Clark v. Southern Pac. Co.

175 F. 122, 1909 U.S. App. LEXIS 4934
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Texas
DecidedDecember 20, 1909
DocketNo. 500
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 175 F. 122 (Clark v. Southern Pac. Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Clark v. Southern Pac. Co., 175 F. 122, 1909 U.S. App. LEXIS 4934 (W.D. Tex. 1909).

Opinion

MAXEY, District Judge

(after stating the facts as above). As the plaintiff is a citizen of the territory of Arizona, it is evident that the suit cannot be removed on the ground of diverse citizenship. A citizen of a territory is not a citizen oí a state, and to confer jurisdiction upon the courts of the United States, the diversity of citizenship must exist between citizens of different states. Cameron v. Hodges, 127 U. S. 325, 8 Sup. Ct. 1154, 32 L. Ed. 132; Barney v. Baltimore, 6 Wall. 280, 18 L. Ed. 825; Hepburn v. Ellzey, 2 Cranch, 445, 2 L. Ed. 332; New Orleans v. Winter, 1 Wheat. 91, 4 L. Ed. 44. The removability of the suit will therefore depend upon the second ground relied on by the defendant, in its petition for removal, to wit, that the plaintiff’s cause of action arises under the provisions of the act of Congress known as the employer’s liability act. Neither a constitutional question nor one requiring the interpretation of treaty provisions is here involved, and removal is sought on the ground that the suit arises under a law of the United States. To authorize removal in such a case, it must appear (1) that the suit actually arises under a federal statute, (2) that the plaintiff’s statement of his own claim discloses that it is one so arising, and (3) that the suit is one of which the Circuit Court has original jurisdiction. See, generally, Tennessee v. Bank, 152 U. S. 454, 14 Sup. Ct. 654, 38 L. Ed. 511; Ex parte Wisner, 203 U. S. 449, 27 Sup. Ct. 150, 51 L. Ed. 264; Chappell v. Waterworth, 155 U. S. 102, 15 Sup. Ct. 34, 39 L. Ed. 85; Minnesota v. Northern Securities Company, 194 U. S. 48, 24 Sup. Ct. 598, 48 L. Ed. 870; Railroad Company v. Davidson, 157 U. S. 201, 15 Sup. Ct. 563, 39 L. Ed. 672; Railway v. Skottowe, 162 U. S. 490, 16 Sup. Ct. 869, 40 L. Ed. 1048; Railroad Company v. Mottley, 211 U. S. 149, 29 Sup. Ct. 42, 53 L. Ed. 126; In re Winn, 213 U. S. 458, 29 Sup. Ct. 515, 53 L. Ed. 873; In re Dunn, 212 U. S. 374, 29 Sup. Ct. 299, 53 L. Ed. 558.

1. Does the suit arise under a law of the United States ? The cause of action is based upon the second section of the act of Congress entitled, “An act relating to the liability of common carriers by railroad to their employees in certain cases,” approved April 22, 1908, c. 149, 35 Stat. 65, 66 (U. S. Comp. St. Supp. 1909, p. 1171). The section reads as follows:

“That every common carrier by railroad in the territories, the District, of Columbia, the Panama Canal Zone, or other possessions of the United ¡átales shall be liable in damages to any person suffering injury while he is employed by such carrier in any of said jurisdictions, or, in case of the death of such employee, to his or her personal representative, for the benefit of the surviving widow or husband and children of such employee; and, if none, then of swell employee's parents; and, if none, then of the next, of kin dependent upon such employee, for such injury or death resulting in whole or in part from the negligence of any of the officers, agents, or employees of such car[126]*126rier, or by reason of any defect or insufficiency, due to its negligence, in its cars, engines, appliances, machinery, track, roadbed, works, boats, wharves, or other equipment.”

That the suit directly arises under the act of Congress was ruled by this court in the recent case of Cound v. Railway Company, 173 Fed. 527; and it is deemed unnecessary to pursue the argument further except to say, in the language of Mr. Justice Bradley, referring to causes by or against federal corporations, that the suit “is pervaded from its origin to its close by United States law and United States authority.” Provident Savings Society v. Ford, 114 U. S. 642, 5 Sup. Ct. 1108, 29 L. Ed. 261.

2. Does the petition of the plaintiff disclose that the suit is one arising under federal law? The Cound Case responds affirmatively also to the question thus propounded. In that case the following language was employed:

“This court therefore having jurisdiction of the cause as one arising under a law of the United States, it is quite immaterial whether the plaintiff declare in his petition expressly upon the act, as in the present case he did in his original petition, or whether the pleadings be silent touching jurisdictional averments. If the case arise, as did the case before the court, under the second section of the employer’s liability act—that is, if an employe of a carrier by railroad suffer personal injury from the negligence of the latter while employed in the performance of his duty, and such iiljury result from an accident, occurring in the territories—appropriate allegations of such facts are alone sufficient to confer jurisdiction of the case upon a United States court, without specially pleading the act or without referring to its provisions. This result follows necessarily, since, in the case supposed, the suit is founded upon a law of the United States, which it is the duty of federal courts to take notice of and to enforce. See Yoelker v. Railway Company [C. C.] 316 Fed. 867; Thornton, Employer’s Liability and Safety Appliance Acts, §§ 104 and 107.”

See, also, Railway Company v. Cody, 166 U. S. 606, 17 Sup. Ct. 703, 41 L. Ed. 1132. Pacific Railroad Removal Cases, 115 U. S. 1, 5 Sup. Ct. 1113, 29 L. Ed. 319; In re Dunn, supra.

3. Is the suit one of which the Circuit Court has original jurisdiction? We have seen that there is an absence of diverse state citizenship, and hence jurisdiction cannot be based upon that ground. It is, however, equally clear that the court has general original jurisdiction of the cause on the ground that it arises under a law of the United States, since in such cases jurisdiction attaches without reference to the citizenship of the parties. Doolan v. Carr, 125 U. S. 618, 8 Sup. Ct. 1228, 31 L. Ed. 844; Bachrack v. Norton, 132 U. S. 337, 10 Sup. Ct. 106, 33 L. Ed. 377; Simkins, Suit in Equity, p. 103; 2 Bates, Fed. Proc. at Law, § 668, citing numerous authorities. But, conceding the correctness of the principle, the plaintiff insists that, as neither he nor the defendant is a citizen of Texas nor a resident of this judicial district, suit could not be brought in the circuit court of this district, and that, not being maintainable here originally, it cannot be removed. Generally speaking, the proposition thus announced is sound law. Ex parte Wisner, 203 U. S. 449, 27 Sup. Ct. 150, 51 L. Ed. 264; In re Moore, 209 U. S. 490, 28 Sup. Ct. 585, 706, 52 L. Ed. 904. But it is subject to the qualification that where the parties have waived the privilege of being sued in their own district, the jurisdiction over [127]*127the person attaches, and that upon the principle that where a court lias general jurisdiction of a suit it may be brought in any district by consent of the parties. In re Moore, supra; Loan Company v. Mining Company, 210 U. S. 368, 28 Sup. Ct. 720, 52 L. Ed. 1101; Kreigh v. Westinghouse, 214 U. S. 249, 29 Sup. Ct. 619, 53 L. Ed.

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Bluebook (online)
175 F. 122, 1909 U.S. App. LEXIS 4934, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/clark-v-southern-pac-co-txwd-1909.