Hart v. B.F. Keith Vaudeville Exchange, 262 U.S. 271 (1923)

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Hart v. B.F. Keith Vaudeville Exchange

No. 763

Argued May 2, 3, 1923
Decided May 21, 1923
262 U.S. 271

APPEAL FROM THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES

FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK

Syllabus

1. A bill in the district court setting up a claim of federal right should not be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction because the claim is wanting in merit, if it be not wholly frivolous. P. 273.

2. Plaintiff, by a bill brought before the decision of this Court in Federal Base Ball Club v. National League, 259 U.S. 200, sought an injunction and damages, under the Anti-Trust Act of 1890, against an alleged conspiracy of theater owners and of corporations engaged, like himself, in the business of getting contracts for vaudeville actors to perform throughout the United States, and of acting as their manager and personal representative, alleging that the business involved contracts not only for travel of performers from state to state and from abroad, but also for transportation of vaudeville acts, including performers, scenery, music, costumes, etc., resulting in a constant stream of commerce from state to state, in which, he claimed, the apparatus transported was not a mere incident, but sometimes more important than the performers. Held that the claim that the case came within the Anti-Trust Act was not frivolous, and that the bill should not have been dismissed by the district court for want of jurisdiction. P. 274.

Reversed.

Appeal from a decree of the district court dismissing, for want of jurisdiction, a bill for an injunction and damages brought under the Anti-Trust Act.