Farley v. Hill

Statement by Mr. Justice SHIRAS: On December 15, 1881, Jesse P. Farley filed in the circuit court of the United States for the district of Minnesota a bill of complaint against Norman W. Kittson, James J. Hill, and the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba Railway Company.

The object of the bill was to enforce the complainant's alleged right to share with Kittson and Hill in the proceeds of certain foreclosure proceedings against the St. Paul & Pacific Railroad Company and the first division of the St. Paul & Pacific Railroad Company, and wherein the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba Railway Company, a corporation organized by Kittson and Hill, in connection with other persons, had become the owners of the foreclosed properties.

To this bill the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba Railway Company demurred for want of equity, and Kittson and Hill filed a plea denying some of the allegations of the bill, and alleging that Farley, as receiver and manager under appointment by a court, was precluded by reason of public policy from making any valid agreement with Kittson and Hill of the kind set up in the bill.

To this plea a replication was filed, and proofs were taken. The circuit court held that the agreement of the plaintiff with Kittson and Hill was unlawful and void, and on that ground sustained the plea, and dismissed the bill. 4 McCrary, 138, 14 Fed. 114.

The case was proceeded in in the circuit court. The defendants answered, replication was filed, and evidence was taken, and a final decree was rendered dismissing the bill. 39 Fed. 513. From that decree this appeal was taken.

George F. Edmunds, Henry D. Beam, and Edward D. Cooke, for appellant.

M. D. Grover, George B. Young, and John Maynard Harlan, for appellees.

Mr. Justice SHIRAS, after stating the facts in the foregoing language, delivered the opinion of the court.