Morris v. Jones, Director of Insurance (329 U.S. 545)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided January 20, 1947 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 329 U.S. 545 · 67 S. Ct. 451
- Docket
- No. 62
- Argued
- December 9, 1946
- Decided
- January 20, 1947
- Term
- October Term 1946
- Vote
- 6–3
- Majority author
- Justice Douglas
- Issue area
- Interstate Relations
- Disposition
- Reversed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Unspecifiable
How the Justices voted
- Majority
- Chief Justice Vinson, Justice Burton, Justice R. H. Jackson, Justice Douglas (wrote), Justice Reed, Justice Murphy
- Dissenting
- Justice Frankfurter (wrote), Justice Black, Justice Rutledge
Opinion excerpt
Mr. Justice Douglas delivered the opinion of the Court. This case presents a substantial question under the Full Faith and Credit Clause (Art. IV, § 1) of the Constitution. Chicago Lloyds, an unincorporated association, was authorized by Illinois to transact an insurance business in Illinois and other states. It qualified to do business in Missouri. In 1934 petitioner sued Chicago Lloyds in a Missouri court for malicious prosecution and false arrest. In 1938, before judgment was obtained in Missouri, respondent’s predecessor was appointed by an Illinois court as statutory liquidator for Chicago Lloyds. The Illinois court fixed a time for the filing of claims against Chicago Lloyds and issued an order staying suits against it. Petitioner had notice of the stay order but nevertheless continued to prosecute the Missouri suit. At the instance of the liquidator, however, counsel for Chicago Lloyds withdrew from the suit and did not defend it, stating to the Missouri court that the Illinois liquidation proceedings had vested all the property of Chicago Lloyds in the liquidator. Thereafter petitioner obtained a -judgment in the Missouri court and filed an exemplified copy of it as proof of his claim in the Illinois proceedings. An order disallowing the claim was sustained by the Illinois Supreme Court against the contention that its allowance was required by the Full Faith and…
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