EX PARTE BALTIMORE AND OHIO RAILROAD COMPANY
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The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company sought appellate review of an admiralty case involving multiple distinct parties with separate causes of action arising from the same transaction. The Supreme Court denied the petition, holding that when distinct causes of action in favor of distinct parties are joined in a single admiralty suit, the resulting distinct decrees cannot be combined to satisfy the jurisdictional amount requirement for appeal, distinguishing such cases from those involving common or collective interests in the same fund or claim.
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Mr. Chief Justice Waite,
after stating the case, delivered the opinion of the court.
It is impossible to distinguish this case in principle from Oliver v. Alexander, 6 Pet. 143; Stratton v. Jarvis, 8 id. 4; Spear v. Place, 11 How. 522; and Rich v. Lambert, 12 id. 347, under which, for half a century, it has been held that when in admiralty distinct causes of action in favor of distinct parties, growing out of the sáme transaction, are united in one suit, according to the practice of the courts of that jurisdiction, distinct decrees in favor of or against distinct parties cannot be joined to give this court jurisdiction on appeal. In Seaver v. Bigelows, 5 Wall. 208; Paving Company v. Mulford, 100 U. S. 147; and Russell, v. Stansell, 105 id. 303, this rule was applied to a¿nalogous cases in equity.
The cases of Shields v. Thomas, 17 How. 3; Market Company, v. Hoffman, 101 U. S. 112; and The Connemara, 103 id. 754, relied on in support of the present application, stand on an entirely different principle. There the controvérsies were about matters in which the several claimants were interested collectively under a common title. They each had an undivided interest in the claim, and it was perfectly immaterial tó their adversaries how the recovery was shared among them. If a dispute arose about the division, it would be between the claimants themselves, and not with those against whom the. claim was made. The distinction between the two classes of cases was clearly stated by Chief Justice Taney in Shields v. Thomas, and that case was held to be within the latter. class. It may not always be easy to determine the class to which a particular case belongs, but the rule recognizing the existence of the two classes has long been established.
Neither is the case of The Mamie, 105 U. S. 773, an authority in support of this-application. That was a suit by the owners of the pleasure-yacht Mamie ” to obtain the benefit of the act' of Congress limiting the liability of vessel owners. Rev. Stat., sects. 4283 to 4289. The aggregate of the claim's against the yacht was $65,000, but no single claim exceeded-$5,000. The theory of-the proceeding authorized by tliis áct of Congress is, that the owner brings into court the fund which he says belongs to all who have claims against him.or his vessel growing, out of the loss, and surrenders it to them collectiyely in satisfaction of their demands. If he succeeds, all the claimants have a common interest in the fund thus created, and are entitled to have it divided, between them in proportion to the amount of their respective claims. With this, division the owner of the vessel has nothing .to do. He surrenders the fund, and calls o.n all who have claims against him growing out of the loss to come in and divide it among themselves. The controversy in the suit is not in respect to his liability to the different parties in interest, but as to his right to surrender the fund and be discharged of all further liability. His dispute is not with any one claimant separately, but with all collectively. He insists that his liability in the aggregate does not exceed the value of his interest in the vessel; they, that he must pay all their several demands amount to. He does not seek to have it determined how much he owes each one of them, but to what extent he is liable to them collectively. The difference between what he admits his liability to be, and the aggregate amount of the demands against him, is the amount in dispute. In the case of The Mamie this difference was 'more than $5,000, and we consequently took jurisdiction.
It follows that the Circuit Court properly refused to allow the appeal, and the petition for a mandamus is.therefore
Denied.
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Citator
Cited By (13 total)
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Clark v. Paul Gray, Inc., 306 U.S. 583 (U.S. 1939)…ears that such a result could not follow here, we think it better practice to dismiss the suit for want of the jurisdictional amount as to all appellees except Paul Gray, Inc. See Rich v. Lambert, 12 How. 347; Ex parte Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Co., 106 U. S. 5; Hassall v. Wilcox, 115 U. S. 598. Cf. Grosjean v. American Press Co., 297 U. S. 233. [*591] DISCRIMINATION. Apart from appellees’ insistence that the fees are an unconstitutional burden on interstate commerce because excessive, the substance of th…
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Gibson v. Shufeldt, 122 U.S. 27 (U.S. 1887)…82, in two cases of libels to recover damages to ship and cargo by collision, in one of which the appeal was taken by the libellants, and in the other by the owner of the vessel against which the suit was brought. Ex parte Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, 106 U. S. 5; The Nevada, 106 U. S. 154. See [*32] also Clifton v. Sheldon, 23 How. 481. In the intermediate case of The Rio Grande, 19 Wall. 178, in which material men joining in a libel in rem had severally recovered in the Circuit Court various sums, a motion…1 / 2
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Tex. & Pac. Ry. Co. v. Gentry, 163 U.S. 353 (U.S. 1896)…e will be made liable to pay the whole amount decreed to them. This is the controversy on his part, and the amount exceeds two thousand dollars. "We think the court, therefore, has jurisdiction on the appeal.” In Ex parte Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, 106 U. S. 5, 6, after referring to certain cases in which it had been held that when in admiralty distinct causes of action in favor of distinct parties, growing out of the" same transaction, are united in one suit according to the practice of the courts of tha…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Mkt. Co. v. Hoffman, 101 U.S. 112 (U.S. 1879)
- Oliver v. Alexander, 6 Pet. 143 (U.S. 1832)
- Shields v. Isaac Thomas and others, 17 How. 3 (U.S. 1854)
- Seaver v. Bigelows, 5 Wall. 208 (U.S. 1866)
- Paving Co. v. Mulford, 100 U.S. 147 (U.S. 1879)
- The "Mamie.", 105 U.S. 773 (U.S. 1881)
- Spear v. Place, 11 How. 522 (U.S. 1850)