TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1933

IMPEACHMENT OF JUDGE HAROLD LOUDERBACK

A message from the House of Representatives by Mr. Chaffee, one of its clerks:

Mr. President: The House of Representatives has passed the following resolution (H. Res. 403), which I am directed to communicate to the Senate:

Resolved, That a message be sent to the Senate to inform them that this House has impeached Harold Louderback, United States district judge for the northern district of California, for misdemeanors in office, and that the House has adopted articles of impeachment against said Harold Louderback, judge as aforesaid, which the managers on the part of the House have been directed to carry to the Senate, and that Hatton W. Sumners, Gordon Browning, Malcolm C. Tarver, Fiorello H. LaGuardia, and Charles I. Sparks, Members of this House, have been appointed such managers. Mr. Norris submitted the following order, which was considered by unanimous consent and agreed to:

Ordered, That the Secretary inform the House of Representatives that the Senate is ready to receive the managers appointed by the House for the purpose of exhibiting articles of impeachment against Harold Louderback, United States district judge for the northern district of California, agreeably to the notice communicated to the Senate.

FRIDAY, MARCH 3, 1933

IMPEACHMENT OF JUDGE HAROLD LOUDERBACK

At 12 o'clock and 20 minutes p. m. the secretary for the majority announced the presence in the Senate Chamber of the managers appointed by the House of Representatives, to wit, Mr. Sumners, Mr. Browning, Mr. Tarver, Mr. LaGuardia, and Mr. Sparks, to conduct the impeachment against Harold Louderback, United States district judge for the northern district of California, and they were assigned to seats provided for them.

Mr. Sumners announced that the managers on the part of the House were present to exhibit articles of impeachment preferred by the House against Harold Louderback, United States district judge for the northern district of California. The Vice President then directed the Deputy Sergeant at Arms to make proclamation; and

The Deputy Sergeant at Arms having made proclamation in the following words:

"Hear ye! Hear ye! Hear ye! All persons are commanded to keep silence, on pain of imprisonment, while the House of Representatives is exhibiting to the Senate of the United States articles of impeachment against Harold Louderback, United States district judge for the northern district of California.”

Mr. Sumners, as chairman, read the resolution received from the House of Representatives on February 28, 1933, appointing the managers to conduct the impeachment against the said Harold Louderback, and instructing them to appear before the Senate and demand his impeachment and trial. Mr. Browning, one of the managers on the part of the House, read the articles of impeachment, as follows: CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, February 24, 1933.

RESOLUTION

Resolved, That Harold Louderback, who is a United States district judge of the northern district of California,

be impeached of misdemeanors in office; and that the evidence heretofore taken by the special committee of the House of Representatives under H. Res. 239 sustains five articles of impeachment, which are hereinafter set out; and that the said articles be, and they are hereby, adopted by the House of Representatives, and that the same shall be exhibited to the Senate in the following words and figures, to wit:

ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IN THE NAME OF THEMSELVES AND OF ALL OF THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AGAINST HAROLD LOUDERBACK, WHO WAS APPOINTED, DULY QUALIFIED, AND COMMISSIONED TO SERVE DURING GOOD BEHAVIOR IN OFFICE, AS UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA, ON APRIL 17, 1928

ARTICLE I

That the said Harold Louderback, having been nominated by the President of the United States, confirmed by the Senate of the United States, duly qualified and commissioned and while acting as a district judge for the northern district of California, did on divers and various occasions so abuse the power of his high office that he is hereby charged with tyranny and oppression, favoritism and conspiracy, whereby he has brought the administration of justice in said district in the court of which he is a judge into disrepute, and by his conduct is guilty of misbehavior, falling under the constitutional provision as ground for impeachment and removal from office.

In that the said Harold Louderback on or about the 13th day of March, 1930, at his chambers and in his capacity as judge aforesaid, did willfully, tyranically, and oppressively discharge one Addison G. Strong, whom he had on the 11th day of March, 1930, appointed as equity receiver in the matter of Olmsted against Russell-Colvin Co. after having attempted to force and coerce the said Strong to appoint one Douglas Short as attorney for the receiver in said case.

In that the said Harold Louderback improperly did attempt to cause the said Addison G. Strong to appoint the

said Douglas Short as attorney for the receiver by promises of allowance of large fees and by threats of reduced fees did he refuse to appoint said Douglas Short.

In that the said Harold Louderback improperly did use his office and power of district judge in his own personal interest by causing the appointment of the said Douglas Short as attorney for the receiver, at the instance, suggestion, or demand of one Sam Leake, to whom the said Harold Louderback was under personal obligations, the said Sam Leake having entered into a certain arrangement and conspiracy with the said Harold Louderback to provide him, the said Harold Louderback, with a room at the Fairmont Hotel in the city of San Francisco, Calif., and made arrangements for registering said room in his, Sam Leake's name and paying all bills therefor in cash under an arrangement with the said Harold Louderback to be reimbursed in full or in part in order that the said Harold Louderback might continue to actually reside in the city and county of San Francisco after having improperly and unlawfully established a fictitious residence in Contra Costa County for the sole purpose of improperly removing for trial to said Contra Costa County a cause of action which the said Harold Louderback expected to be filed against him; and that the said Douglas Short did receive large and exorbitant fees for his services as attorney for the receiver in said action, and the said Sam Leake did receive certain fees, gratuities, and loans directly or indirectly from the said Douglas Short amounting approximately to $1,200.

In that the said Harold Louderback entered into a conspiracy with the said Sam Leake to violate the provisions of the California Political Code in establishing a residence in the county of Contra Costa when the said Harold Louderback in fact did not reside in said county and could not have established a residence without the concealment of his actual residence in the county of San Francisco, covered and concealed by means of the said conspiracy with the said Sam Leake, all in violation of the law of the State of California. In that the said Harold Louderback, in order to give color to his fictitious residence in the county of Contra Costa, all for the purpose of preparing and falsely creating proof necessary to establish himself as a resident of Contra Costa | County in anticipation of an action he expected to be brought against him, for the sole purpose of meeting the requirements of the Code of Civil Procedure of the State of California providing that all causes of action must be tried in the county in which the defendant resides at the commencement of the action, did in accordance with the conspiracy entered into with the said Sam Leake unlawfully register as a voter in said Contra Costa County, when in law and in fact he did not reside in said county and could not so register, and that the said acts of Harold Louderback constitute a felony defined by section 42 of the Penal Code of California.

Wherefore the said Harold Louderback was and is guilty of a course of conduct improper, oppressive, and unlawful and is guilty of misbehavior in office as such judge and was and is guilty of a misdemeanor in office.

ARTICLE II

That Harold Louderback, judge as aforesaid, was guilty of a course of improper and unlawful conduct as a judge, filled with partiality and favoritism in improperly granting excessive, exorbitant, and unreasonable allowances as disbursements to one Marshall Woodward and to one Samuel Short

ridge, jr., as receiver and attorney, respectively, in the matter of the Lumbermen's Reciprocal Association.

And in that the said Harold Louderback, judge as aforesaid, having improperly acquired jurisdiction of the case of the Lumbermen's Reciprocal Association contrary to the law of the United States and the rules of the court did, on or about the 29th day of July, 1930, appoint one Marshall Woodward and one Samuel Shortridge, jr., receiver and attorney, respectively, in said case, and after an appeal was taken from the order and other acts of the judge in said case to the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the said order and acts of the said Harold Louderback having been reversed by said United States Circuit Court of Appeals and the mandate of said circuit court of appeals directed the court to cause the said receiver to turn over all of the assets of said association in his possession as receiver to the commissioner of insurance of the State of California, the said Harold Louderback, unlawfully, improperly, and oppressively did sign and enter an order so directing the receiver to turn over said property to said State commissioner of insurance but improperly and unlawfully made such order conditional that the said State commissioner of insurance and any other party in interest would not take an appeal from the allowance of fees and disbursements granted by the said Harold Louderback to the said Marshall Woodward and Samuel Shortridge, jr., receiver and attorney, respectively, thereby improperly using his said office as a district judge to favor and enrich his personal and political friends and associates to the detriment and loss of litigants in his, said judge's court, and forcing said State commissioner of insurance and parties in interest in said action unnecessary delay, labor, and expense in protecting the rights of all parties against such arbitrary, improper, and unlawful order of said judge; and that the said Harold Louderback did improperly and unlawfully seek to coerce said State commissioner of insurance and parties in interest in said action to accept and acquiesce in the excessive fees and the exorbitant and unreasonable disbursements granted by him to said Marshall Woodward and Samuel Shortridge, jr., receiver and attorney, respectively, and did improperly and unlawfully force and coerce

the said parties to enter into a stipulation modifying said improper and unlawful order, and did thereby make it necessary for the State commissioner of insurance to take another appeal from the said arbitrary, improper, and unlawful action of the said Harold Louderback.

In that the said Harold Louderback did not give his fair, impartial, and judicial consideration to the objections of the said State commissioner of insurance against the allowance of excessive fees and unreasonable disbursements to the said Marshall Woodward and Samuel Shortridge, jr., receiver and attorney, respectively, in the case of the Lumbermen's Reciprocal Association, in order to favor and enrich his friends at the expense of the litigants and parties in interest in said matter, and did thereby cause said State commissioner of insurance and the parties in interest additional delay, expense, and labor in taking an appeal to the United States Circuit Court of Appeals in order to protect their rights and property in the matter against the partial, oppressive, and unjudicial conduct of said Harold Louderback.

Wherefore, said Harold Louderback was and is guilty of a course of conduct oppressive and unjudicial and is guilty of misbehavior in office as such judge and was and is guilty of a misdemeanor in office.

ARTICLE III

The said Harold Louderback, judge aforesaid, was guilty of misbehavior in office resulting in expense, disadvantage, annoyance, and hindrance to litigants in his court in the case of the Fageol Motor Co., for which he appointed one Guy H. Gilbert receiver, knowing that the said Gilbert was incompetent, unqualified, and inexperienced to act as such receiver in said case.

In that the said Harold Louderback, judge as aforesaid, oppressively and in disregard of the rights and interests of litigants in his court, did appoint one Guy H. Gilbert as receiver for the Fageol Motor Co., knowing the said Guy H. Gilbert to be incompetent, unfit, and inexperienced for such duties, and did refuse to grant a hearing to the plaintiff, defendant, creditors, and parties in interest in the matter of the Fageol Motor Co. on the appointment of said receiver, and the said Harold Louderback did cause said litigants and parties in interest in said matter to be misinformed of his action while said Guy H. Gilbert took steps necessary to qualify as receiver, thereby depriving said litigants and parties in interest of presenting the facts, circumstances, and conditions of the said equity receivership, the nature of the business, and the type of person necessary to operate said business in order to protect creditors, litigants, and all parties in interest, and thereby depriving said parties in interest of the opportunity of protesting against the appointment of an incompetent receiver.

Wherefore, the said Harold Louderback was and is guilty of a course of conduct constituting misbehavior as said judge and that said Harold Louderback was and is guilty of a misdemeanor in office.

ARTICLE IV

That the said Harold Louderback, judge aforesaid, was guilty of misbehavior in office, filled with partiality and favoritism, in improperly, willfully, and unlawfully granting on insufficient and improper papers an application for the appointment of a receiver in the Prudential Holding Co. case for the sole purpose of benefiting and enriching his personal friends and associates.

In that the said Harold Louderback did on or about the 15th day of August, 1931, on insufficient and improper application, appoint one Guy H. Gilbert receiver for the Prudential Holding Co. case when as a matter of fact and law and under conditions then existing no receiver should have been appointed, but the said Harold Louderback did accept a petition verified on information and belief by an attorney in the case and without notice to the said Prudential Holding Co. did so appoint Guy H. Gilbert the receiver and the firm of Dinkelspiel & Dinkelspiel attorneys for the receiver; that the said Harold Louderback in an attempt to benefit and enrich the said Guy H. Gilbert and his attorneys, Dinkelspiel & Dinkelspiel, failed to give his fair, impartial, and judicial consideration to the application of the said Pruden

tial Holding Co. for a dismissal of the petition and a discharge of the receiver although the said Prudential Holding Co. was in law entitled to such dismissal of the petition and discharge of the receiver; that during the pendency of the application for the dismissal of the petition and for the discharge of the receiver a petition in bankruptcy was filed against the said Prudential Holding Co. based entirely and solely on an allegation that a receiver in equity had been appointed for the said Prudential Holding Co., and the said Harold Louderback then and there willfully, improperly, and unlawfully, sitting in a part of the court to which he had not been assigned at the time, took jurisdiction of the case in bankruptcy and though knowing the facts in the case and of the application then pending before him for the dismissal of the petition and the discharge of the equity receiver, granted the petition in bankruptcy and did on the 2d day of October, 1930, appoint the same Guy H. Gilbert receiver in bankruptcy and the said Dinkelspiel & Dinkelspiel attorneys for the receiver, knowing all of the time that the said Prudential Holding Co. was entitled as a matter of law to have the said petition in equity dismissed; in that through the oppressive, deliberate, and willful action of the said Harold Louderback acting in his capacity as a judge and misusing the powers of his judicial office for the sole purpose of benefiting and enriching said Guy H. Gilbert and Dinkelspiel & Dinkelspiel, did cause the said Prudential Holding Co.

to be put to unnecessary delay, expense, and labor and did deprive them of a fair, impartial, and judicial consideration of their rights and the protection of their property, to which they were entitled.

Wherefore the said Harold Louderback was, and is, guilty of a course of conduct constituting misbehavior as said judge and that said Harold Louderback was, and is, guilty of a misdemeanor in office.

ARTICLE V

That Harold Louderback, on the 17th day of April, 1928, was duly appointed United States district judge for the northern district of California, and has held such office to the present day.

That the said Harold Louderback as judge aforesaid, during his said term of office, at divers times and places when acting as such judge, did so conduct himself in his said court and in his capacity as judge in making decisions and orders in actions pending in his said court and before him as said judge, and in the method of appointing receivers and attorneys for receivers, in appointing incompetent receivers, and in displaying a high degree of indifference to the litigants in equity receiverships as to excite fear and distrust and to inspire a widespread belief in and beyond said northern district of California that causes were not decided in said court according to their merits but were decided with partiality and with prejudice and favoritism to certain individuals, particularly to receivers and attorneys for receivers by him so appointed, all of which is prejudicial to the dignity of the judiciary.

All to the scandal and disrepute of said court and the administration of justice therein.

The reading of the articles of impeachment having been concluded, Mr. Sumners said:

'Mr. President, the House of Representatives by protestation, saving to themselves the liberty of exhibiting at any time hereafter any further articles of accusation or impeachment against the said Harold Louderback, a district judge of the United States for the northern district of California, and also of replying to his answers which he shall make unto the articles preferred against him, and of offering proof to the same and every part thereof, and to all and every other article of accusation or impeachment which shall be exhibited by them as the case shall require, do demand that the said Harold Louderback may be put to answer the misdemeanors in office which have been charged against him in the articles which have been exhibited to the Senate, and that such proceedings, examinations, trials, and judgments may be thereupon had and given as may be agreeable to law and justice.

Representatives, in pursuance of the action of the House of Representatives by the adoption of the articles of impeachment which have just been read to the Senate, do now demand that the Senate take order for the appearance of said Harold Louderback to answer said impeachment, and do now demand his impeachment, conviction, and removal

"Mr. President, the managers on the part of the House of

from office."

The Vice President informed the managers that the Senate would take proper order in the matter of the impeachment, and that due notice would be given to the House of Representatives.

The managers, by their chairman, Mr. Sumners, then delivered the articles of impeachment at the Secretary's desk.

On motion by Mr. Norris, Ordered, That the foregoing articles of impeachment be printed for the use of the Senate. After debate,

On motion by Mr. Norris, and by unanimous consent, Ordered, That the further consideration of the matter of impeachment of Mr. Louderback be postponed until 2 o'clock p. m. on the first day of the first session of the Seventy-third Congress.

On motion by Mr. Norris, and by unanimous consent, Ordered, That the Secretary inform the House of Representatives of the action taken by the Senate to-day in the impeachment proceedings.

The managers on the part of the House then withdrew from the Chamber; and, at 12 o'clock and 55 minutes p. m., The Senate resumed the consideration of legislative busi

ness.

APPENDIX

1935. Class 1

1937. Class 2

1939. Class 3

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