Kaufman et al. v. Societe Internationale Pour Participations Industrielles et Commerciales, S. a., et al. (343 U.S. 156)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided April 7, 1952 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 343 U.S. 156 · 72 S. Ct. 611
- Decided
- April 7, 1952
- Term
- October Term 1951
- Vote
- 5–3
- Majority author
- Justice Black
- Issue area
- Due Process
- Disposition
- Reversed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Me. Justice Black delivered the opinion of the Court. Acting under § 5 (b) of the Trading with the Enemy Act, the Alien Property Custodian vested in himself the American assets of Interhandel, a Swiss corporation. In-terhandel sued in the District Court to recover the assets. The Custodian answered alleging that the Swiss corporation was dominated and controlled by officers, agents, and stockholders who were engaged in a conspiracy with German nationals and with the German Government to operate the company’s business in their interests while we were at war with Germany. Petitioners, United States citizens who own stock in Interhandel, filed a motion to intervene. They admitted the Custodian’s charge that Interhandel was dominated by officers and stockholders who had been engaged in such a conspiracy. They also admitted the right of the Custodian to retain an interest in the seized assets proportional to the stock ownership of enemy stockholders. But petitioners contended that they and other nonenemy stockholders had claims in the corporate assets which it was the corporation’s duty to protect. Alleging that the dominant enemy group which had charge of the suit would not press the corporate claim in a manner that would adequately protect the claims of innocent shareholders, petitioners asserted a right to intervene under Rule 24 (a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The…
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