United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Moor v. Texas & New Orleans R. Co., 297 U.S. 101 (1936)

Moor v. Texas & New Orleans Railroad Co.

No. 49

Argued December 10, 1935

Decided January 13, 1936

297 U.S. 101

Syllabus

1. A mandatory injunction is not granted as a matter of right, but is granted or refused in the exercise of a sound judicial discretion. P. 297 U. S. 105.

2. Plaintiff sought a mandatory injunction to compel a railroad to accept shipments of cotton upon which the tax imposed by the Cotton Control Act of April 21, 1934, had not been paid and which therefore, by the terms of that statute, the carrier was forbidden to transport. The plaintiff claimed the statute was unconstitutional, and resorted to equity upon the ground that, if he could not move his cotton to market, he would suffer a large financial loss,

Page 297 U. S. 102

the amount of which could not be determined accurately, and that he had no adequate remedy at law, and would be obliged to file many suits against railroads for refusal to accept shipments. The showing as to his financial condition was, however, general and meager, and it did not appear that he could not have obtained the money necessary to move the cotton as he had done in respect of earlier consignments. Refusal to grant a mandatory injunction was sustained as within the District Court's discretion by the Circuit Court of Appeals. Held that there is no ground for certiorari. P. 297 U. S. 105.

Writ of certiorari dismissed.

Certiorari was granted in this case, 295 U.S. 728, to review a decree of the court below which affirmed the decree of the District Court refusing an injunction and dismissing the bill in a suit to compel the railroad company to accept a shipment of baled cotton. The decision below is reported, 75 F.2d 386.

Page 297 U. S. 103