Court Opinion

ID: 9641869
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 17:41:55.686683+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:10:40.408594
License: Public Domain

ALLEN, Circuit Judge
(dissenting).
I cannot agree with the decision of my associates. This case goes far beyond the holding in E. W. Bliss Co. v. Cold Metal Process Co., 6 Cir., 102 F.2d 105, and presents more than the case of the mere “existence of another adequate remedy” which, under Rule 57 of the Rules of Civil Procedure for the District Courts, does -not preclude relief! by declaratory judgment. The bill of complaint herein was filed on June 20, 1936. The record shows that on June 9, 1936, a judgment of $5,000 had been rendered against the insured on behalf of the injured party in the state court. The pleadings alleged, and the uncontroverted evidence shows, that in conformity with Section 9510-3 et seq., General Code of Ohio,1 a supplemental petition was filed in the state court on September 20, 1937, seeking to collect the judgment from the insurer. This petition was duly served upon appellant, which on October 13, 1937, filed an answer. The issues presented in that case involve the same subject-matter, the same rights, and the same questions of liability as this case. The instant bill came on for final heai ing on the pleadings and the evidence on May 31, 1938, while the state case was pendmg and at issue. The appeal here is prosecuted from the order sustaining appellee’s .motion to dismiss the bill of complaint.
Section 400, 28 U.S.C., 28 U.S.C.A. § 400, provides that in cases of actual controversy the courts of the United States “shall have power” to grant this relief. The relief prayed for hence is afforded not as a matter of right. American Automobile Ins. Co. v. Freundt, 7 Cir., 103 F.2d 613; E. W. Bliss Co. v. Cold Metal Process Co., supra. The relief may be refused if it is sought merely to determine issues involved in cases pending. Maryland Casualty Co. v. Consumers Finance Service, Inc., 3 Cir., 101 F.2d 514. The obvious intent of this provision was not to duplicate actions. It was to avoid delay and the ac*693crual of damages against one uncertain of his rights and to promote an early adjudication of the controversy between the parties without waiting until one of them should see fit to begin suit for coercive relief. after damages had accrued. Davis v. American Foundry Equipment Co., 7 Cir., 94 F.2d 441, 115 A.L.R. 1486. It is a kind of expanded bill quia timet. Meeker v. Baxter, 2 Cir., 83 F.2d 183. Here the insurer is not and was not when it filed this bill uncertain of its remedies. It is a fair inference that appellant instituted this action in the federal court because it was certain that a supplemental petition would be filed against it in the state court. It is presumed to know that the Ohio statute provided for supplemental suit against the insurer, and about nine months before the motion to dismiss was made herein, the injured party had brought suit in the state court, in which appellant had answered.
As this is a bill in the nature of an equitable proceeding, the District Court correctly considered the facts, duly pleaded and presented in evidence, which had occurred subsequent to the filing of the petition, and exercised a sound discretion in dismissing the bill. Ætna Casualty & Surety Co. v. Quarles, 4 Cir., 92 F.2d 321; United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co. v. Koch, 3 Cir., 102 F.2d 288.
The order should be affirmed.

 The section material here is Section 9510-4, General Code of Ohio, which reads as follows:
“Upon the recovery of a final judgment against any firm, person or corporation by any person, including administrators and executors, for loss or damage on account of bodily injury or death, * * * if the defendant in such action was insured against loss or damage at the time when the rights of action arose, the judgment creditor or his successor in interest shall be entitled to have the insurance money provided for in the contract of insurance between the insurance company and the defendant up-plied to the satisfaction of the judgment, and if the judgment is not satisfied within thirty days after the date when it Í3 rendered, the judgment creditor or his successor in interest, to reach and apply the insurance money to the satisfaction of the judgment, may file in the action in which said judgment was rendered, a supplemental petition wherein the insurer is made new party defendant in said action, and whereon service of summons upon the insurer shall be made and returned as in the commencement of an action at law. Thereafter the action shall proceed as to the insurer as in an original action at law.”