Pure Oil Co. v. Standard Oil Co.
Pure Oil Co. v. Standard Oil Co.
Opinion of the Court
Plaintiff sued to recover an alleged balance due on account for oil sold and delivered to the defendant. The state'of Louisiana filed a' petition of intervention, alleging that the lands from which the said oil had been taken were her property, because they form part of the bed. of a navigable stream, which she owns in virtue of her inherent sovereignty.
Plaintiff excepted to this intervention upon the ground that there was no property in custody, or fund to be distributed, which would permit the intervening of a third person; that the suit was one purely for a moneyed judgment; and that the intervention, for this reason, could not be allowed.
Default having been entered against defendant, it answered and filed a motion for a stay of proceedings until a certain suit pending in the state court between the state, plaintiff, and defendant, to test title to the land, could be determined.
The matter is before the court, therefore, at this time,- upon two points: First, as to the right of the state to intervene; and, second, the motion to stay proceedings.
I think the state is without the right to intervene for the reason urged; that is, there is no fund or property in the hands of the court to be acted upon. It is true that the claim may have grown out of the production of oil from land as to which the plaintiff had no title, but it is a matter of defense under the answer and annexed exhibits. The law, both in the federal jurisprudence and under the ruling of the state courts, appears to be settled that an intervener is without right to litigate issues with other parties in a suit, except where there is some claim to the ownership or lien upon property which is being administered in the jurisdiction where the case is pending. Simkins, Federal Practice (Rev. Ed.) p. 741; Lincoln v. New Orleans Exp. Co., 45 La. Ann. 729, 12 So. 937.
For these reasons, I think the exception to the intervention should be sustained, and the motion for stay of proceedings overruled.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- PURE OIL CO. v. STANDARD OIL CO. (STATE OF LOUISIANA, Intervener)
- Status
- Published