Groton Bridge & Manufacturing Co. v. American Bridge Co.

137 F. 284, 1905 U.S. App. LEXIS 5223
CourtU.S. Circuit Court for the District of Northern New York
DecidedMay 6, 1905
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 137 F. 284 (Groton Bridge & Manufacturing Co. v. American Bridge Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Northern New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Groton Bridge & Manufacturing Co. v. American Bridge Co., 137 F. 284, 1905 U.S. App. LEXIS 5223 (circtndny 1905).

Opinion

RAY, District Judge.

This action, venue laid in Tompkins county, was commenced in the Supreme Court of the state of New York by the personal service of the summons and complaint upon [286]*286the secretary of the defendant on the 11th day of November, 1904. Jones, McKinney & Steinbrink, as attorneys for the plaintiff, brought the action. November 29, 1904, and within 20 days thereafter, the defendant appeared generally by Stetson, Jennings & Russell, its attorneys, and, before the expiration of the time given by section 520 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the state of New York to plead to the complaint had expired, obtained from the plaintiff’s attorneys a written extension of time to plead to the complaint, viz.:

“Supreme Court, Tompkins County. Groton Bridge and Manufacturing Company vs. American Bridge Company. It is hereby consented that the time of defendant, American Bridge Company, to plead to the complaint herein be extended twenty days from December 1, 1904, to and including December 21, 1904. Jones, McKinney & Steinbrink, Attorneys for Plaintiff.”

December 21, 1904, plaintiff’s attorneys gave to defendant’s attorneys a second written extension of time to plead, which, aside from title and signature, reads as follows:

“It is hereby consented that the time of the defendant to plead to the complaint in this action be extended to and including January 10th, 1905.”

December 27, 1904, the defendant, a business corporation organized under the laws of the state of New Jersey, the plaintiff being a business corporation of the state of New York, and the amount demanded, exclusive of interest and costs, being over $35,000, made its petition, duly signed by it, by Joshua A. Hatfield, the vice president of the defendant, for the removal of the suit to the Circuit Court of the United States for the Northern District of New York. Following the petition, and constituting a part of it, is the usual affidavit of verification required by the Code of Civil Procedure of the State of New York for verified pleadings, etc. This affidavit reads as follows:

“State of New York, County of New York—ss. Joshua A. Hatfield, being duly sworn, deposes and says that he is an officer, to wit, the vice president, of the American Bridge Company, the petitioner named in the foregoing petition ; that he has read the same, and knows the contents thereof; and that the same is true to his own knowledge, except as' to the matters therein stated upon information and belief, and as to those matters he believes it to be true.
“Sworn to before me December 27th, 1904.
“[Seal.l James Henderson, Notary Public, Richmond County.
“Certificate filed in New York County.”

It was not signed by Hatfield, but, as appears, was certified to have been sworn to by him as follows:

“Sworn to before me December 27, 1904.
“James Henderson, Notary Public, Richmond County.
“Certificate filed in New York County.”

The petition was accompanied by a bond or undertaking in the penal sum of $500, duly signed and executed by the American Bonding Company of Baltimore, and conditioned as follows:

“Upon these conditions: American Bridge Company having petitioned the Supreme Court of the state of New York held in and for the county of Tompkins for the removal of a certain cause therein pending, wherein the said Groton Bridge & Manufacturing Company is the plaintiff and the said Ameri[287]*287can Bridge Company is the defendant to the Circuit Court of the United States for the Northern District of New York.
“Now, if the said American Bridge Company shall enter in said Circuit' Court of the United States on the first day of its next session a copy of the record in said suit, and shall well and truly pay all costs that may be awarded by said Circuit Court of the United States, if said court shall hold that said suit was wrongfully or improperly removed thereto, then this obligation to be void; otherwise to remain in full force and virtue.”

The petition and this bond were presented to the judge hereafter named, and filed with the clerk as hereafter stated. This bond or undertaking was not signed by the defendant, or by any of its officers. It bears the following indorsement: -

“The within undertaking is approved as to form and as to the sufficiency of the surety.
“Dee. 28, 1904. William D. Dickey, J. S. C.”

William D. Dickey was one of the justices of the Supreme Court of the state of New York at this time. The petition, bond, etc., were duly filed in the office of the proper clerk of the Supreme Court of the state, the county clerk of Tompkins county, N. Y., on the 30th day of December, 1904, and a copy of the same and of the record on removal were served on the plaintiff’s said attorneys on the same day. The defendant filed a copy of the record in such suit in the Circuit Court of the United States, Northern District of New York, on the first day of its next session, viz., February 14, 1905, as required by law and the condition of such bond or undertaking. The petition on removal bears no indorsement of the judge, but the bond recites that the defendant has petitioned, etc., and that bears the indorsement and approval of the judge. February 14, 1905, the plaintiff moved to remand. The plaintiff concedes and says in his brief on this motion:

“On December 28, 1904, It [defendant] presented to Mr. Justice William D. Dickey, then sitting in chambers, at Brooklyn, Kings county, in the Second Judicial District, the undertaking by a surety company, subsequently filed in this proceeding.”

The county of Tompkins, in which the venue of this action was laid in the Supreme Court, is in the Sixth Judicial District. The plaintiff’s counsel also says in his brief:

“Mr. Justice William D. Dickey is a justice of the Supreme Court in and for the Second Judicial District. On December 28, 1904, he was sitting in Kings county, in that judicial district.”

The plaintiff appears in this court specially for the purposes of this motion only. It bases its motion to remand on five alleged grounds, viz.: (1) Because the petition for removal and alleged bond were never presented to the state court. (2) Because no bond whatever has been filed by the defendant; that is, the one filed is not a bond satisfying the removal act, because not signed by the defendant. (3) Because the liability on the bond filed (if it is a bond) is limited to $500. (4) Because the defendant elected to submit itself to the jurisdiction of the state court at the time when it was required to plead in that court to the jurisdiction or in abatement by entering a formal voluntary appearance and thereafter pro[288]*288curing extensions of time to plead—that is, time to demur or answer on the merits—in-the state court. (5) Because the time of the defendant to remove the cause to the state court had expired prior to the filing of the petition' and alleged bond.

The removal act, first part of section 3 of the act of August 13, 1888, c. 866, 25 Stat. 435 [U. S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 510], provides:

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
137 F. 284, 1905 U.S. App. LEXIS 5223, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/groton-bridge-manufacturing-co-v-american-bridge-co-circtndny-1905.