Case Name: BARNETT v. MAYES et al.
Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
Jurisdiction: United States
Decision Date: 1930-08-06
Citations: 43 F.2d 521
Docket Number: No. 232
Parties: BARNETT v. MAYES et al.
Judges: 
Reporter: Federal Reporter 2d Series
Volume: 43
Pages: 521–532

Head Matter:
BARNETT v. MAYES et al.
No. 232.
Circuit Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit.
Aug. 6, 1930.
Rehearing Denied Sept. 8, 1930.
LEWIS, Circuit Judge, dissenting in part.
Cornelius Hardy, of Wewoka, Okl. (C. M. Threadgill, of Wewoka, Okl., T. M. Baugh-man, of Sulphur,, Okl., and John T. Cooper and A. C. Kidd, both of Wewoka, Old., on the brief), for appellant.
V. R. Biggers, of Wewoka, Old. (J. E. Thrift, and 'C. J. Davenport, both of Sapulpa, Okl., R. W. Kellough, of Tulsa, Okl., Chas. G. Dailey, of Bluffton, Ind., and Irwin L. Wilson, J. Bart Aldridge, and Lynn Adams, all of Wewoka, Old., on the brief), for appellees.
Before LEWIS, COTTERAL, and Mc-DERMOTT, Circuit Judges.

Opinion:
McDERMOTT, Circuit Judge
(after stating the facts as above).
I. The appellant assigns as error the trial court's finding that the Mayes deed was not a forgery; his finding that Barnett was not an heir of Leathy Sango; and his finding that Barnett's claim was barred by laches. No useful purpose will be served by a review of the evidence. As to the forgery, the testimony adduced by Barnett, without more, is unconvincing. One of his witnesses testified that "he and' Cud agreed to divide whatever was recovered in the lawsuit; that he was to furnish Cud with the witnesses." This same witness, in another lawsuit, took the position that the deed was not a forgery, but that "Leathy Sango did not know what she was doing." The notary publie who acknowledged the deed claimed her certificate was false, but discredited her testimony seriously by admitting that after the lawsuit was brought she wrote to a witness'to the deed, "not to say, anything about the ease until, she could see her.". Many other circumstances tend strongly to discredit the integrity of Barnett's ease. On the other hand, the evidence that the deed was genuine is convincing.
Concluding that the deed is'genuine, the question of whether Barnett was an heir of Leathy Sango is immaterial. However, the testimony of his witnesses developed a sordid story of Barnett living with two women at the same time; of a lawful marriage to the one who was not the mother of Leathy. The record fully supports the trial court's finding of fact in this regard, as it also does on the question of laches. In any event, the trial court heard the witnesses, and great respect must be paid to his findings of fact. United States v. Peterson (10 C. C. A.) 34 F.(2d) 245; Youngblood v. Magnolia Petroleum Co. (10 C. C. A.) 35 F.(2d) 578; New York Life Ins. Co. v. Griffith (10 C. C. A.) 35 F.(2d) 945; Raines v. Ligon (10 C. C. A.) 37 F.(2d) 633. The decision of the trial court on the merits, was right.
II. Appellant contends that the trial court was without jurisdiction to enter the decree. If that is correct, the decree must be reversed, for jurisdiction of a United States court can never be conferred by consent, nor can jurisdiction ever be waived. Gainesville v. Brown-Crummer Co., 277 U. S. 54, 48 S. Ct. 454, 72 L. Ed. 781; Mansfield C. & L. M. Railway Co. v. Swan, 111 U. S. 379, 4 S. Ct. 510, 28 L. Ed. 462; St. Louis Smelting & Refg. Co. v. Nix (8 C. C. A.) 272 F. 977; Olds Wagon Works v. Benedict (8 C. C. A.) 67 F. 1. .Several grounds are set up, one of them being that Barnett's tendered cause of action was legal, and could not be interposed in an equitable action. Such ground, if sound, is not jurisdictional, and was waived by Barnett's prayer for affirmative relief. Mathis v. Ligon (10 C. C. A.) 37 F.(2d) 635, 636. But it is not sound. Barnett asked for the cancellation of various deeds and for an accounting, which invoke equitable powers; furthermore, the proceeding was ancillary. The principal point urged as to lack of jurisdiction is, however, the fact that there was no diversity of citizenship between himself and Mayes, one of the parties against whom he sought relief; and that, except as to the leasehold interest in the 40 acres, the court had no possession of the property prior to the filing of Barnett's answer. We will take up first the question of jurisdiction as to the 40 acre leasehold; later, the jurisdiction as to the fee title to the 40 acres and the 80 acres, which for convenience, we will refer to as the "80 acres."
III. The 40 acre leasehold was in the possession of the United States court; the court was charged with the duty of administering it for the benefit of all creditors. While it was in the possession of the court, no other court had jurisdiction of any kind over it. In Kline v. Burke Constr. Co., 260 U. S. 226, 229, 43 S. Ct. 79, 81, 67 L. Ed. 226, 24 A. L. R. 1077, the court held: "It is settled that where a federal court has first acquired jurisdiction of the subject-matter of a cause, it may enjoin the parties from proceeding in a state court of concurrent jurisdiction where the effect of the action would be to defeat or impair the jurisdiction of the federal court." The court quoted with approval from Covell v. Heyman, 111 U. S. 176, 182, 4 S. Ct, 355, 28 L. Ed. 390, as follows:
"They exercise jurisdiction, it is true, within the same territory, but not in the same plane; and when one takes into its ju risdiction a specific thing, that res is as much withdrawn from the judicial power of the other, as if it had been carried physically into a different territorial sovereignty. To attempt to seize it by a foreign' process is futile and void. The regulation of process, and the decision of questions relating to it, are part of the jurisdiction of the court from which it issues."
The power of a court, state or federal, to stay actions in other courts which propose to disturb the possession or title of property in the possession of the first court, is well recognized. The propriety and legality of the order here made, restraining Barnett from proceeding in the state court, cannot be questioned.
Counsel contend, however, that ejectment is an action in personam, and hence not within the rule. The object of the action in ejectment is the possession of the res; if successful, the state court would have been required to issue its writ putting Barnett in possession of the 40 acre leasehold; the sheriff would have found the receiver in possession, and immediately there is that clash of jurisdictions at which the rule of law is expressly aimed. Chief Justice Fuller, sitting on Circuit, passed upon the precise question, and held that an action in ejectment in the state court excluded the federal court from jurisdiction over a suit involving the title to the same property. He said:
"The institution of the action in the state court looking to the taking of possession of the specific property in litigation was in effect the assertion of the right of control over that property. The action in the state Court required the control and dominion of the property involved, or it was ineffective for all purposes." Westfeldt v. North Carolina Mining Co. (C. C. A.) 166 F. 706, 711.
The restraining order was properly issued. The further proceedings were initiated by Barnett. Pending the receivership, the doors to other courts were closed to him for any action to oust the receiver and possess himself of the property he claimed. The property was oil property of fluctuating value, and delay of justice might well mean a denial.. So he came into the only court open for that purpose, and asked for his property. He alleged a claim against Mayes, a resident of Oklahoma, but he likewise alleged a "prior and superior right adverse to the lien of the complainant," a non-resident.
The court had jurisdiction, pending the receivership, as to all claims involving the title to the property in the possession of the receiver. In Farmers' Loan, etc., Co. v. Lake St. Rd. Co., 177 U. S. 51, 61, 20 S. Ct. 564, 568, 44 L. Ed. 667, the court, speaking through Mr. Justice Shiras, said:
"The possession of the res vests the court which has first acquired jurisdiction with the power to hear and determine all controversies relating thereto, and for the time being disables other courts of co-ordinate jurisdiction from exercising a like power. This rule is essential to the orderly administration of justice, and to prevent unseemly conflicts between courts -whose jurisdiction embraces the same subjects and persons."
In Wabash Railway v. Adelbert College, 208 U. S. 38, 54, 28 S. Ct. 182, 187, 52 L. Ed. 379, the court said:
"When a court of competent jurisdiction has, by appropriate proceedings, taken property into its possession through its officers, the property is thereby withdrawn from the jurisdiction of all other courts. The latter courts, though of concurrent jurisdiction, are without power to render any judgment which invades or disturbs the possession of the property while it is in the custody of the court which has seized it. For the purpose of avoiding injustice which otherwise might result, a court during the continuance of its possession has, as incident thereto and as ancillary to the suit in which the possession was acquired, jurisdiction to hear and determine all questions respecting the title, the possession, or the control of the property. In the courts of the United States this incidental and ancillary jurisdiction exists, although in the subordinate suit there is no jurisdiction arising out .of diversity of citizenship or the nature of the controversy."
The power to determine title to property in the possession of a receiver has been recently exercised by the Supreme Court of the United States in Oklahoma v. Texas, 258 U. S. 574, 42 S. Ct. 406, 66 L. Ed. 771; in that ease, the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court was invoked by a boundary line controversy between states. A receiver was appointed. Private individuals intervened for the purpose of adjudicating individual title to tracts in the disputed territory. The Supreme Court, in the exercise of original jurisdiction, determined these controversies between individuals over the ownership of land. The court, at page 581 of 258 U. S., 42 S. Ct. 406, 409, 66 L. Ed. 771, said:
"The other claims, being for particular tracts and funds in the receiver's possession and exclusively under our control, are brought before us because no other court lawfully can interfere with or disturb that possession or. control. It long has been settled that claims to property or funds of which a court has taken possession and control through a receiver or like officer may be dealt with as ancillary to the suit wherein the possession is taken and the control exercised — and this although independent suits to enforce the claims could not be entertained in that court."
In Chillicothe Furniture Co. v. Revelle (8 C. C. A.) 14 F.(2d) 501, 504, a receiver was in possession of a note and mortgage, alleged to be the property of the defendant; an action was brought in a state court, seeking to cancel the note and mortgage; that is, the title of the receiver was attacked, as in this case. That court, in an opinion by Judge Walter H. Sanborn, held the action should be enjoined. He said:
"If any or every claimant of the invalidity of or of an adverse title to or interest in any note, mortgage, real estate, or other property of a defendant corporation in a suit brought to administer and distribute the proceeds of that property to its creditors could successfully invoke and use the jurisdiction- of some other court than that in which the suit for administration and distribution was first brought, the result would be delay, confusion, and ultimately, the necessary abandonment of such suits for the administration and distribution of the property of insolvent debtors."
In Oppenheimer v. San Antonio Land & Irrigation Co. (5 C. C. A.) 246 F. 934, it was held that a court had power to restrain a state court action in which a paramount claim was asserted to the property.
The test of whether a suit is ancillary is whether it has "direct relation to property or assets actually or constructively drawn into the court's possession or control by the principal suit." Fulton Bank v. Hozier, 267 U. S. 276, 280, 45 S. Ct, 261, 262, 69 L. Ed. 609.
These authorities establish the rule that a court which has taken property into its possession has ancillary jurisdiction, irrespective of citizenship, to determine all questions affecting the title to the impounded property. Such conclusion is a necessary corollary of the rule that the court first acquiring jurisdiction of the res has exclusive jurisdiction; for otherwise a citizen would have no court to which he could present his claim.
There is still another reason. Barnett came to the Federal Court and asked to have his claim to the 40 acre leasehold adjudicated. The Equity Eules give him that right. Equity Buie 37 (28 USCA § 723) provides:
"Anyone claiming an interest in the litigation may at any time be permitted to assert his right by intervention, but the intervention shall be in subordination to, and in recognition of, the propriety of the main proceeding."
The rule was stated by Mr. Justice Yan Devanter, in Hoffman v. McClelland, 264 U. S. 552, 558, 44 S. Ct. 407, 409, 68 L. Ed. 845, as follows:
"It is settled that where, in the progress of a suit in a federal court, property has been drawn into the court's custody and control, third persons claiming interests in or liens upon the property may be permitted to come into that court for the purpose of setting up, protecting and enforcing their claims, although the court could not consider or adjudicate their claims if it had not impounded the property. Power to deal with such claims is incident to the jurisdiction acquired in the suit wherein the impounding occurs, and may be invoked by a petition to intervene pro interesse suo or by- a dependent bill. But in either ease the proceeding is purely ancillary. Oklahoma v. Texas, 258 U. S. 574, 581, 42 S. Ct. 406, 66 L. Ed. 771; Minnesota Co. v. St. Paul Co., 2 Wall. 609, 632, 17 L. Ed. 886; Krippendorf v. Hyde, 110 U. S. 276, 281, 4 S. Ct. 27, 28 L. Ed. 145; Compton v. Jesup, 68 F. 263, 279, 15 C. C. A. 397; Sioux City Co. v. Trust Co., 82 F. 124, 128, 27 C. C. A. 73; Minot v. Mastin, 95 F. 734, 739, 37 C. C. A. 234; Street, Fed. Eq. Pr. § 1229, 1245-1247, 1364."
But irrespective of Barnett's intervention, the power exists in a Court of Equity to determine controversies relating to property in its control. In Central Trust Co. v. Anderson County, 268 U. S. 93, 45 S. Ct. 427, 429, 69 L. Ed. 862, it appeared that a receiver had been appointed under a bill to foreclose a railroad mortgage. Anderson County threatened to enforce a state .court decree requiring the railroad to maintain offices and shops at Palestine. An ancillary bill was brought to remove the cloud on the title to the receiver's properties growing out of such state court deeree. The Supreme Court held that the court of the appointment of the receiver had power to remove the cloud, and said:
"Ancillary suits are not limited to those initiated by persons who desire to come in and have their rights determined. Such a suit may be maintained by the plaintiff in the principal suit against strangers to the record to determine a controversy having relation to the property in the custody of the court and which, in justice to the parties before the court, ought to be determined in the principal suit. See Compton v. Jesup, 68 F. 263, 284, 15 C. C. A. 397; Street, Fed. Eq. Pr. § 1248."
And in Morgan's Co. v. Texas Central Railway, 137 U. S. 171, 201, 11 S. Ct. 61, 170, 34 L. Ed. 625, the court said:
"The jurisdiction of the circuit court did not depend upon the citizenship of the parties, but on the subject-matter of the litigation. The property was in the actual possession of that court, and this drew, to it the right to decide upon the conflicting claims to its ultimate possession and control. Minnesota Co. v. St. Paul Co., 2 Wall. 609, 17 L. Ed. 886; People's Bank v. Calhoun, 102 U. S. 256, 26 L. Ed. 101; Krippendorf v. Hyde, 110 U. S. 276, 4 S. Ct. 27, 28 L. Ed. 145."
To the same effect, see opinion of Judge Walter H. Sanborn, in Landon v. Public Utilities Commission (D. C.) 234 F. 152, where the court held that an ancillary bill would lie to enjoin the enforcement of confiscatory rates established by the state of Kansas, where the utility was in the hands of a receiver. His opinion as to jurisdiction was affirmed and adopted as the opinion of the court in Public Utilities Commission v. Landon, 249 U. S. 236, 244, 39 S. Ct. 268, 63 L. Ed. 577. See, also, Landon v. Court of Industrial Relations (D. C. Kan.) 269 F. 423, where without discussion, Judge Booth granted relief under an ancillary bill to remove clouds upon the title to property in the possession of his receiver.
In answer, appellant contends "It is almost the universal rule that questions of title cannot be litigated in the ordinary foreclosure suit, and hence that those claiming title adverse or paramount to the mortgagor should not be made parties." 9 Enc. Pl. & Pr. 353. The weight of authority supports this contention. 42 C. J. 55. The reason for this rule is that it introduces a new cause of action into the litigation, contrary to the rules of good pleading. The objection, if sound, is not one which goes to jurisdiction. But this is not an "ordinary foreclosure suit"; it is an action in the nature of a creditor's bill, where the court has impounded and is administering property, and the rule contended for has no application where the court has possession of the property. Receivership actions are governed by' the authorities cited.
We conclude that the trial court did have jurisdiction to determine the title to the 40 acre leasehold.
IV. The situation as to the 80 acres and the fee title to the 40 acres, stands in different stead. The trial court had not impounded the 80 acres or the fee title to the 40, and no action was then pending involving such additional land. It was in the territorial jurisdiction of the court, but there was no diversity of citizenship between Barnett and Mayes. Coneededly that court would have no jurisdiction over an independent controversy between Barnett and Mayes over such additional property, and such jurisdiction could not be conferred by consent, nor its absence cured by waiver. The appellant therefore contends that, because of the lack of the requisite diversity of citizenship, the court had no jurisdiction to adjudicate the controversy between him and Mayes as to the 80 acres.
The flaw in this contention is that the controversy over the 80 acres is not independent of the controversy over the 40 acre leasehold. Barnett's claim, in truth, was an indivisible claim to 120 acres, resting upon two questions of fact, to wit, Was the Mayes deed a forgery? and, if so, Was Barnett an heir of Leathy Sango? A wholesome rule of law prevents Barnett from suing Mayes piecemeal, first for 40 acres and then for 80. He has a single cause of action against Mayes, and cannot split it. "The rule against splitting-a cause of action applies to actions for the recovery of land." 1 C. J. 1120. Appellant, in his brief in this court, cites several eases, including one from Oklahoma, holding directly that .he cannot split his cause as to the 120 acres, and if he does, the decree as to part binds him as to all. This is the law. Akin v. Bonfils et al., 67 Okl. 123,169 P. 899; Craig et al. v. Broocks, 60 Tex. Civ. App. 83, 127 S. W. 572; Dils v. Justice, 137 Ky. 822, 127 S. W. 472. Moreover, the facts are Barnett, at the outset, insisted he was entitled to a "complete determination" of his rights under his single cause of action in one court, and that the United States court'. In a petition for rehearing, filed after final decree, Barnett again-insisted that his claim constituted "an entire and indivisible cause of action." He repeats the contention in his assignments of error, and in his brief and argument to this court. So the precise situation confronting the'trial court and this court is, Could Barnett rightfully he denied the right to litigate his entire cause of action? Under the authorities cited by him, and under the law, Barnett could not have two trials as to his claim against Mayes of forgery and heirship. No order compelled him to submit his claim to the United States court as to the 40 acre leasehold. He could submit it to no other court, as has been seen. As has also been seen, he had a right to set up his claim to the 40 acre leasehold in the receivership action. If he exercises that right as to the 40' acre leasehold, the authorities cited by appellant show that he is bound as to the 80 acres covered by the same cause of action. To bar him from the 80 if he loses, but not decree it to him if he wins, seems unfair on the face of it. -The trial court, being required by law to adjudicate his claim to the 40 acre leasehold, granted his prayer, and adjudicated his entire cause of action. Barnett now appeals.
It must be apparent that there is no substance to the controversy over jurisdiction as to the 80 acres, for two reasons. First, the -trial court unquestionably had jurisdiction over the 40 acre leasehold, and its decree as to that binds Barnett as to the 80 acres, if the 80 acres had never been mentioned in the case, under the authorities cited by Barnett and above set out. Second, under well settled rules of law, when Barnett tendered the issues of heirship and forgery in his claim to the 40' acres; when Mayes accepted the issues; and when they were actually litigated and determined, those issues are forever settled as between Barnett and Mayes, and their privies in title, even in subsequent actions, involving different issues. This rule is universal, and is well stated in Baltimore Steamship Co. v. Phillips, 274 U. S. 316, 319, 47 S. Ct. 600; 602, 71 L. Ed. 1069:
"But if the second ease be upon a different cause of action, the prior judgment or decree operates as an estoppel only as to matters actually in issue or points controverted, upon the determination of which the judgment or decree was rendered."
Our own court has followed this rule, in Rishel v. McPherson County, 34 F.(2d) 250. See, also, Cromwell v. County of Sac, 94 U. S. 351, 24 L. Ed. 195; Radford v. Myers, 231 U. S. 725, 34 S. Ct. 249, 58 L. Ed. 454; Bates v. Bodie, 245 U. S. 520, 38 S. Ct. 182, 62 L. Ed. 444, L. R. A. 1918C, 355; United Shoe Machinery Corp. v. United States, 258 U. S. 451, 42 S. Ct. 363, 66 L. Ed. 708; Calaf v. Calaf, 232 U. S. 371, 34 S. Ct. 411, 58 L. Ed. 642, and a great number of cases gathered in United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co. v. McCarthy (8 C. C. A.) 33 F.(2d) 7.
So, if the 80 aeres had never been brought into the case, and Barnett later sued therefor in another court as he now wants to do, he would be concluded by the determination of this court that he is not an heir and that the Mayes deed is genuine. If it were not for the fact that this court must always inquire as to jurisdiction (Chicago, B. & Q. Ry. Co. v. Willard, 220 U. S. 413, 31 S. Ct. 460, 55 L. Ed. 521) we would decline to pass upon the question as moot. South Spring Gold Co. v. Amador Gold Co., 145 U. S. 300, 12 S. Ct. 921, 36 L. Ed. 712; Heitmuller v. Stokes, 256 U. S. 359, 41 S. Ct. 522, 65 L. Ed. 990; Brownlow v. Schwartz, 261 U. S. 216, 43 S. Ct. 263, 67 L. Ed. 620.
But, in our opinion, the court had power to settle the controversy as to the entire 120 aeres, since it was required to determine part of it. While no ease precisely in point has been found, the United States courts have never declined to settle a single controversy where it was required to determine part of it. In Mathis v. Ligon (10 C. C. A.) 37 F.(2d) 635, it appeared that one Raines, a non-resident, brought a suit to set aside her, deed to Ligón, and a tax deed to Mathis. She was denied relief. Mathis, by a cross-bill directed at Ligón, undertook to establish his tax title as against Ligón, his co-defendant. Mathis and Ligón were both residents of Oklahoma. The trial court, having acquired jurisdiction by the non-residence of Raines, completed the task and entered a decree between the two residents. This court sustained the decree, and denied a petition for rehearing leveled directly at the lack of jurisdiction between the two residents of Oklahoma, which is the precise attack here. Mathis v. Ligon (10 C. C. A.) 39 F.(2d) 455, certiorari denied 51 S. Ct. 26, 75 L. Ed. -. It is an accepted practice, in foreclosure suits, to settle controversies between co-defendants as to the property in foreclosure where there is no diverse citizenship between them. Morgan's Co. v. Texas Central Railway, 137 U. S. 171,11 S. Ct. 61, 34 L. Ed. 625. In Craig v. Dorr (4 C. C. A.) 145 F. 307, 311, a consent decree disposed of the issues between the plaintiff, a non-resident, and one of the defendants, a resident. The cause proceeded as to a controversy between two defendants, both residents of West Virginia. The court held this was proper, and said that, "having once acquired juris diction, a court of equity will administer the estate, do complete equity between the parties. A cross-bill is ancillary to the original bill. Morgan v. R. R., ut supra; In re Tyler, 149 U. S. 181, 13 S. Ct. 785, 37 L. Ed. 689; Rouse v. Letcher, 156 U. S. 49, 15 S. Ct. 266, 39 L. Ed. 341; Carey v. Houston & Texas Ry., 161 U. S. 133, 16 S. Ct. 537, 40 L. Ed. 638." To the same effect is the Ninth Circuit. Lilienthal v. McCormick (C. C. A.) 117 F. 89. In that ease, the court determined a -controversy between co-defendants, residents of the same state.
A case, closer on the facts, is Rickey Land & Cattle Co. v. Wood (9 C. C. A.) 152 F. 22. In that ease a non-resident brought a suit to quiet title to water rights, as against several defendants. One defendant, conceding plaintiff's right, challenged the right of a co-defendant as to water from the same stream. The co-defendants were both residents of Nevada. The court held that, having started to settle the controversy, it would wind it up. Jurisdiction being properly acquired, the court said, it would "proceed to do justice between all the parties to the end that a multiplicity of suits may be avoided, so that tedious, expensive and unnecessary litigation may be saved."
The District Court of Idaho was confronted with a case closely analogous. There the court, in an action to foreclose á mechanic's lien, had jurisdiction between co-defendants of a counterclaim up to the extent of a lien claimed on specific property. But the counterclaim was in excess of the lien, and as to such excess it was a straight suit between residents. The query was, Could the court determine the whole controversy as to' the counterclaim, or only up to the extent of the lien claimed ? After setting out that this would require two courts to try the same case, the court said:
"Surely a principle the practical application of which is attended with such onerous results cannot have judicial sanction. It becomes manifest that the reason which underlies the rule above referred to, by which auxiliary proceedings fall within the jurisdiction of the court regardless of the citizenship of the parties thereto, operates in like manner to extend our jurisdiction to this counterclaim. This rule was established to avoid the necessity of attempting to administer justice by litigating controversies piecemeal, and the reasons for here taking cognizance between the parties are not greater than or different from the reasons for taking cognizance of Slick Bros.' counterclaim interposed in the answer thereto. It is essential to the complete settlement of the controversy initiated by the commencement of the principal suit that we adjudicate both." Portland Wood Pipe Co. v. Slick Bros. Const. Co. (D. C.) 222 F. 528, 530.
There is also a close analogy between the case at bar, and the question of removal of separable controversies. It is now the law that where a non-resident removes a separable controversy to the Federal Court, that court acquires jurisdiction of the controversy between the residents; - it takes the whole case, in order to avoid two trials, although a separable part of the case is between residents of the same state. Foster's Fed. Practice (6th Ed.) vol. 3, pp. 29-31, and cases there cited. The Judiciary Act of 1866 (14 Stat. 306, e. 288 [28 ÜSCA § 71 note]) expressly required that the separable controversy between residents remain in the state court. The Judiciary Act of 1875 (18 Stat. 470, e. 137, § 2 [28 USCA § 71 note]) did not so require. The Supreme Court held, in Barney v. Latham, 103 U. S. 205, 26 L. Ed. 514, that there was no constitutional objection to the entire controversy being removed, and held that to be the intent of Congress. The court, at page 213 of 103 U. S., 26 L. Ed. 514, said:
"Much confusion and embarrassment, as well as increase in the edst of litigation, had been found to result from the provision in the former act permitting the separation of controversies arising in a suit, removing some to the Federal court, and leaving others in the State court for determination. It was often convenient to embrace in one suit all the controversies which were so far connected by their circumstances as to make all who sue, or are sued; proper, though not indispensable parties. Rather than split up> such a suit between courts of different jurisdictions, Congress determined that the removal of the separable controversy to which the judicial power of the United States was, by the Constitution, expressly extended, should operate to transfer the whole suit to the Federal court."
The whole policy of our law is directed against repeated trials of the same issue. One day in court is enough. The Supreme Court said, in United States v. California & Ore. Land Co., 192 U. S. 355, 358, 24 S. Ct. 266, 267, 48 L. Ed. 476:
"But the whole tendency of our decisions is to require a plaintiff to try his whole cause of action and his whole ease at one time. He cannot even split up his claim (Fetter v. Beale, 1 Salk. 11 [91 Eng. Reprint 11]; Trask v. Hartford & N. H. R. Co., 2 Allen [Mass.] 331; Freeman, Judgm. 4th Ed. § 238, 241); and, a fortiori, he cannot divide the grounds of recovery."
This statement has been repeatedly quoted and followed. Baltimore Steamship Co. v. Phillips, 274 U. S. 316, 47 S. Ct. 600, 71 L. Ed. 1069. The same underlying desire to avoid two trials of one case is the rationale of the established rule recently expressed by the Supreme Court in Hartford Accident Co. v. Sou. Pacific, 273 U. S. 207, 47 S. Ct. 357, 360, 71 L. Ed. 612, where the court said:
"Where a court of equity has obtained' jurisdiction over some portion-of a controversy, it may, and will in general, proceed to decide all the issues and award complete relief, even where the rights of parties are strictly legal, and the final remedy granted is of the kind which might be conferred by a court of law. Pomeroy's Equity Jurisdiction (4th Ed.) § 181 and 231; United States v. Union Pacific Railway, 160 U. S. 1, 52, 16 S. Ct. 190, 40 L. Ed. 319."
The trend of the decisions, and the reason underlying them, support the ruling of the trial court that where an indivisible cause of action involves property in the custody of the court, that court has jurisdiction, upon application of the claimant, to determine the entire cause of action presented.
Appellant not only concedes, but contends, that he cannot split his cause of action, and that he is not entitled to a trial in one court as to the 40 acre leasehold, and in another court as to the 80 acres. His contention is that the state court has jurisdiction of all of it. In this, he is clearly wrong, as the authorities set out at length earlier in this opinion demonstrate beyond question that the United States court has exclusive jurisdiction over claims asserted against the leasehold in its possession. But we agree with appellant that it must be one court or the other; that two courts cannot render decrees, mayhap conflicting, on an indivisible cause of action. Even in actions in personam, where two actions may pend simultaneously the first decree concludes the cause. And Barney v. •Latham, supra, settles the question that where a Federal Court has jurisdiction of part, it has jurisdiction of all.
For these reasons, we conclude that the decree should be affirmed.