Baltimore & O. R. Co. v. Wabash R. Co.
Baltimore & O. R. Co. v. Wabash R. Co.
Opinion of the Court
(after stating the facts). It is settled that, when a state court and a court of the United States may each take jurisdiction of a matter, the tribunal whose jurisdiction first attaches holds it, to the exclusion of the other, until its duty is fully performed, and the jurisdiction involved is exhausted. Harkrader v. Wadley, 172 U. S. 148, 19 Sup. Ct. 119, 43 L. Ed. 399; Farmers’ Doan & Trust Co. v. Fake Street El. R. Co., 177 U. S. 51, 20 Sup. Ct. 564, 44 L. Ed. 667. We have followed this rule, declaring “that" the court which first obtains possession of the res or of the controversy, by priority in the service of its process, acquires exclusive jurisdiction for all the purposes of a complete adjudication.” 505,-000 Feet of Lumber, 24 U. S. App. 509, 517, 12 C. C. A. 628, 65 Fed. 236. The rule is not only one of comity, to prevent unseemly con
Subject to the conditions stated, where jurisdiction, concurrent with the state court, exists in the federal court, parties have the right, the necessary diversity of citizenship existing, to invoke that concurrent jurisdiction, and it may not be denied them. We have been thus careful to state the limitations which hedge about the federal jurisdiction in respect to subjects which are also within the jurisdiction of state courts because it is all important that conflicts of jurisdiction between courts of different sovereignties, acting within the same plane, should be avoided. Applying these principles to the case in hand, it remains to be considered whether the present case is one in which federal jurisdiction may properly be invoked. The suit is one to restrain continuing trespasses by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company, whereby the Wabash Company is prevented from the assertion of the right decreed by the state court. In its broadest aspect, it is a suit to enforce the decree of the state court, not to limit or restrain it. A creditors’ bill may undoubtedly be enforced in a federal court, based upon the judgment of a state court, and a creditors’ bill is merely an equitable execution. So, also, an action of ejectment will lie in the federal court, the necessary diversity of citizenship existing, upon a title derived through a state court. It would be no answer to such an action to say that the state court could have enforced its decree and given the party possession. In the present case the decree of the state court adjudged an easement in the locus in quo to the Wabash Company. Its rights were determined by that decree. This proceeding is not one to acquire an easement, or to perpetuate or condemn an easement, but is a bill in the nature of an action to stay trespass commit
The application of the Baltimore & Ohio & Chicago Railroad Company to be made a party to this suit was properly denied.' The road was in the possession and operation of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company, and the latter company only had committed the trespass. The Baltimore & Ohio & Chicago Railroad Company was a corporation of the state of Indiana, and sought to be made a party to the suit manifestly and only for the purpose of ousting the federal
The decree or order appealed from is affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- BALTIMORE & O. R. CO. v. WABASH R. CO.
- Cited By
- 54 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- 1. Federal and State Courts—Priority of Jurisdiction—Rule Stated. It is the settled rule that, when a state court and a federal court may each take jurisdiction of a matter, the tribunal whose jurisdiction first attaches holds it, to the exclusion of the other, until its duty is fully performed, and the jurisdiction involved is exhausted. While such rule is not limited to cases in which property has actually been seized under process from one court before suit is, instituted in the other, it is limited to actions which deal either actually or potentially with specific property or objects, and does not apply to actions strictly in personam. 8 Jurisdiction of 'Federal Courts—Suit to Enforce -Decree of State Court. A federal court has jurisdiction, where the requisite diversity of citizenship exists between the parties to a suit, to enforce a decree of a state court by which a railroad company has acquired the right in statutory proceedings to construct a grade crossing over the tracks of another company, by enjoining the latter from placing or maintaining obstructions in the way of such crossing; and the right to grant such relief is not affected by the fact that an appeal from such decree is pending in an appellate court of the state, where, under the statute, it does not operate as a supersedeas,—the court having power to so shape its decree that the injunction will be effective only so long as the decree of the state court shall remain in force. 8. Parties—Denial of Application to be Made Party. Such a suit is, in effect, one to enjoin a continuing trespass on the easement granted by the state court; and, where the company committing such trespass is a lessee in possession and operation of the road over which the crossing is to be made, its lessor is not an indispensable party, and will not be permitted to become a party for the purpose of ousting the court of jurisdiction. ¶ 1- Conflicts of jurisdiction between federal and state courts, see note to Louisville Trust Co. v. City of Cincinnati, 22 C. C. A. 356.