Source: https://www.legalcrystal.com/case/95968/gay-vs-ruff
Timestamp: 2019-02-17 04:38:58
Document Index: 769164492

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 33', '§ 33', '§ 33', '§ 33', '§ 33', '§ 33', '§ 33', '§ 3', '§ 3', '§ 8', '§ 33', '§ 33', '§ 33', '§ 66', '§ 33', '§ 5', '§ 2', '§ 2', '§ 28', 'art, 123', '§ 3', '§ 643', '§ 3', '§ 50', '§ 68', '§ 67', '§ 16', '§ 643', '§ 643', '§ 28', '§ 6', '§ 1', '§ 10', '§ 206', '§ 33', '§ 22']

Gay Vs Ruff - Citation 95968 - Court Judgment | LegalCrystal
Gay Vs. Ruff - Court Judgment
LegalCrystal Citation legalcrystal.com/95968
Case Number 292 U.S. 25
Respondent Ruff
gay v. ruff - 292 u.s. 25 (1934) u.s. supreme court gay v. ruff, 292 u.s. 25 (1934) gay v. ruff no. 663 argued february 12, 13, 1934 decided april 2, 1934 292 u.s. 25 certiorari to the circuit court of appeals for the fifth circuit syllabus 1. a judgment of the circuit court of appeals directing that a case be remanded by the district court to a state court from which it was removed, is reviewable in this court by certiorari. p. 28. 2. when a reading of a statutory amendment with the old context and with other statutes bearing on the subject raises a doubt as to whether its literal meaning was intended, resort may be had to the legislative history. p. 292 u. s. 31 . 3. section 33 of the judicial.....
Gay v. Ruff - 292 U.S. 25 (1934)
U.S. Supreme Court Gay v. Ruff, 292 U.S. 25 (1934)
2. When a reading of a statutory amendment with the old context and with other statutes bearing on the subject raises a doubt as to whether its literal meaning was intended, resort may be had to the legislative history. P. 292 U. S. 31 .
Held: that the amendment does not embrace an action against the receiver of a railroad appointed by a federal court where the purpose of the action is merely to recover damages for personal injuries resulting from negligence of the defendant's employees in operating a train. Bette v. Wells Fargo Bank, 270 U. S. 438 , distinguished. Pp. 292 U. S. 32 -39.
4. Prior to 1916, § 33 was applicable only when the person defending caused it to appear that his defense was that, in doing the acts charged, he was doing no more than his duty under the revenue laws or the orders of Congress. The amendment of 1916 is to be construed in pari materia. Pp. 292 U. S. 33 , 292 U. S. 35 .
5. If the amendment were construed as authorizing removal in the case at bar, it would introduce into § 33 a wholly different ground of jurisdiction; would in effect repeal by implication legislation which deals expressly with suits against receivers, and depart from the established trend of legislation limiting the jurisdiction of the federal courts. P. 292 U. S. 35 .
"or against any officer of the courts of the United States for or on account of any act done under color of his office or in the performance of his duties as such officer. [ Footnote 1 ]"
final judgment for want of prosecution. The Circuit Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed that judgment with direction to set aside the dismissal and remand the cause to the state court. 67 F.2d 684. Because of conflict of decisions, [ Footnote 2 ] certiorari was granted to determine whether the amendment to Judicial Code § 33 authorizes a receiver of a railroad appointed by a federal court sitting in equity to remove from a state court an action brought against him as receiver for damages resulting from the negligent operation of a train by his employees.
"Whenever any cause shall be removed from any State court into any district court of the United States, and the district court shall decide that the cause was improperly removed, and order the same to be remanded to the State court from whence it came, such remand shall be immediately carried into execution, and no appeal or writ of error from the decision of the district court so remanding such cause shall be allowed. [ Footnote 3 ] "
This provision, enacted in 1887, was broadly construed by this Court as prohibiting review of an order of remand, directly or indirectly, by any proceeding. The prohibition was applied to appeals from, and writs of error to, the federal circuit (and later district) court; to writs of error to a state court after final judgment there, and to mandamus in this Court. [ Footnote 4 ] In German National Bank v. Speckert, 181 U. S. 405 , 181 U. S. 409 , where the trial court had refused to remand the case to the state court and the Circuit Court of Appeals had reversed that judgment and ordered a remand, this Court held that it was without jurisdiction to review the latter's action. While adverting in support of its conclusion to the broad construction which had been given to the above-quoted prohibition, the Court ruled there that the fact that an order of remand is not a final judgment precluded its review by writ of error. [ Footnote 5 ]
But, by reason of the extensive power to issue writs of certiorari which the Circuit Court of Appeals Act of 1891 [ Footnote 6 ] thereafter gave to this Court, it may now review the action to the Circuit Court of Appeals in directing the remand of a cause to the state court. That Act provided that, in any case in which the judgment of the Circuit Court of Appeals is made final,
In Forsyth v. Hammond, 166 U. S. 506 , 166 U. S. 512 , it was held that the power given was unaffected by the condition of the case as it exists in the Circuit Court of Appeals; that the power may be exercised before, as well as after, any decision by that court, and irrespective of any ruling or determination therein, and that the sole essential of this Court's jurisdiction to review is that there be a case pending in the Circuit Court of Appeals. The jurisdiction to review interlocutory orders was exercised in American Construction Co. v. Jacksonville, T. & K.W. Ry. Co., 148 U. S. 372 ; Denver v. New York Trust Co., 229 U. S. 123 , 229 U. S. 133 ; Spiller v. Atchison, T. & S.F. Ry. Co., 253 U. S. 117 , 253 U. S. 121 , and Du Pont Powder Co. v. Masland, 244 U. S. 100 . And, in The Three Friends, 166 U. S. 1 , 166 U. S. 49 , it was held that this Court could review a case pending in, and not yet decided by, the Circuit Court of Appeals, with the same power and authority as if it had been carried here by appeal or writ of error -- "that is, as if it had been brought directly from the district or the circuit court." In Chicago, B. & Q. Ry. Co. v. Willard, 220 U. S. 413 , decided under the
Act of 1891, this Court, without questioning its power, reviewed the judgment of the Circuit Court of Appeals reversing a judgment of dismissal and ordering a remand. Nor has the existence of the power been questioned by the Court since. [ Footnote 7 ]
Second. The contention that the removal is authorized rests upon the amendment made by the Act of 1916 to Judicial Code § 33. The argument for removal is that, since the receiver is an "officer" of the federal court and an action for damages resulting from the negligent operation of a train by his employees is a suit "for or on account of" an "act done . . . in the performance of his duties as such officer," the removal here in question is directed in such plain words that there is no room for any other construction of the statute. But the amendment may not be isolated from its context. It must be read in the light of the then existing provisions of § 33; of the then existing statute conferring the right to bring in a state court suits against receivers; of the statute denying removal from state to federal courts of a large class of cases similar in character to that, before us, and of other legislation restricting the jurisdiction of federal trial courts. When the clause is so read, there arises at least a doubt whether Congress intended to give to the words inserted in § 33 the comprehensive meaning attributed to them. That doubt makes it appropriate to examine the history of the amendment, Binns v. United States, 194 U. S. 486 , 194 U. S. 495 ; United States v. St. Paul, M. & M. Ry., 247 U. S. 310 , 247 U. S. 318 . And such examination makes it clear that Congress did not authorize the removal of this case.
Judicial Code § 33 enables a defendant in a state court to remove the case before trial or final hearing there, and thus secure an adjudication by a federal court of first instance of the issues of fact as well as law involved in his justification under the federal statutes. Tennessee v. Davis, 100 U. S. 257 , 100 U. S. 263 . The origin of that section is § 3 of the "Force Act," March 2, 1833, c. 57, 4 Stat. 632, 633 -- the nation's reply to South Carolina's threat of "nullification." The purpose of the Force Act was to prevent paralysis of operations of the federal government. The special aim of § 3 was to protect those engaged in the enforcement of the federal revenue law from attack by means of prosecutions and suits in a state court for violation of state law. This removal provision was extended by Act of March 3, 1875, c. 130, § 8, 18 Stat. 371, 401, to suits against
These provisions only are embodied in Judicial Code § 33. [ Footnote 8 ] The scope of the section was thus
limited to cases arising out of the enforcement of the revenue laws or of some order of either House of Congress. And it applied in those cases only when the person defending caused it to appear that his defense was that in doing the acts charged he was doing no more than his duty under those laws or orders. [ Footnote 9 ]
that class must appear by the complaint in the state court; [ Footnote 10 ] the amount in controversy must exceed $3,000, except in those cases where jurisdiction is conferred regardless of amount; [ Footnote 11 ] the petition for removal must be filed in the state court before the time fixed for answer there, and it must be accompanied by a bond. On the other hand, where § 33 is applicable, the conditions for removal are much more liberal. Removal may be had of the civil suit at any time before trial or final hearing [ Footnote 12 ] in the state court, regardless of the amount involved and without giving any bond, by filing the appropriate papers in the federal court. [ Footnote 13 ] And the facts showing that the suit is of a removable class need not appear by the complaint in the state court.
Third. The case here sought to be removed has none of the characteristics of those which were removable under Judicial Code § 33 before the 1916 amendment. This suit is under the law of Georgia, and was brought as of right in the state court. Erb v. Morasch, 177 U. S. 584 . It does not relate to any operation of the federal government. The defendant receiver does not justify under any judgment or order of a federal court. Nor does the suit present otherwise any federal question. Its only relation to the federal law is that the receiver sued was appointed by a federal court, in the exercise of its diversity of citizenship jurisdiction. The fact that the defendant is a federal receiver does not make the cause removable "upon the ground that it was a case arising under the Constitution and laws of the United States." Gableman v. Peoria, D. & E. Ry. Co., 179 U. S. 335 .
I. Congress provided in 1887 that the fact that the defendant was a federal receiver should not preclude the maintenance of an action against him in a state court. [ Footnote 14 ] That provision had recently been embodied in § 66 of the Judicial Code, which declares:
In the thirty-nine years since its enactment there had not been, so far as appears, any attempt to repeal that law. It is in harmony with the trend of legislation providing that the federal character of the litigant should not alone confer jurisdiction upon a federal court -- a policy acted upon in case of national banks as early as 1882 [ Footnote 15 ] and which had been extended in 1915 to railroads having federal charters. [ Footnote 16 ]
II. Congress had, by the Federal Employers' Liability Act, [ Footnote 17 ] provided that suits for injuries resulting from negligence in the operation of a railroad, although arising under a federal statute, could be brought in a state court, and, if so brought, could not be removed to the federal court.
III. Congress had, by recent legislation, manifested its adherence to the policy, inaugurated in 1887, of restricting the jurisdiction of the federal trial court. Thus, the prescribed jurisdictional amount, which, after standing for nearly a century at $500, had been raised to $2,000 in 1887, [ Footnote 18 ] and was increased to $3,000 in 1911. [ Footnote 19 ] Moreover, in 1914, the requirement of this jurisdictional amount was
applied to the removal of actions under the Interstate Commerce Act against railroads for injury to or loss of property, although theretofore federal courts had jurisdiction regardless of the amount in controversy. [ Footnote 20 ]
Fourth. There is no expression in the Act of 1916, or in the proceedings which led to its enactment, of an intention to repeal any existing law or to depart from the long existing policy of restricting the federal jurisdiction. Whether there was any special occasion for the amendment does not appear. The bill was passed in each House as introduced, without amendment, without debate and without a record vote. [ Footnote 21 ] The legislation was not required in order to assure to officers of the federal courts when engaged in enforcing the laws or orders to which § 33 related the same protection which it then afforded to other persons. Marshals executing revenue laws had, for more than fifty-eight years, repeatedly availed themselves of this removal provision. [ Footnote 22 ] But an extension of the removal
provision might have been desired so as to make it apply to those engaged in executing any judgment or order of a federal court. For any order of the court might arouse opposition to those engaged in enforcing it, and result in retaliation by means of proceedings instituted in a state court. The only method of securing in such other cases an adjudication in the federal court before trial in the state court was then by habeas corpus, and that remedy was not always adequate. [ Footnote 23 ]
The report of the Judiciary Committee of the House which recommended the adoption of the 1916 amendment establishes that such was the sole purpose of Congress. It states: [ Footnote 24 ]
marshal engaged in the execution of a warrant or other process of the United States court, in a case which involves the prosecution of a violation of the revenue laws, is entitled to the right of removal, now conferred by this statute. Davis v. South Carolina, 107 U. S. 597 . The same marshal engaged in executing process of the same court in which the revenue law is not involved is not entitled to the right of removal. This creates an anomalous condition which cannot be justified upon any line of reasoning."
In Barnette v. Wells Fargo Bank, 270 U. S. 438 , 270 U. S. 441 , the record does not disclose on what ground removal was sought and allowed in the District Court or the jurisdiction was sustained by the Circuit Court of Appeals. Enough appears, however, to show that the case was wholly unlike that now before us.
Newell v. Byram, 26 F.2d 200, 202, and following cases in district courts: Matarazzo v. Hustis, 256 F. 882, 887; American Locomotive Co. v. Histed, 18 F.2d 656; Berens v. Byram, 26 F.2d 953; Elliott v. Wheelock, 34 F.2d 213. Compare Jones v. McGill, 46 F.2d 334; Snider v. Sand Springs Ry., 62 F.2d 635, 636; Knapp v. Byram, 21 F.2d 226. See also Barnette v. Wells Fargo National Bank, 270 U. S. 438 , 270 U. S. 441 .
Prior to the Act of March 3, 1875, c. 137, § 5, 18 Stat. 470, 472, an order of the circuit court remanding a cause to the state court could not be reviewed by this Court on appeal or writ of error because it was not a final judgment, but it could be reviewed by mandamus. Chicago & Alton R. Co. v. Wiswall, 23 Wall. 507, 90 U. S. 509 . By the act of 1875, express provision was made to review the remand by appeal or writ of error. That provision was repealed by Act of March 3, 1887, c. 373, § 2, 24 Stat. 552, 553 (corrected by Act of August 13, 1888, c. 866, § 2, 25 Stat. 433, 434, 435), which enacted the provision embodied in Judicial Code § 28.
Morey v. Lockhart, 123 U. S. 56 , 123 U. S. 58 ; In re Pennsylvania Co., 137 U. S. 451 ; McLaughlin Bros. v. Hallowell, 228 U. S. 278 ; Yankaus v. Feltenstein, 244 U. S. 127 ; Ex parte Matthew Addy S.S. Corp., 256 U. S. 417 ; compare Pickwick-Greyhound Lines, Inc. v. Shattuck, 61 F.2d 485.
There had been several other acts amending § 3 of the Force Act and § 643 of the Revised Statutes which embodied it. While § 3 of the Act of 1833 provided in terms for removal where the suit is against "any officer of the United States, or other person, for or on account of any act done under the revenue laws of the United States, or under colour thereof," the title of the Act referred only to collection of duties on imports. Doubtless, for this reason, it was deemed desirable in the Internal Revenue Act of June 30, 1864, c. 173, § 50, 13 Stat. 241, to extend the operation of the 1833 Act in terms to internal revenue officers and those acting under the internal revenue laws. Compare 76 U. S. Collector, 9 Wall. 560, 76 U. S. 561 . By Act of July 13, 1866, c. 184, § 68, 14 Stat. 98, 172, that provision was repealed, and by § 67 of the same Act this removal provision was made available to any officer acting under the internal revenue laws or "against any person acting under or by authority of any such officer." By Act of February 28, 1871, c. 99, § 16, 16 Stat. 433, 438, the provision was extended to those engaged in enforcing laws for the protection of the elective franchise. In Revised Statutes, § 643, this provision appears; but by Act of February 8, 1894, c. 25, 28 Stat. 36, most of Title XXVI of the Revised Statutes relating to elective franchises was repealed and with it that part of § 643 relating to the elective franchise.
It was held in Maryland v. Soper (No. 1), 270 U. S. 9 , that, by the National Prohibition Act, October 28, 1919, c. 85, Title 2, § 28, 41 Stat. 316, this removal provision was extended to prohibition officers or agents engaged in the enforcement of that act. See also Colorado v. Symes, 286 U. S. 510 , 286 U. S. 517 .
Maryland v. Soper (No. 1), 270 U. S. 9 , 270 U. S. 34 ; Maryland v. Soper (No. 2), 270 U. S. 36 ; Salem Ry. Co. v. Boston Ry. Co., Fed.Cas. No. 12,249; People's Bank v. Goodwin, 162 F. 937; Application of Shumpka, 268 F. 686; Florida v. Huston, 283 F. 687; Ford Motor Co. v. Automobile Ins. Co., 13 F.2d 415.
Walker v. Collins, 167 U. S. 57 ; Mayo v. Dockery, 108 F. 897.
Compare Bock v. Perkins, 139 U. S. 628 ; Feibelman v. Packard, 109 U. S. 421 ; Lawrence v. Norton, 13 F. 1; Eighmy v. Poucher, 83 F. 855.
Virginia v. Paul, 148 U. S. 107 , 148 U. S. 115 .
Act of April 22, 1908, c. 149, § 6, 35 Stat. 65, 66, as amended by Act of April 5, 1910, c. 143, § 1, 36 Stat. 291. The policy of abridging the jurisdictions has persisted since. Actions against the Director General of Railroads under § 10 of the Federal Control Act, March 21, 1918, c. 25, 40 Stat. 451, 456, or against the Agent designated by the President pursuant to § 206(a) of Transportation Act 1920, February 28, 1920, c. 91, 41 Stat. 456, 461, for injuries, whether the cause of action is based on the Federal Employers' Liability Act, or a state statute or the common law, may not be removed even if there is diversity of citizenship. Davis v. Slocomb, 263 U. S. 158 , 263 U. S. 160 . The lower courts have divided on whether the 1916 amendment repeals this provision by the Employers' Liability Act pro tanto. That it has: Elliott v. Wheelock, 34 F.2d 213; contra, Knapp v. Byram, 21 F.2d 226.
Likewise, removal is prohibited of actions by seamen under § 33 of the Merchant Marine Act of June 5, 1920, c. 250, 41 Stat. 988. Engel v. Davenport, 271 U. S. 33 , 271 U. S. 38 ; Herrera v. Pan-American Petroleum & Transport Co., 300 F. 563. And by Act of May 27, 1933, c. 38, § 22(a), 48 Stat. 74, 86, suits brought in a state court under the Securities Act may not be removed.
See Davis v. South Carolina, 107 U. S. 597 ; Georgia v. O'Grady, 3 Woods 496; Georgia v. Bolton, 11 F. 217; North Carolina v. Gosnell, 74 F. 734; Carico v. Wilmore, 51 F.196; Delaware v. Emerson, 8 F. 411.
Among other reasons, because the relief on habeas corpus is to some extent discretionary. Since the officer, if successful upon habeas corpus, may be released unconditionally without a jury trial, the federal court may be unwilling to give relief unless the justification is clear upon the preliminary showing. Compare United States v. Lewis, 200 U. S. 1 ; Whitten v. Tomlinson, 160 U. S. 231 , 160 U. S. 240 ; In re Miller, 42 F. 307; Walker v. Lea, 47 F. 645; In re Marsh, 51 F. 277; In re Matthews, 122 F. 248.
"In a civil suit against a Federal marshal on account of acts done by him as such marshal, such suit is now removable to the federal courts though no revenue law is involved ( Bock v. Perkins, 139 U. S. 628 , and Wood v. Drake, 70 F. 881)."