H and H Coffee

Dedicated to the history of the Hoffmann-Hayman Coffee Co. founded 1899 in San Antonio, Texas.

Three Rivers anti-trust suit dismissed in Texas, refiled in Indiana

On Saturday, 1 November 1947, Federal Judge Ben H. Rice Jr. dismisses the $4,600,000 anti-trust damage suit filed by Three Rivers Glass Co. against Hartford-Empire Co. (Hartford, CT), Ball Brothers Co. (Muncie, IN), and Owens-Illinois Glass Co. (Toledo, OH) in U.S. District Court (San Antonio). The dismissal is at the plaintiff’s own request — Three Rivers, with Charles R. Tips as president, sought the dismissal so the suit could be refiled in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis, Indiana, where it has already been refiled.

Strategic motive — statute of limitations

Per Tips, the suit was refiled in Indiana because Indiana has a 15-year statute of limitations for anti-trust violations, in contrast to the 2-year statute applicable in Texas. The Texas filing (January 1946 — see 1946 anti-trust suit event) had already pushed at the boundary of the 2-year Texas SOL counting from the January 1937 corporate dissolution; the Indiana refiling resets the clock under a far more permissive jurisdictional rule.

Amount discrepancy from the January 1946 filing

The Jan 1946 Texas filing sought $1,350,000 in actual damages, to be trebled (~$4,050,000) under the Sherman/Clayton Acts. The Nov 1947 dismissal article cites “$4,600,000 damage suit” — a ~$550K (~13%) increase in the trebled figure between Jan 1946 and Nov 1947. The article does not explain the increase; possibilities include amendment to the actual-damages base, addition of interest/costs, or per-paper rounding. The amount difference is recorded here without resolution.

New primary-source facts on the 1937 takeover

The 1947 article quotes Tips alleging — in support of the Indiana refiling — that the three defendant companies:

  • “took physical possession of the Three Rivers glass plant in 1937 but have not operated it since”
  • “sale of the plant by the defendants had been ordered by the U.S. Supreme court”

The Supreme Court order reference is to United States v. Hartford-Empire Co., 323 U.S. 386 (1945), the federal anti-trust decision against the glass-machinery patent pool — specifically the decree’s enforcement requirements directing divestiture of certain pool-controlled glass facilities.

Reconciliation note (plant-operation claim vs. existing KB chronology). This site’s Three Rivers Glass Company page records that the physical plant continued under Ball ownership through at least November 1937 based on the 21 Nov 1937 SA Light “Crystalvac in wide distribution” mention. Tips’s 1947 court-positioning claim of “have not operated it since [1937]” is consistent with this if “since [1937]” is read as “since late 1937” rather than “since the start of 1937.” The two claims can coexist: physical possession transferred to Ball/George A. Ball Mfg via the Dec 1936 reorganization → plant ran briefly into 1937 fulfilling existing orders → idle through 1938 onward. The Tips 1947 claim is litigation framing emphasizing the post-takeover idleness rather than a literal claim of immediate 1937 shutdown.

Disposition of the Indiana refiling

Undocumented on this site. Did the Indianapolis suit reach verdict, settle, or get further dismissed under Indiana’s 15-year SOL? S.D. Indiana federal court records 1947–1962 and 1947–1962 Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis News coverage would resolve.

See also