Steelman v. All Continent Corp., 301 U.S. 278 (1937)

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U.S. Supreme Court STEELMAN v. ALL CONTINENT CORPORATION, 301 U.S. 278 (1937)

[Page 301 U.S. 278, 291]

to the court itself. He is not seeking an injunction to vindicate his exclusive control over a res in his possession, or in the possession, actual or constructive, of the court that appointed him. Isaacs v. Hobbs Tie & Timber Co., supra; Murphy v. John Hofman Co., 211 U.S. 562, 568, 569 S., 29 S.Ct. 154; Moran v. Sturges, 154 U.S. 256, 274, 14 S.Ct. 1019. What he seeks is an injunction directed to a suitor, and not to any court, upon the ground that the suitor is misusing a jurisdiction which by hypothesis exists, and converting it by such misuse into an instrument of wrong. Gage v. Riverside Trust Co. (C.C.) 86 F. 984, 998, 999; Higgins v. California Prune & Apricot Growers (C.C.A.) 282 F. 550, 557; Cole v. Cunningham, 133 U.S. 107, 112, 117 S., 118, 10 S.Ct. 269. Suits as well as transfers may be the protective coverings of fraud. Shapiro v. Wilgus, 287 U.S. 348, 355, 53 S.Ct. 142, 144, 85 A.L.R. 128. We are unable to yield assent to the statement of the court below that 'the restraint of a proper party is legally tantamount to the restraint of the court itself.' The reality of the distinction has illustration in a host of cases. 2 Story, Eq.Jur. (14th Ed.) 1195; 5 Pomeroy, Eq.Jur. 2091; Cole v. Cunningham, supra; Madisonville Traction Co. v. Mining Co., 196 U.S. 239, 245, 25 S.Ct. 251; Kessler v. Eldred, , 27 S.Ct. 611; Rickey Land & Cattle Co. v. Miller and Lux, 218 U.S. 258, 31 S.Ct. 11; Toledo Scale Co. v. Computing Scale Co., 261 U.S. 399, 426, 43 S.Ct. 458, 465; Smith v. Apple, 264 U.S. 274, 279, 44 S.Ct. 311, 313. Cf. Judicial Code, 265, 28 U.S.C. 379 (28 U.S.C.A. 379); Brown v. Pacific Mutual Life Ins. Co. (C.C.A.) 62 F.(2d) 711, 713; Chicago Title & Trust Co. v. Fox Theatres Corp. (C.C.A.) 69 F.(2d) 60, 61, 62, 91 A.L.R. 991.

The decree of the Court of Appeals is reversed and that of the District Court affirmed.

Ordered accordingly.

Reversed.