierce Oil Company, situated within the state of Texas, or that may hereafter come within the state of Texas, and that such receiver shall immediately take charge of all of said property and assets and hold the same subject to the further orders of this court, and said receiver is hereby directed and instructed to continue and carry on the business of the defendant until such future time as the court may direct, keeping and preserving the property coming into his custody and carrying on the business of marketing and supplying oil to the public in the state of Texas, with the right, power, and authority to continue the various clerks, servants, and agents of every class and grade now in the employ of the defendant or to discharge them and employ others at his discretion, and to require such bonds and security to himself as receiver from any of the present employés, or those hereafter engaged by him, as he may think expedient and proper, and to sell the present stock of oil and other products and personal property in the hands of the defendant and which may come into his hands as receiver, and to purchase and sell other oil, products, and personal property in the regular course of business of the defendant to the same effect as the defendant could or might have done in the continuation of said business, so that said business may be kept up to its present condition as near as may be; and the said receiver shall have power, under the control of the court, to bring and defend actions in his own name as receiver, to take charge and keep possession of the property, to insure the same against loss and destruction by fire or otherwise, as he may deem proper, to receive rents, collect, compound for, compromise demands, employ one or more attorneys at law, make transfers, and generally to do such acts respecting the property as the court may authorize, and all the expenses of said receivership, including taxes, insurance premiums, attorney's fees, his own compensation, and all expenses of said receivership to be paid as a part of the court costs of the suit.That the temporary injunction heretofore granted, prohibiting the defendant from moving any of its property and assets beyond the limits of the state of Texas, be, and the same is, hereby continued in force until the further orders of this court.To all of which action the defendant in open court excepts, and in open court gives notice of appeal to the Court of Civil Appeals of the Third Supreme Judicial District of Texas; and on this the 13th day of June, A.D. 1907, the court confirming said order, in pursuance thereof names and appoints as receiver herein of the property in said order described Robert J. Eckhardt, who is a resident citizen of the county of Williamson, in the state of Texas, with the duties and powers therein named, and fixes the amount of his bond in such receivership at ($250,000) two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, to be made payable to the judge of this court and his successors in office, for the use of all parties interested in said property and this suit.And defendant renewed its exceptions to the appointment of a receiver and gives notice of appeal from the order appointing a receiver to the Court of Civil Appeals for the Third Supreme Judicial District of Texas, at Austin."

The bond of the receiver was fixed at $250, 000, and on the 19th day of June, 1907, at 10 o'clock a. m., the bond, with proper sureties, was approved and filed, and the said Eckhardt at the same time accepted and qualified as receiver.The court in said cause on the 15th day of June, 1907, made and entered an order fixing the sum of $100,000 as the amount of bond which the Waters-Pierce Oil Company was required to give in order to perfect an appeal from the order appointing a receiver.On the 19th day of June, 1907, at 10 o'clock a. m., the Waters-Pierce Oil Company perfected its appeal from the order appointing a receiver under a bond approved by the court.On the 15th day of June, 1907, a motion for a new trial previously filed by the Waters-Pierce Oil Company was by the court overruled, and in open court notice of appeal was given to the Court of Civil Appeals, which notice was entered in the minutes of the court.Thereupon, in the main case, the Waters-Pierce Oil Company, defendant, executed a supersedeas appeal bond from the judgment for penalties and cancellation of permit, which bond was in due form and was properly approved by the clerk of the court.That on the 19th day of June, 1907, after all of the above-mentioned proceedings were had, there was filed in the Circuit Court of the United States for the Eastern District of Texas, on behalf of one Bradley W. Palmer, who claims to be a stockholder in the Waters-Pierce Oil Company, a...