Iowa Lillooet Gold Min. Co. v. Bliss

144 F. 446, 1906 U.S. App. LEXIS 4715
CourtU.S. Circuit Court for the District of Northern Iowa
DecidedMarch 29, 1906
DocketNo. 192
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 144 F. 446 (Iowa Lillooet Gold Min. Co. v. Bliss) 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
Iowa Lillooet Gold Min. Co. v. Bliss, 144 F. 446, 1906 U.S. App. LEXIS 4715 (circtnia 1906).

Opinion

REED, District Judge

(after stating the facts). The motion to remand challenges the jurisdiction of this court, and in support thereof is it urged: That plaintiff being a corporation of Canada, and defendant a corporation of Maryland, neither being a citizen or resident of Iowa, the action could not have been brought by original process in this court, and is not therefore one that is removable from the state court. This contention fails to distinguish between the jurisdiction or right of a court to determine a controversy, and the venue or place where that jurisdiction may be exercised. The first part of section 1 of the judiciary act of 1887-88 (Act March 3, [449]*4491887, c. 373, 21 Stat. 552 [U. S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 508]), confers jurisdiction upon the Circuit Courts of the United States, concurrent with the courts of the several states, of all suits of a civil nature at law or in equity, wherein the requisite amount is involved, and in which there shall be a controversy between (3) citizens of difier-eut states, and (5) citizens of a state and foreign states, citizens, or subjects. The second part of that section provides that no civil suit shall be brought against any person in a Circuit Court of the United States by original process in an} oilier district than that whereof he is an inhabitant: but, “when the jurisdiction is founded only upon the fact that the action is between citizens of different states, suit shall be brought only in the district- of the residence of either the plaintiff or the defendant.’' This suit is not of the class there described, for plaintiff is a corporation of Canada, defendant Bliss a citizen and resident of the Northern District of Iowa, and the Guaranty Company a corporation of Maryland. If it is one of which this court has jurisdiction, it might therefore have been brought in this court by original process against defendant Bliss, and if the Guaranty company is jointly liable with him on its bond, against that company also, especially if it’ did not object to being sued there, and is removable to this court if it is within the terms of the removal section.

The second clause of section 2 provides that:

“Any oilier suit of a civil nature at law or in equity of which the Circuit CJourts of the United States are given jurisdiction by the preceding section, which may now be pending or which may hereafter be brought in any stale court, may be removed into the Circuit Court of the United States, for the proper district by the defendant or defendants therein being nonresidents oí that state.” 24 Stat 552 [U. S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 509].

Lt is the first part of section 1 that confers jurisdiction upon the Circuit Courts of the United States, and this cannot be conferred by consent of the parties to a suit. The second part of that section, which restricts the place where the jurisdiction conferred by the first shall be exercised, is not jurisdictional, but is a personal exemption granted to the defendant from being sued in the class of cases there described, elsewhere than in the district of his residence, or thgt of the plaintiff. This exemption the defendant may waive, and if he is sued in a district other than that of his residence, or that of the plaintiff, lie does waive it by appearing generally to the suit and not claiming the benefit of such privilege or exemption. This was early so ruled in Gracie v. Palmer, 8 Wheat. 699, 5. L. Ed. 719, which was a suit brought by an alien against a citizen of a state in a district other than that of his residence. That ruling has been uniformly followed since. Toland v. Sprague, 12 Pet. 300-336, 9 L. Ed. 1093; Ex parte Schollenberger, 96 U. S. 369, 24 L. Ed. 853; Railway Company v. McBride, 141 U. S. 127, 11 Sup. Ct. 982, 35 L. Ed. 659; Central Trust Company v. McGeorge, 151 U. S. 129, 14 Sup. Ct. 286, 38 L. Ed. 98; Kansas City & T. Ry. Co. v. Interstate Lumber Co. (C. C.) 37 Fed. 3 (Brewer, Circuit Judge); Long v. Long, (C. C.) 73 Fed. 369.

[450]*450In Ex parte Schollenberger, 96 U. S. 378, 24 L. Ed. 855, it is said:

“The act of’ Congress prescribing the place where a person may be sued is not one affecting the general jurisdiction of the courts. It is rather in the nature of a personal exemption in favor of a defendant, and it is one which he may waive. If the citizenship of the parties is sufficient, a defendant may consent to be sued anywhere he pleases, and certainly jurisdiction will not be ousted because he has consented.”

But it is urged that, under the present act, the consent of the plaintiff as well as that of the defendant is requisite to enable a Circuit Court of the' United States to take jurisdiction upon removal of a suit brought in the court of a state of which neither the plaintiff nor the removing defendant is a resident. Foulk v. Gray (C. C.) 120 Fed. 156. A similar question was suggested in Central Trust Co. v. McGeorge, above, a case originally brought in the Circuit Court since the act of 1887-88, but the Supreme Court said in response thereto:

“But a similar state of facts existed in the case of Shaw v. Quincy Mining Co., 145 U. S. 444, 12 Sup. Ct. 935, 36 L. Ed. 768, inasmuch as Shaw, the plaintiff, was a citizen of Massachusetts, and the mining company was a corporation of the state of Michigan, and the suit was brought in the Circuit Court for the Southern District of New York. Nor do we see any reason for a different conclusion as to the subject of waiver, when the question arises where neither of the parties are residents of the district, from that reached where the defendant only is not such resident.”

In Mexican National Railway Co. v. Davidson, 157 U. S. 201, 15 Sup. Ct. 563, 39 L. Ed. 672, which was an action begun in a state court by an assignee of a chose in action, it is said:

“It is true that by the first section, where the jurisdiction is founded on diversity of citizenship, suit is to be brought ‘only in the district of the residence of the plaintiff or the defendant,’ and this restriction is a personal privilege of the defendant, and may be waived by him. St. Louis & San Francisco Railway v. McBride, 141 U. S. 127, 11 Sup. Ct, 982, 35 L. Ed. 659. Section 2, however, refers to the first part of section 1, by which jurisdiction is conferred, and not to the clause relating to the district in which suit may be brought. McCormick Machine Co. v. Walthers, 134 U. S. 41, 10 Sup. Ct. 485, 33 L. Ed. 833.’’

Kansas City Railway Company v. Lumber Company (C. C.) 37 Fed. 3, was an action commenced in a' court of a state in which neither plaintiff nor defendant was a resident and was removed by the defendant to the Circuit Court of the United States for the proper district. Upon motion of the plaintiff to remand, Mr. Justice Brewer, then circuit judge of this circuit, after referring to the act of 1887-88, said:

“The language speaks of jurisdiction generally, and of courts in the plural.

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Bluebook (online)
144 F. 446, 1906 U.S. App. LEXIS 4715, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/iowa-lillooet-gold-min-co-v-bliss-circtnia-1906.