Packet Company v. Sickles (86 U.S. 611)

ERROR to the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia.

This suit was part of a litigation of twenty-five years' standing, which was now in this court for the fourth time.

The controversy arose out of the use by the defendants below of an improvement in the steam-engine known as the Sickles cut-off, an apparatus for lifting and tripping the valves of steam-engines, and also an improved water reservoir and plunger, for which F. E. Sickles, one of the plaintiffs, had, on the 20th May, 1842, received a patent.

All the trials in the court below previous to the one under review had been founded on a special count, the substantial allegations of which were that after an experiment to ascertain the saving in fuel due to the use of the patented invention, the defendants would pay to the plaintiffs three-fourths of the value of said saving of fuel during the existence of the patent, if the vessel on which it was to be used should last so long. Very large savings were proved to the satisfaction of juries, and several heavy verdicts and judgments rendered, which were reversed on different grounds in this court. The last of these reversals was in the present case, and is reported in 5th Wallace, 580.

It was there held that this special contract, on which the case had always been previously tried, was void under the statute of frauds, because it was not to be performed within one year and was not in writing. This was in 1867, and the case being remanded, the plaintiffs, by leave of the court, filed, on 4th March, 1868, the following amendment to the declaration:

'The plaintiffs sue the defendants for money payable to the plaintiffs, for the use of a certain apparatus patented by one F. E. Sickles on the 20th day of May, 1842, for lifting and tripping the valves of steam-engines, and also an improved water reservoir and plunger.

'And the plaintiffs sue the defendant for money received by the defendant for the plaintiffs; and the plaintiffs claim $25,000.'

To this the defendants, on the 1st day of March, 1871, three years afterwards, without leave of the court, filed a plea of non-assumpsit, and two pleas of the statute of limitations. On motion of the plaintiffs the two latter pleas were stricken from the files, on the ground that not having been filed within time, according to the rules of the court, the court would, in furtherance of the ends of justice, refuse to permit them to stand as part of the issue to be tried.

The defendants excepted; but whether their exception exhibited to this court in the full, clear, and regular way in which, according to immemorial practice, it was proper to exhibit it, the action of the court below, which they wanted to bring here, was not so clear. The bill of exceptions, signed by the judge and sealed, ran in this way; the rule of court which it was said that the defendant had violated, not being incorporated into the exception, but appearing (just as it appears on the page of this volume) in a footnote on the page in the printed transcript; leaving it open, of course, to a question who put it on the record or transcript, though not the least question of that sort was made, at any time, in this case.

'Deposition of Thomas Worthington was read, and it was shown to the court that a copy of the amended declaration was served on the attorney of the defendant, but without the notice to plead required by the rule of court No. 15, and was as follows: [The exception then set out the amended declaration in the words already above given.] Nor was any rule to plead, laid in the cause after the amended declaration. Therefore the court ordered that the second and third pleas be stricken out; to which ruling the defendant excepts and prays the court to sign, seal, and cause to be enrolled this its first bill of exceptions, which is done accordingly, this 2d of March, 1871.'

These pleas of the statute being struck out, the case was tried on the plea of non-assumpsit.

The plaintiff, under objection by the defendant, proved his special contract, how much fuel had been saved by the use of his apparatus, and how long the defendant used it. The defendant excepted to this proof.

The defendant gave evidence to show every sale made during the existence of the patent, of the license to use the patent on board of different boats; and that the patent fee charged to licensees under said sales, which were numerous, ranged from $250 to $1500, but, on no occasion, exceeded the latter sum; and further, that the owners of the patent did not keep the patent-right off the market, but, on the contrary, availed of all opportunities offered of disposing of licenses to use the patent.

The defendant, in substance, asked the court to charge,

'That the measure of damages was the established rate for the license to use their invention, as ascertained by the sales made by plaintiff of such license to others.'

The court refused thus to charge, and charged thus:

'In estimating the amount which the plaintiff is entitled to recover, the jury will take into consideration the value of the use of this machine, as far as the proof enables them to ascertain its value from the sale of the machine itself, from the license of its use, from the capacity of the machine to economize the expenditure of fuel, in the expression of the power of the engine, and from any other testimony that they may find developed in the case bearing upon the value of its use; the conclusion of value not to be confined to the price of the patent when sold, the license for its use, or the value of its economies, but to be a deduction from all, under the rule of equity and justice between parties dealing with each other in contract, and where it is expected that both are to derive advantages from their dealings.'To the refusal and to the charge exceptions were taken.

The jury found a verdict of $11,333 with interest, from the day when the suit was brought, December 11th, 1855, to the day when the verdict was rendered, March 15th, 1871.

The case was now here on exceptions; errors among others being assigned:

In striking out the pleas of the statute of limitations.

In admitting evidence to show the saving qualities of the Sickles apparatus, as compared with others, whose merits were not shown.

In refusing to instruct the jury as requested that, in an action for the use of a patented machine, the measure of damages is the license fee or what others pay for the same use about the same time.

And in charging the jury in respect of damages as it did.

Messrs. T. J. D. Fuller and W. D. Davidge, for the plaintiff in error; Messrs. J. H. Bradley and E. N. Dickerson, contra.

Mr. Justice MILLER delivered the opinion of the court.