Seattle First National Bank v. Hilltop Realty

Before us are an appeal and a cross-appeal. The appeal is by certain partners, doing business as Larry P. Smith & Company, and their wives (collectively, Smith), from a judgment in which they were found liable on the first count of an amended complaint to Hilltop Realty, Inc. (Hilltop) for $2,920 compensatory damages and $40,000 punitive damages, to Mildred Winslow Ashcraft and Aileen D. Winslow Powell (the sisters) for $2,920 compensatory damages and $35,000 punitive damages, and to Hilltop and the sisters jointly for $75,000 attorney’s fees. On this appeal, we reverse. The cross-appeal is by Hilltop and the sisters from the portions of the judgment that dismissed the second, third and fourth counts of the amended complaint. On the cross-appeal, we affirm.

A brief history and analysis of the litigation will serve to point up the questions presented. The action was filed on January 7, 1963. The amended complaint is in four counts. The first charges fraud, the second breach of contract, the third violation of the Ohio anti-trust law (Chapter 1331, Revised Code), the fourth violation of the Sherman Act ( 15 U. S. C. Section 1-2 ). Jurisdiction, as to the first three counts, rested…