Hugo Black

“ Surely it cannot be that preservation of the integrity of the judicial process must always wait upon the diligence of litigants. The public welfare demands that the agencies of public justice be not so impotent that they must always be mute and helpless victims of deception and fraud.
The Circuit Court also rested denial of relief upon the conclusion that the Clarke article was not 'basic' to the Court's 1932 decision. Whether or not it was the primary basis for that ruling, the article did impress the Court, as shown by the Court's opinion. ”

“ If relief on equitable grounds is to be obtained it is right that it should be sought by a formal suit upon adequate pleadings and should be granted only after a trial of issues according to the usual course of the trial of questions of fact. A court of first instance is the appropriate tribunal, and the only tribunal, equipped for such a trial. Appellate courts have neither the power nor the means to that end. ”

“ In 1926 Hartford had pending an application for a patent on a machine which utilized a method of pouring glass into molds known as 'gob feeding.' The application, according to the Circuit Court, 'was confronted with apparently insurmountable Patent Office opposition.' To help along the application, certain officials and attorneys of Hartford determined to have published in a trade journal an article signed by an ostensibly disinterested expert which would describe the 'gob feeding' device as a remarkable advance in the art of fashioning glass by machine. ”

“ It is idle to suggest that counsel would not have been justified in applying to the court on the strength of them.
Had counsel filed a petition and attached to it the affidavits of the Messrs. Wood, without more, he would have done his duty to the court in timely calling its attention to the fraud which had been perpetrated. But more, the court would undoubtedly have reopened the case, granted rehearing, and remanded the case to the District Court with permission to Hazel to summon and examine witnesses. ”

“ We cannot easily understand how, under the admitted facts, Hazel should have been expected to do more than it did to uncover the fraud. But even if Hazel did not exercise the highest degree of diligence Hartford's fraud cannot be condoned for that reason alone. This matter does not concern only private parties. There are issues of great moment to the public in a patent suit. ”

“ Furthermore, tampering with the administration of justice in the manner indisputably shown here involves far more than an injury to a single litigant. It is a wrong against the institutions set up to protect and safeguard the public, institutions in which fraud cannot complacently be tolerated consistently with the good order of society. ”

“ If courts of first instance, or appellate courts, were at liberty, on application of a party, at any time to institute a summary inquiry for the purpose of modifying or nullifying a considered judgment, no reliance could be placed on that which has been adjudicated and citizens could not, with any confidence, act in the light of what has apparently been finally decided. ”

“ Since the judgments of 1932 therefore must be vacated, the case now stands in the same position as though Hartford's corruption had been exposed at the original trial. In this situation the doctrine of the Keystone case, supra, requires that Hartford be denied relief.
To grant full protection to the public against a patent obtained by fraud, that patent must be vacated. It has previously been decided that such a remedy is not available in infringement proceedings, but can only be accomplished in a direct proceeding brought by the government. ”

“ No suggestion seems ever before to have been made that they may constitute themselves trial courts, embark on the trial of what is essentially an independent cause and enter a judgment of first instance on the facts and the law. But this is what the opinion sanctions.
3. The temptation might be strong to break new ground in this case if Hazel were otherwise remediless. Such is not the fact. The reports abound in decisions pointing the way to relief if, in equity, Hazel is entitled to any. ”

“ It is a judicially devised remedy fashioned to relieve hardships which, from time to time, arise from a hard and fast adherence to another court-made rule, the general rule that judgments should not be disturbed after the term of their entry has expired. Created to avert the evils of archaic rigidity, this equitable procedure has always been characterized by flexibility which enables it to meet new situations which demand equitable intervention, and to accord all the relief necessary to correct the particular injustices involved in these situations. ”

“ So long as that judgment stands unmodified, the agreement of the parties will be unaffected by anything involved in the suit under discussion. Hazel concedely now desires to be in a position to disregard the agreement to its profit.
The resources of the law are ample to undo the wrong and to pursue the wrongdoer and to do both effectively with due regard to the established modes of procedure. Ever since this fraud was exposed, the United States has had standing to seek nullification of Hartford's patent. [6] The Government filed a brief as amicus below and one in this court. ”

“ On June 6, 1928, Hartford brought suit in the District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania charging that Hazel was infringing this 'gob feeding' patent, and praying for an injunction against further infringement and for an accounting for profits and damages. Without referring to the Clarke article, which was in the record only as part of the 'file-wrapper' history, and which apparently was not then emphasized by counsel, the District Court dismissed the bill on the ground that no infringement had been proved. ”

“ On the strongest grounds of public policy bills of review are disfavored, since to facilitate them would tend to encourage fraudulent practices, resort to perjury, and the building of fictitious reasons for setting aside judgments. ”

“ Neither the petition nor the bill is under oath but there is attached an affidavit of counsel for Hazel in which he states that in or before 1929 Hazel 'had suspected, and I believed,' that the Clarke article had been written by Hatch and that Hartford had caused the article to be published, adding: 'having been so told by the firm of Messrs. Wood and Wood, Cincinnati lawyers, who said they had so been told by Clarke and also by Hatch.' The affidavit also attaches the reports of the investigator above referred to and refers to the exhibits and testimony in the antitrust suit in Northern Ohio. ”

“ Realty Acceptance Corp. v. Montgomery, supra, 284 U.S. at page 549, 52 S.Ct. at page 215, 76 L.Ed. 476.↑ Russell v. Southard, 12 How. 139, 158, 159, 13 L.Ed. 927; United States v. Knight's Adm'r, 1 Black 488, 17 L.Ed. 76 ”