Murphy v. Kodz

351 F.2d 163
Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit·Decided September 21, 1965·No. No. 19508·Published·Cited by 65 cases

Opinion

KOELSCH, Circuit Judge.

This appeal presents a thorny question going to the jurisdiction of the District Court of a case removed to it from a state court after the removal predicate is subsequently dropped from the proceedings.

Plaintiff Ruth H. Kodz commenced a wrongful death action in the Superior Court of the State of Arizona against Howard Shupe, the Estate of Arthur Goodnow, Goodnow’s employer A. H. Davidson, and another. Plaintiff’s decedent was killed in a midair plane collision occurring while the aforementioned were engaged in forest fire suppression activities.

Shupe, alleging that he was an officer of the United States Forest Service, acting in his official capacity at the time of the accident, sought and obtained removal of the entire case to the United States District Court, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1442(a)(1).1

Parenthetically we note that no other head of federal jurisdiction was alleged or appears as to the remaining parties.

Trial in the District Court resulted in judgment in favor of Shupe. The jury was unable, however, to agree as to the liability of Goodnow and Davidson, and a new trial was had resulting in judgment against them.

Defendants then filed several motions, including for the first time a motion to remand the case to the state court. They argued that federal court lost further jurisdiction of the case upon entry of the judgment for Shupe, the sole party entitled to invoke that court’s jurisdiction. The motions were denied, and defendants appeal.

Appellants do not and cannot question the propriety of removing the case insofar as it concerned liability of the Forest Service Officer Shupe. 28 U.S.C. § 1442(a) (1); State of Tennessee v. Davis, 100 U.S. 257, 25 L.Ed. 648 (1880); and see Gay v. Ruff, 292 U.S. 25, 33-34, 54 S.Ct. 608, 78 L.Ed. 1099 (1934). The constitutional supremacy accorded the general government in its sphere requires, or at least permits, that federal officers acting pursuant to federal law have a federal tribunal to vindicate themselves, free from any potential restraint by the state sovereignty. Tennessee v. Davis, supra, 100 U.S. at 263, 266-267.

But appellants contend that the purpose of the rule was fully served when the action terminated in favor of the federal defendant Shupe, and that the District Court was without jurisdiction to proceed to a retrial of the non-federal defendants. Reasoning on the pattern of cases arising under 28 U.S.C. § 71 (1946 ed.) involving “separable controversies” removed to federal court, appellants urge that the District Court should have remanded the case to the Arizona court at the point where only non-federal parties and claims were before it. See cases cited in St. Paul Mercury Indemnity Company v. Red Cab Company, 303 U.S. 283, at 295, 58 S.Ct. 586, 82 L.Ed. 845 (1938).

The analogy is not entirely in-apposite. These cases implicitly recognize, that absent some independent head of federal jurisdiction, retention of the non-federal claims involves the court with subject matter at the periphery of United States judicial power. For the Constitution ordains that judicial power shall only extend to those cases specifically enumerated. United States Con[166] stitution, Article III, Section 2. See International Brotherhood, etc. v. W. L. Mead, Inc., 230 F.2d 576, 579 (1st Cir. 1956), cert. dismissed 352 U.S. 802, 77 S.Ct. 21, 1 L.Ed.2d 37; Texas Employers Insurance Ass’n v. Felt, 150 F.2d 227, 234, 160 A.L.R. 931 (5th Cir. 1945); see also State of Tennessee v. Davis, supra, 100 U.S. at 290, (dissenting opinion) Textile Workers, etc. v. Lincoln Mills, 353 U.S. 448, 475-484, 77 S.Ct. 912, 1 L.Ed.2d 972 (dissenting opinion 1957); Lewin, 66 Harvard Law Rev. 423 (1953). But it bears emphasis that cases arising under a particular statute do not define the jurisdictional limits Congress or the Constitution may set under another statute. As an example, removal jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1441(c), the successor to the separable controversy statute, was motivated by a Congressional desire to narrow federal court jurisdiction. American Fire & Casualty Co. v. Finn, 341 U.S. 6, at p. 10, 71 S.Ct. 534, 95 L.Ed. 702 (1951). Compare 28 U.S.C. § 1441(c) (1948 ed.) with 28 U.S.C. § 71 (1946 ed.). But see Lewin, Op. Cit. supra, 66 Harvard Law Rev. at 431.

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Murphy v. Kodz, 351 F.2d 163 (9th Cir. 1965).

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