Sharkey v. Port Blakely Mill Co.

92 F. 425, 1899 U.S. App. LEXIS 2975
CourtU.S. Circuit Court for the District of Washington
DecidedMarch 4, 1899
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 92 F. 425 (Sharkey v. Port Blakely Mill Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sharkey v. Port Blakely Mill Co., 92 F. 425, 1899 U.S. App. LEXIS 2975 (circtdwa 1899).

Opinion

HAUFORD, District Judge.

This case lias been argued and submitted upon a motion to remand to the state court, in which it was originally commenced. The defendant’s petition for removal shows that the plaintiff is a citizen of the state of Washington, and.the defendant is a California corporation. The complaint sets forth two distinct causes of action, the first being a claim for damages for breach of a contract of affreightment made by and between the plaintiff and the defendant, the amount of damages claimed being $18,-000; the second cause of action being a similar claim for damages for breach of a contract of affreightment made by and between one Patterson and the defendant, which Patterson assigned to the plaintiff. The record is silent as to the citizenship of Patterson. If the action was founded upon the first cause of action only, the right of the defendant to remove the case into this court would be free from any question. Under the authorities, it is equally clear that, if the action were to recover upon (lie assigned claim only, the case would not be removable. Therefore the following problems are involved: First. Does the jurisdiction which the court has of the first cause of action necessarily expand by reason of the joinder of a second cause of action, which by itself would not be within the jurisdiction of the court, so as to comprehend both? Second. Does the joinder of a cause of action of ■which jurisdiction is not given necessarily defeat the jurisdiction as to a cause of action which by itself would be cognizable in a circuit court of the United States? Third. Where two separate causes of action accruing to different persons are united in one action, brought by a single plaintiff, does the defendant-have the right to remove the case into a circuit court, on the ground of there being a separable controversy between himself and the plaintiff; and, if so, does be forfeit the right of removal by failure to set forth the separable controversy in bis petition for removal? Fourth. In an action founded upon two distinct causes of action, one of which is within the jurisdiction of the circuit court, and the other [426]*426not, does tbe removal necessarily sever the case, so as to leave one cause of action still pending in the state court?

Counsel for the plaintiff have argued that the case is in the same situation that it would be if prosecuted by the plaintiff and his assignor jointly. Their contention is that, as to the first cause of action, the plaintiff is suing in his individual capacity, as to the second he is suing as the representative of another, and, as the court could not take jurisdiction of the action in its entirety, if no assignment of the second cause of action had been made, unless it appeared affirmatively on the face of the record that both plaintiffs were citizens of this state, the court must of necessity hold, in deciding the question of jurisdiction, that the case has not been brought within the jurisdiction of the court by the assignment. While this position seems to be strong, I do not regard it as tenable. The first cause of action is complete in itself, and all the conditions exist which are essential to the jurisdiction of this court, and to the right of the defendant to remove it from the state court into this court. As to that cause of action, no fraud upon the court has been attempted by the making of a collusive assignment for the mere purpose of transferring a lawsuit into a federal court which could not be so transferred without resorting to such subterfuge. The joinder of a second cause of action does not, in my opinion, impair the right of a defendant to choose the forum. The. statute defining the jurisdiction of the circuit courts of the United States is not so narrow as to exclude all cases, except those in which the issues are wholly made up of questions in dispute between citizens of different states. The words of the statute appear to have been carefully chosen to express an intent to confer jurisdiction of “all suits of a civil nature, at common law or equity, where the matter in dispute exceeds, exclusive of interest and costs, the sum of two thousand- dollars, * * in which there shall be a controversy between citizens of different states. * " 25 Stat. 434. These words imply that cases of which complete jurisdiction is given may involve other controversies and matters besides a controversy between citizens of different states; and there is no provision in the law for dividing a case into parts, so that a distinct controversy in the case may be removed from a state court into a circuit court of the United States, and other controversies in the same case be left pending in the court of original jurisdiction. Where a plaintiff brings a suit originally in a circuit court of the United States, and sets forth in his complaint a cause of action of which the court has jurisdiction, and also other causes of action not cognizable in a circuit court of the United States, the authorities hold that he is entitled to proper relief as to the cause of action of which the court has jurisdiction; but, as to the causes of action not cognizable in the court, relief must be denied. Mississippi Mills v. Cohn, 150 U. S. 202-200, 14 Sup. Ct. 75. In such a case, the court, by granting relief to the extent of its jurisdiction, and refusing to assume jurisdiction not conferred by law, necessarily severs the different causes of action from each other. This case, however, does not come within the rule of the decision of the supreme court just cited, for the reason that the plaintiff commenced his action in a court which has jurisdiction of all the [427]*427(‘«lunes of aciion set forth in liis complaint, and Ms right to unite several distinct causes of action in one complaint is expressly given by the (lode of this state, and the law gives him the right to have them all adjudicated at the same time. He may, if he elects to do so, dismiss as to the second cause of action without prejudice, and in that way eífici a practical severance. Bat the defendant is not authorized to deprive him of his right to have both causes of action disposed of in one trial. Morrison v. Trading Co., 85 Fed. 802.

The same section of the sí atufe which gives jurisdiction to circuit courls of the United States of capes in “which there shall be a controversy between citizens of different states” also provides that the circuit and district courts of the United States shall not “have cognizance of any suit, except ujhhs foreign bills of exchange, to recover the '•ontents of any promissory note or other chose in action in favor of ¡mv assignee, or of any Ruhuequent holder, if such instrument be payable to bearer, and be not made by any corporation, unless such suit might have been prosecuted in such court to recover the said consents if no assignment or transfer had been made.” 25 Hint. 424. If this clause is applicable to the case under consideration, it is necessarily repugnant to the preceding clause, which requires the court to fake cognizance of the case in iia entirety, and has the effect to create an exception of cases in which there is a controversy between citizens of different states, and in which the plaintiff unites, with a cause of action in his own favor, another cause of action against the same defendant, which he may have acquired by an assignment thereof. It is manifest, however, that the only purpose of the clause last quoted is to prevent the transfer of dioses in action for the mere purpose of diverting litigation into the federal courts.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
92 F. 425, 1899 U.S. App. LEXIS 2975, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sharkey-v-port-blakely-mill-co-circtdwa-1899.