Brownsville (The St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway Co.) and Tex-Mex (The Texas Mexican Railway Co.) are interstate carriers by railroad and subject to the provisions of the Interstate Commerce Act. 24 Stat. 379, 41 Stat. 474, 49 Stat. 543, 54 Stat. 899, 49 U.S.C. § 1 et seq., 49 U.S.C.A. § 1 et seq. On November 1, 1904, they entered into a written contract whereby, for payment of specified rentals, Tex-Mex granted Brownsville the right to operate its trains over the tracks of Tex-Mex between Robstown and Corpus Christi, Texas, and to make use of terminal facilities of Tex-Mex at Corpus Christi. The contract provided that it was to continue for a term of 50 years from its date unless sooner terminated by the parties. And it contained the following provision, 'It is further agreed that this contract may be terminated without giving any reason therefor, by either party, upon giving twelve months notice of such intent to terminate the lease.' In 1933 Brownsville filed its petition for reorganization under § 77 of the Bankruptcy Act, 11 U.S.C.A. § 205. The petition was approved and petitioner Thompson was appo nted as trustee in the proceeding. Shortly thereafter the bankruptcy court entered stay orders to which we will later refer. In October, 1940 Tex-Mex notified petitioners that it was exercising its right to terminate and cancel the trackage contract, effective twelve months after November 1, 1940. The trustee, however, continued to operate over the Tex-Mex and to use the Tex-Mex facilities after November 1, 1941. Tex-Mex informed him that a charge of $500 per day would be made for the use of these facilities-an amount in excess of the rental under the contract. The trustee refused to pay any rental other than that specified in the contract.
Thereupon this suit was instituted by Tex-Mex in the Texas courts to enjoin Brownsville and its trustee from using the tracks or other facilities without the consent of Tex-Mex and to recover $500 a day damages for such use or alternatively the reasonable value of the use of the property. The trial court overruled pleas to its jurisdiction and tried the case on the merits. It denied an injunction. It held that the 1904 contract had been terminated and awarded Tex-Mex damages in the amount of $184,929.85. The Court of Civil Appeals affirmed. 181 S.W.2d 895. The Supreme Court of Texas refused an application for a writ of error. The case is here on a petition for a writ of certiorari which we granted because of the importance of the problems in the administration of the Interstate Commerce Act and of the Bankruptcy Act. 324 U.S. 838, 65 S.Ct. 1023.
First. It is contended here, as it was in the state court, that the maintenance of the present suit is precluded by the stay orders, issued by the bankruptcy court and by § 77 of the Bankruptcy Act.
Sec. 66 of the Judicial Code, 28 U.S.C. § 125, 28 U.S.C.A. § 125, authorizes suits against the trustee, without leave of the bankruptcy court, 'in respect of any act or transaction of his in carrying on the business.' In McNulta v. Lochridge, 141 U.S. 327, 332, 12 S.Ct. 11, 13, 35 L.Ed. 796, this statute was said to grant an 'unlimited' right 'to sue for the acts and transactions' of the estate. Operation of the trains is plainly a part of the trustee's functions. Claims which arise from their operation-whether grade crossing claims as in McNulta v. Lochridge, supra, or claims for the use of the tracks of another as in the present case-are claims based on acts of the trustee in conducting the business. Hence this suit, so far as it involves only a money claim against the estate for acts of the trustee in operating trains over respondent's tracks, could be maintained in the state courts against the trustee. And the stay orders entered were wholly consistent with this course.