Manufacturers' Commercial Co. v. Brown Alaska Co.

148 F. 308, 1906 U.S. App. LEXIS 4969
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedAugust 8, 1906
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 148 F. 308 (Manufacturers' Commercial Co. v. Brown Alaska Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Manufacturers' Commercial Co. v. Brown Alaska Co., 148 F. 308, 1906 U.S. App. LEXIS 4969 (S.D.N.Y. 1906).

Opinion

THOMAS, District Judge.

On June 4, 1906, a warrant of attachment issued out of the Supreme Court, state of New York, which was on the same day levied upon the bank account of defendant Brown Alaska Company, amounting to $6,454.88, and the bank account of defendant John A. Mead Manufacturing Company, amounting to $1,353.-18, both with the People’s Trust Company of Brooklyn. June 16,1906, the Brown Alaska Company appeared generally by attorney, and thereupon removed in its own behalf the action to this court. Neither of the other defendants have been served with the summons, or appeared in such manner as to confer jurisdiction on this court or the Supreme Court But the Mead Company now moves in this court to vacate the attachment and dismiss the action as to it, and the Alaska Smelting & Refining Company moves to dismiss the action as to it. At the same time the plaintiff moves to remand the action, upon the ground that it is not removable to this court.

The plaintiff and defendant Mead Manufacturing Company are citizens and residents of the state of New Jersey. The Brown Alaska Company and the Alaska Smelting & Refining Company are citizens and residents of the state of Washington. The complaint states causes of action on several promissory notes made by the defendant Alaska Smelting & Refining Company, to the order of the Brown Alaska Company, and indorsed by it and the Mead Manufacturing Company. Section 454 (amended 1877) of the Code of Civil Procedure of New York provides:

“Two or more persons, severally liable upon the same written instrument, including the parties to a bill of exchange or a promissory note, whether the action is brought upon the instrument, or by a party thereto to recover against other parties liable over to him, may, all or any of them, be included, as defendants in the same action, at the option of the plaintiff.”

Section 455 provides:

“The joinder of a person, as defendant in an action, with another person, as prescribed in the last section, does not affect his right to any order or other relief, to which he would have been entitled, if he had been'separately sued in the action.”

Daniel on Negotiable Instruments (5th Ed.) § 669, states:

“Nature of the contract of indorsement — It is a separate and independent «ontract-^-The indorsement of a bill or note is noli merely a transfer thereof, but it is a fresh and substantive contract, embodying all the terms of the instrument indorsed, in itself. The indorsement of a bill is equivalent to the drawing of a new bill by the drawer upon the drawee (or acceptor, if it be accepted) in favor of the indorsee; and the indorsement of a note is equivalent to the drawing of a bill upon the maker, who stands in the relation of acceptor, as it were, in favor of the indorsee. So entirely distinct and independent is the contract of the indorsor of a note from that of the maker that at common law a separate action against each was indispensable.”

[310]*310The contract of' the maker of the notes involved herein, and his liability thereon, is quite independent of the several contracts of the in-dorsers, and the contracts and liability of the indorsers are alike distinct one from the other; but it is the policy of the state of New York to permit the holder to avoid a multiplicity of actions by joining causes of action of such a nature in a single action. There is no joint cause of action against two or more of the parties as regards any contract existing by reason of the note or the endorsements thereon. Causes of action and parties severally liable thereon are joined, but the liability is, as regards the basis thereof, separate. The holder does not charge joint, or joint and several," liability, but distinct liability on entirely separate contracts. The cause of action does not become joint, or joint and several, from the mere fact that the plaintiff elects to avail itself of the statutory permission and unite parties in the same action. The plaintiff cannot by such procedure make joint, or joint and several, what is necessarily several in its essential nature; nor can the plaintiff, by availing itself of the statutory provision, estop any defendant, liable solely upon its independent contract, from removing the action as regards such defendant to the federal court, if the other conditions precedent to such removal be present. The rule is stated in Hyde v. Ruble, 104 U. S. 407, 20 L. Ed. 823, Ayres v. Wiswall, 112 U. S. 187, 5 Sup. Ct. 90, 28 L. Ed. 693, and Louisville & Nashville R. Co. v. Ide, 114 U. S. 52, 5 Sup. Ct. 735, 29 L. Ed. 63. It appears from these cases, as well- as from Starin v. New York, 115 U. S. 248, 6 Sup. Ct. 28, 29 L. Ed. 388, and Little v. Giles, 118 U. S. 596, 7 Sup. Ct. 32, 30 L. Ed. 269, that the question whether there is joint liability is not determined by the separate defense of a defendant denying joint liability. The fact that the Mead Company is a citizen and resident of New Jersey, of which state the plaintiff is also a citizen and resident, does not preclude the Brown Alaska Company from removing the action for the ascertainment of its liability, separate and distinct. The action is severable. Geer v. Mathieson Alkali Works, 190 U. S. 428, 23 Sup. Ct. 807, 47 L. Ed. 1122; Connel v. Smiley, 156 U. S. 335, 15 Sup. Ct. 353, 39 L. Ed. 443; Barney v. Latham, 103 U. S. 205, 26 L. Ed. 514; Fergason v. Chicago, M. & St. Paul Ry. Co. (C. C.) 63 Fed. 177; Warax v. Cincinnati, N. O. & T. P. Ry. Co. (C. C.) 72 Fed. 637; Sugar Creek, etc., Co. v. McKell (C. C.) 75 Fed. 34; Hartshorn v. Atchison Ry. Co. (C. C.) 77 Fed. 9; Carothers v. McKinley Mining & Smelting Co. (C. C.) 116 Fed. 947; Helms v. Northern P. Ry. Co. (C. C.) 120 Fed. 389; Harley v. Home Insurance Co. (C. C.) 125 Fed. 792; Henry v. Illinois Central Ry. Co. (C. C.) 132 Fed. 715; Cella et al. v. Brown et al. (C. C.) 136 Fed. 439; New England Waterworks Co. v. Farmer’s Loan & Trust Co., 136 Fed. 521, 69 C. C. A. 297.

Some of the above cases involve the removal of the whole controversy to the federal court, while others relate to actions that are severable and removable as regards the liability of the removing defendant. This phase of the subject will be noticed later in reference to the motions of the defendants, not joining in the removal, to dismiss the action as to them and to vacate the attachment against the property of the Mead Company. Before considering that question the motion to remand up[311]*311on the ground that neither the plaintiff nor the Brown Company is a resident of the Southern District of New York demands attention. The joinder of the other defendants does not affect this inquiry. The present question relates solely to the Brown Company. In Iowa Lilooet Gold Mining Company v. Bliss et al. (C. C.) 144 Fed. 446, the rule and grounds therefor adopted in many cases are well expressed by Judge Reed (144 Fed. 448) as follows:

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Daniel v. Burdette
24 F. Supp. 218 (W.D. South Carolina, 1938)
Hilton v. Southern Ry. Co.
21 F. Supp. 17 (W.D. South Carolina, 1937)
Norwalk v. Air-Way Electric Appliance Corporation
87 F.2d 317 (Second Circuit, 1937)
Tillman v. Russo Asiatic Bank
51 F.2d 1023 (Second Circuit, 1931)
Stewart v. Nebraska Tire & Rubber Co.
39 F.2d 309 (Eighth Circuit, 1930)
Hoffman v. Lynch
23 F.2d 518 (N.D. Georgia, 1928)
Hager v. New York Oil Co.
20 F.2d 944 (W.D. Washington, 1927)
Matarazzo v. Hustis
256 F. 882 (N.D. New York, 1919)
Stuart v. Colorado Eastern Railroad
156 P. 152 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 1916)
Tierney v. Helvetia Swiss Fire Ins.
163 F. 82 (U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Eastern New York, 1908)
Stimson v. United Wrapping Mach. Co.
156 F. 298 (U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Western New York, 1907)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
148 F. 308, 1906 U.S. App. LEXIS 4969, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/manufacturers-commercial-co-v-brown-alaska-co-nysd-1906.