Beuttel v. Chicago, M. & St. P. Ry. Co.

26 F. 50
CourtU.S. Circuit Court for the District of Northern Iowa
DecidedNovember 15, 1885
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 26 F. 50 (Beuttel v. Chicago, M. & St. P. Ry. Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Northern Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Beuttel v. Chicago, M. & St. P. Ry. Co., 26 F. 50 (circtnia 1885).

Opinion

Shiras, J.

In the petition filed in this cause, in the district court of Dubuque county, it is averred that plaintiff is the administrator of the estate of Alvis Pink, deceased; that the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company is a corporation engaged in operating a line of railroad extending northwardly from Dubuque to the station of Specht’s Perry; that the defendant Emsley was, in November, 1883, an engineer in the employ of the railway company, engaged in running a passenger train on said company’s road; that on or about November 29, 1883, said Alvis Pink was in the. employ of the said railway company as a night track watchman; and that, while engaged in the performance of his duty as such watchman, “ the said defendants, while operating and running a passenger train over the defendant company’s road, did carelessly, negligently, and wrongfully run said train of cars upon and against Alvis Pink,” and thereby caused his death, to the damage of his estate in the sum of $10,000, for which amount the plaintiff, as administrator of the estate of said deceased, prays judgment against both defendants. Separate answers were filed by the defendants; and thereupon' the railway company filed, in proper time and form, a petition and bond for the removal of the cause to this court, averring that plaintiff and the defendant Emsley were citizens of Iowa, and the railway company was organized under the laws of the State of Wisconsin; and further averring that in the cause there was embraced a separable controversy between plaintiff and the railway company. The state court granted [51]*51the prayer of the petition, and ordered the cause to be removed. Upon the filing of the record in this court, the plaintiff moved for an order remanding the case, on the ground that the cause of action declared on in the petition was joint and not separable, and that consequently this court had not jurisdiction, for the reason that the plaintiff and the defendant Emsloy were citizens of the same state.

In Ayres v. Wiswall, 112 U. S. 187, S. C. 5 Sup. Ct. Rep. 90, it is decided that—

“The rule is now well established that this clause in the section refers only to suits where there exists a separate and distinct cause of action, on which a separate and distinct suit might have been brought, and complete relief afforded as to such cause of action, with all the parties on one side of that controversy citizens of different states from those on the other. To say the least, tho ease must be one capable of sepa,ration into parts, so that in one of the parts a controversy will bo presented with citizens of one or more states on one side and citizens of different states on tiie other, which can be fully determined without the presence of the other parties to the suit as it has been begun. ”

In Louisville & N. R. Co. v. Ide, 114 U. S. 52, S. C. 5 Sup. Ct. Rep. 735, it is held that, if several defendants are sued jointly in a state court upon a joint cause of action arising upon contract, and separate answers are filed tendering separate issues for trial, this does not divide the suit into separate controversies, within the meaning of the last clause of section 2, act 1875.

In Carson v. Tvedt, 115 U. S. 41, S. C. 5 Sup. Ct. Rep. 1034, 1161, the same principle is applied to a joint action in tort. In that case it was averred in the petition filed by plaintiffs that the defendants, confederating together with the malicious design entertained by them of injuring plaintiffs and breaking up their business, did cause an action in attachment to be brought without probable cause; and, by direction of defendants, the writ of attachment was levied upon plaintiffs' stock in trade, and their business was destroyed. The defendants Wood & Stiles answered, averring that they were attorneys, and had acted under tho instructions of their clients, Carson, Ririe & Co. Tho latter averred that they had caused the issuing and service of the writ, and filed a petition for the removal of the cause into the United States court. The question of the right of removal was carried to the supreme court, and in the opinion, after citing the ruling in Louisville & N. R. Co. v. Ide, supra, it is held that—

“We are unable to distinguish this cause in principle from that. There is here, according to the complaint, but a single cause of action, and that is the alleged malicious prosecution of the plaintiffs by all of the defendants acting in concert. The cause of action is several as well as joint, and the plaintiffs might have sued each defendant separately or all jointly. It was for the plaintiffs to elect which course to pursue. They did elect to proceed against all jointly, and to this tho defendants are not permitted to object. The fact that a judgment in the action muy be rendered against a part of defendants only, does not divide a joint action in tort into separate parts any more than it does a joint action on contract.”

[52]*52In Starin v. Mayor of New York, 6 Sup. Ct. Rep. 28, it is ruled “that a separate defense by one defendant in a joint suit against him and others, upon a joint, or a joint and several, cause of action, does not create a separate controversy, so as to entitle that defendant, if the necessary citizenship exists as to him, to a removal of the cause, under the second clause of section 2 in act of 1875.”

The rule deducible from these authorites is that, in all actions, whether in tort or upon contract, wherein the liability of the defendants is joint, or joint or several, the plaintiff may, by declaring against all jointly, present in his petition only one cause of action, and, in such case, the defendants cannot, by tendering separate issues in their answers, claim that thereby separable controversies are involved, so as to entitle one or more of the defendants to remove the cause under the second clause of section 2 of the act of 1875. The right of removal turns upon the question whether the plaintiff, by the averments of fact in his petition, shows that he bases his action upon a cause which is joint, or may be made so, at the option of plaintiff, against all defendants, and that plaintiff has, in the latter case, elected to declare against all the defendants jointly. If the averments of the petition show that the cause of action is joint, or, being joint and several, has been declared, on as joint by the plaintiff, then the cause is not removable unless all the defendants are citizens of a state other than that of which plaintiff is a citizen. If, however, the facts averred in the petition show that the plaintiff has united therein more than one cause of action, and that the same can be so separated as to present a controversy between citizens of different states, which can be fully determined without the presence of the other parties to the suit, then the' cause may be removed. The mere fact that the plaintiff may have the right to make several parties defendants in the same action does not settle the question whether the petition presents separable controversies.

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Bluebook (online)
26 F. 50, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/beuttel-v-chicago-m-st-p-ry-co-circtnia-1885.