Opinion · Supreme Court of the United States

Williams v. Fanning

68 S. Ct. 188

Type
Opinion
Court
Supreme Court of the United States
Jurisdiction
Federal
Date
1947-12-15
Topic
general

holding that absent party is not indispensable if relief-granting decree is effective without requiring that party “to do a single thing” | applying Williams to F.R.C.P. 19(a)(1)

Citator

Cited by
143 opinions
WILLIAMSv. FANNING,332 U.S. 490(1947)
68 S.Ct. 188
WILLIAMS ET AL.v. FANNING, POSTMASTER OF LOS ANGELES.
CERTIORARI TO THE CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT.
No. 47.
Argued October 22, 1947.
Decided December 8, 1947.
1. Those against whom the Postmaster General has issued a postal fraud order may sue the local postmaster to enjoin him from carrying out the order; and the Postmaster General is not an indispensable party. Pp. 492-494. 2. The superior officer is an indispensable party if a decree granting the relief sought will require him to take action, either by exercising directly a power lodged in him or by having a subordinate exercise it for him. Pp. 492-493. 3. The superior officer is not an indispensable party if the decree which is entered would effectively grant the relief desired by expending itself on the subordinate official who is before the court. Pp. 493-494. 158 F.2d 95, reversed.Page 491
The District Court dismissed a suit to enjoin a postmaster
from carrying out a fraud order issued by the Postmaster General.
The Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed. 158 F.2d 95. This Court
granted certiorari.331 U.S. 797.Reversed, p. 494.
Richard L. Northargued the cause for petitioners. With him on the brief wasIrving M. Walker.Frederick Bernays Wienerargued the cause for respondent. With him on the brief wereSolicitor General Perlman, Herbert A.Bergson, Paul A. SweeneyandMelvin Richter.
MR. JUSTICE DOUGLAS delivered the opinion of the Court.
This case, here on certiorari to resolve a conflict between the circuits,1presents the question whether those against whom the Postmaster General has issued a postal fraud order may sue the local postmaster to enjoin him from carrying out the order or whether the Postmaster General is an indispensable party.

The Postmaster General, after a hearing in Washington, D.C., found that petitioners' weight-reducing enterprise was fraudulent. He accordingly issued a fraud order (R.S. §§ 3929, 4041, 39 U.S.C. § 259, 732) directing respondent, postmaster at Los Angeles, California (where petitioners do business) to refuse payment of any money order drawn to the order of petitioners, toPage 492advise the remitter of such money order that payment had been forbidden, and to stamp "fraudulent" on all mail matter directed to petitioners and to return it to the senders.

Petitioners thereupon brought this suit in the District Court for the Southern District of California to enjoin respondent from carrying out the order,2claiming that they had been deprived of the hearing to which they were entitled and that the fraud order was without the support of substantial evidence. On motion of respondent the District Court dismissed the complaint, holding in accord with the view of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals3that the Postmaster General was an indispensable party. The Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed. 158 F.2d 95.

It was long assumed that the Postmaster General was not an indispensable party in these fraud order cases. Beginning at least withAmerican School of Magnetic Healingv.McAnnulty,187 U.S. 94, decided in 1902, the maintenance of the suit against the local postmaster alone was not challenged.4

Meanwhile, another line of cases was emerging.Warner ValleyStock Co. v.Smith,165 U.S. 28, held that a suit against the Secretary of the Interior to compel him to issue patents to public lands abated on his resignation. As the purpose of the bill was "to control the action of the Secretary of the Interior" (165 U.S. p. 34), he was held to be an indispensable party. Next cameGnerichv.Rutter,265 U.S. 388, which was a suit to enjoin a representative of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue fromPage 493enforcing a restriction embodied in a permit issued under the National Prohibition Act. The subordinate official, acting for the Commissioner, had refused to give plaintiffs the more liberal permit which they desired; and he had no power to grant the desired permit without revision of his delegated authority. The Commissioner was held to be an indispensable party.Websterv.Fall,266 U.S. 507, followed. That was a suit brought by an Osage Indian to require payment to him of funds under an act of Congress. The power and responsibility of making the payments being in the Secretary of the Interior, he was held to be an indispensable party.

These cases evolved the principle that the superior officer is an indispensable party if the decree granting the relief sought will require him to take action, either by exercising directly a power lodged in him or by having a subordinate exercise it for him.

That principle was brought into clearer relief byColoradov.Toll,268 U.S. 228. There the director of national parks had issued regulations forbidding operation in the Rocky Mountain National Park of automobiles for hire. Toll was the superintendent of the park who was enforcing the regulation. A suit to enjoin him was allowed to be maintained without joining his superior, the director, who had promulgated the regulation. That result followed,268 U.S. p. 230, by analogy to those cases which permit suit against a public official who invades a private right either by exceeding his authority or by carrying out a mandate of his superior.United Statesv.Lee,106 U.S. 196;Philadelphia Co. v.Stimson,223 U.S. 605,619,620. In those situations relief against the offending officer could be granted without risk that the judgment awarded would "expend itself on the public treasury or domain, or interfere with the public administration."Landv.Dollar,330 U.S. 731,738.Page 494

But the distinction we have noted between these two lines of cases apparently was not as clear to others as it seems to us. For a conflict among the circuits developed in these postal fraud cases.5National Conferencev.Goldman,85 F.2d 66, which held that the Postmaster General must be made a party, suggested that if he were not, the local postmaster would be left under a command of his superior to do what the court has forbidden. But that seems to us immaterial if the decree which is entered will effectively grant the relief desired by expending itself on the subordinate official who is before the court. It seems plain in the present case that that will be the result even though the local postmaster alone is sued. It is he who refuses to pay money orders, who places the stamp "fraudulent" on the mail, who returns the mail to the senders. If he desists in those acts, the matter is at an end. That is all the relief which petitioners seek. The decree in order to be effective need not require the Postmaster General to do a single thing — he need not be required to take new action either directly as in theSmithandFallcases or indirectly through his subordinate as in theRuttercase. No concurrence on his part is necessary to make lawful the payment of the money orders and the release of the mail unstamped. Yet that is all the court is asked to command.Reversed.

THE CHIEF JUSTICE and MR. JUSTICE BURTON dissent.Page 495
  1. Page 491 The Circuit Court of Appeals in the instant case followed its earlier decisions holding that the Postmaster General was an indispensable party.Neherv.Harwood,128 F.2d 846;Dolphinv.Starr, 130 F.2d 868. Accord:National Conferencev.Goldman,85 F.2d 66(Second Circuit). Contra:Jarvisv.Shackelton Inhaler Co.,136 F.2d 116(Sixth Circuit). For collection and review of the cases see 158 A.L.R. 1126. ↩
  2. Page 492 Jurisdiction was invoked under § 24(6) of the Judicial Code,28 U.S.C. § 41(6). ↩
  3. Page 492 See note 1,supra. ↩
  4. Page 492 And seePublic Clearing Housev.Coyne,194 U.S. 497;Leachv.Carlile,258 U.S. 138. ↩
  5. Page 494 See note 1,supra. ↩