Hemenway v. Peabody Coal Co.

159 F.3d 255 (1998)

From our private database of 46,200+ case briefs, written and edited by humans—never with AI.

Hemenway v. Peabody Coal Co.

United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
159 F.3d 255 (1998)

SR

Facts

In 1969, Peabody Coal Co. (Peabody) (defendant) and the plaintiffs entered a mineral lease, which allowed Peabody to mine coal on the plaintiffs’ property. The lease required Peabody to pay the plaintiffs a royalty of 12 cents per ton, plus 10 percent of the difference between the sales price of coal and a base price defined by the lease. The base price was set at $2.28 at the time the lease was executed, but it fluctuated based upon the cost of labor. The amount of excise taxes imposed on Peabody by the government did not affect the base price. Peabody sold coal for $28.635 per ton and added an additional $1.10 per ton, which represented the excise taxes that Peabody wished to shift to the customer. Peabody paid the plaintiffs royalties only for the price it set for the coal, excluding the amount representing excise taxes. The plaintiffs sued Peabody, claiming that Peabody was obligated to pay a tax on the entire amount charged to customers, including the amount representing excise taxes.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Easterbrook, J.)

What to do next…

  1. Unlock this case brief with a free (no-commitment) trial membership of Quimbee.

    You’ll be in good company: Quimbee is one of the most widely used and trusted sites for law students, serving more than 795,000 law students since 2011. Some law schools—such as Yale, Berkeley, and Northwestern—even subscribe directly to Quimbee for all their law students.

    Unlock this case briefRead our student testimonials
  2. Learn more about Quimbee’s unique (and proven) approach to achieving great grades at law school.

    Quimbee is a company hell-bent on one thing: helping you get an “A” in every course you take in law school, so you can graduate at the top of your class and get a high-paying law job. We’re not just a study aid for law students; we’re the study aid for law students.

    Learn about our approachRead more about Quimbee

Here's why 795,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:

  • Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,200 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
  • The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
  • Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
  • Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership
Here's why 795,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
  • Reliable - written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students
  • The right length and amount of information - includes the facts, issue, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents
  • Access in your class - works on your mobile and tablet
  • 46,200 briefs - keyed to 988 casebooks
  • Uniform format for every case brief
  • Written in plain English - not in legalese and not just repeating the court's language
  • Massive library of related video lessons - and practice questions
  • Top-notch customer support

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership