William Scott Wood v. Abram Chesborough

• Decision Date: 26 May 1913
• Docket Number: No. 257,257
• Citation: 228 U.S. 672,57 L.Ed. 1018,33 S.Ct. 706
• Parties: WILLIAM SCOTT WOOD, Miriam Berry Wood, Cornelia Wood Hume, and Mary Scott Wood, Plffs. in Err., v. ABRAM M. CHESBOROUGH, Fremont B. Chesborough, et al
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

228 U.S. 672

33 S.Ct. 706

57 L.Ed. 1018

WILLIAM SCOTT WOOD, Miriam Berry Wood, Cornelia Wood Hume, and Mary Scott Wood, Plffs. in Err.,

v ABRAM M. CHESBOROUGH, Fremont B. Chesborough, et al.

No. 257.

Argued April 24 and 25, 1913.

Decided May 26, 1913.

Messrs. Frank Boughton Fox, Duane E. Fox, and Robert E. Bunker for plaintiffs in error.

Mr. T. M. Miller for defendants in error.

Mr. Justice McKenna delivered the opinion of the court:

This suit concerns the title to certain lands in the state of Mississippi. There was an original and an amended bill. The original bill was one to quiet title simply. An answer was filed to it which, among other defenses, set up the decree, hereafter referred to, and adverse possession under the decree. Other defendants were brought in and an amended bill filed. The bills allege the following: Plaintiffs derive title through a patent to the state under the swamp act of 1850 [9 Stat. at L. 519, chap. 83], and patent from the state to the Pearl River Improvement & Navigation Company in 1871, certain conveyances on account of a sale for taxes, and an act of the legislature of the state, approved April 19, 1873, by which, it is alleged, all the acts, deeds, and proceedings of the Pearl River Improvement & Navigation Company were ratifiecy approved, and confirmed.

On the 14th of October, 1891, the defendant the Southern Pine Company brought a suit making three of the plaintiffs in this suit defendant, in which it was alleged, among other things, that the company was the owner of the lands described, and that the plaintiffs herein asserted title thereto, and prayed that it be canceled, as it cast a cloud upon the title of the company. The plaintiffs (defendants in that suit) made their answer a cross bill and prayed that the title of the Southern Pine Company be canceled as a cloud on their title.

Plaintiffs employed one E. E. Baldwin, who was then and for many years thereafter engaged in the practice of the law at Jackson, Mississippi, to conduct the suit for them. By virtue of his employment he appeared at the November term of court in 1891 and at each subsequent term until the July term, 1895. During that time nothing was done in the case. Baldwin was paid to conduct the suit from its inception to its termination, but, unknown to plaintiffs, early in October, 1895, he was afficted with a severe stroke of paralysis, and another in May, 1896, and from that time plaintiffs were informed and believed that plaintiffs came mentally and physically incapacitated from looking after his engagements.

At the July term, 1896, while plaintiffs were absent from the state, they being nonresidents, and while Baldwin, their counsel, was incapacitated and not cognizant of what was going on, the Southern Pine Company set down the case for final hearing, and at its request a decree was rendered, canceling plaintiffs' title to the lands as a cloud upon that of the Southern Pine Company. The record was made part of the bill. Neither of the plaintiffs had any knowledge or information of the rendition of the decree nor of the incapacity of their counsel until the latter part of the year 1900 or the first of the year 1901, when they began to take steps to assert their rights in the premises.

Plaintiffs allege that under the circumstances the decree should be set aside and held to be absolutely void. And it is alleged that while the suit was pending the Southern Pine Company conveyed the lands to the defendant, A. M. Chesborough, who conveyed undivided interests therein to other defendants, and that they claim title to the lands by virtue of the conveyances and the decree in favor of the Southern Pine Company.

There were demurrers to the bills, which were overruled, and defendants answered. The answer denied the validity of the acts of 1871 and 1873, under which plaintiffs claimed, and the validity of the title asserted through them; admitted that the Southern Pine Company brought suit as alleged by plaintiffs, and averred that the rendered therein, and averred that the latter was res judicata; alleged that belief that Baldwin, plaintiff's counsel, abandoned the defense of that suit for the reason that the supreme court of Mississippi had decided in the case of Hardy v. Hartman, 65 Miss. 504, 4 So. 545, and the United States circuit court for the eastern district of Mississippi, in Bradford v. Hall, 36 Fed. 801, that the patents issued to the Pearl River Improvement & Navigation Company were null and void, and no defense could have been interposed to the suit. To the amended bill as a bill of review defendants pleaded the statute of limitations of two years and laches.

Testimony was submitted and there was an agreed statement of facts. A decree was entered dismissing the original and amended bills. It was affirmed by the supreme court of the state. 95 Miss. 63, 48 So. 613.

The supreme court rested its decision entirely upon the decree rendered in the suit of the Southern Pine company, and, stating the facts, said that the Southern Pine Company claimed by virtue of patents issued by the state subsequent to 1871, and plaintiffs (defendants in that suit) claimed under the Pearl River Improvement & Navigation Company act of 1871, dealt with in the case of Hardy v. Hartman, supra. The case, the court further said, was continued from term to term, and was finally submitted upon the pleadings, certain exhibits and documentary evidence, and a decree rendered for the company, confirming its title and canceling that of the defendants. The decree was not appealed from within the two years allowed by law for taking appeals. In 1902, six years after the rendition of the decree, plaintiffs filed their original bill. Upon hearing, and being met by a plea of res judicata, they filed an amended bill, seeking to have the decree set aside because their attorney was too ill to give the case proper attention. This illness, the court, however, said, came to the knowledge of plaintiffs three and one-half years before it was sought to set aside the decree. 'In this state of facts,' the court continued 'there is no escape from the authority of Brooks v. Spann, 63 Miss. 198, and an attentive examination of that case will show that it can make no difference whether the amended bill is or is not technically a bill of review. Furthermore, we do not think there is such diligence shown by appellants [plaintiffs in error] in this case, as would entitle them to vacate the former decree, even though no statute of limitations barred the way. We cannot see our way clear to go further than this and decide the other important and interesting questions presented, since the action of the court in upholding the plea of res adjudicata disposes of the case.'

It will be observed that the trial court based its decision upon the effect of the decree in favor of the Southern Pine Company as an adjudication of the issues, and that the supreme court rested its decision mainly upon the statute of limitations and laches.

A motion is made to dismiss on the ground that the case was decided upon nonfederal questions sufficient to sustain the judgment. The motion is resisted by plaintiffs. They contend that the ground urged for its support does not apply because they 'constitutional pleaded and continually urged constitutional immunities,' and that the jurisdiction of this court 'cannot be ousted by mere action of the state court in ignoring and refusing to consider such constitutional questions,' by assuming that its decision on a point of local law is decisive of constitutional questions; 'particularly when the decision of the points of general and local law necessarily include a consideration of the constitutional immunities.' An elaborate argument is submitted to establish these contentions. The foundation of it is that Federal questions were essentially involved and their decision was evaded by the supreme court. These questions arose, it is contended, by the impairment of the contract constituted by the acts of 1871 ...