Smith v. Seaboard Coast Line Railroad

327 F. Supp. 536, 1971 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13252
CourtDistrict Court, D. South Carolina
DecidedMay 18, 1971
DocketCiv. A. No. 70-943
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 327 F. Supp. 536 (Smith v. Seaboard Coast Line Railroad) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. South Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Smith v. Seaboard Coast Line Railroad, 327 F. Supp. 536, 1971 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13252 (D.S.C. 1971).

Opinion

ORDER

SIMONS, District Judge.

This matter is before the court on plaintiff’s Motion to Remand the above entitled action to the Court of Common Pleas for Beaufort County, South Carolina, on the ground that the requisite diversity of citizenship was lacking when this action was commenced.

The facts are not in dispute. Plaintiff, a South Carolina resident, commenced this action on February 7, 1969, by the service of Summons (Complaint Not Served) on the defendant, Jesse A. Smith, a South Carolina resident who had been appointed Temporary Administrator of the Estate of Winston Marion Maggart, deceased, upon the Petition of plaintiff under the provisions of Section 10-212 of the South Carolina1 Code of Laws. The defendant Seaboard Coast Line Railroad Company was likewise served on February 10, 1969. On February 28, 1969, upon a Petition (made pursuant to Section 10-213 of. the South Carolina Code of Laws2) by Mari H. Maggart, a resident of the State of Michigan and the wife of the said Winston Marion Maggart, deceased, the Probate Court for Beaufort County, South Carolina, appointed the said Mari H. Maggart Administratrix of [538]*538the Estate of Winston Marion Maggart, deceased, in substitution of the said Jesse A. Smith.3 Plaintiff’s Complaint was served on Mari H. Maggart, Administratrix of the Estate of Winston Marion Maggart, deceased, and Seaboard Coast Line Railroad Company October 12, 1970, and they removed the cause to this court October 28, 1970.

At the outset it should be noted that counsel for both sides recognize the generally accepted principle that ordinarily jurisdiction must exist both at the commencement of the action and at the time the Petition for Removal is filed in order for a federal court to have proper diversity jurisdiction of the action. Said counsel also acknowledge the related principles that the residency of an administrator normally controls for diversity jurisdictional purposes and nominal parties may be disregarded in determining whether or not jurisdiction exists. However, persuasive arguments have been advanced by counsel for all of the parties herein to show the applicability or inapplicability of the above principles to the facts now before the court.

Generally, the court is confronted with the question of whether or not in a civil action “commenced” in a South Carolina state court by service of Summons (Complaint Not Served) upon a duly appointed temporary administrator, where said temporary administrator and plaintiff are both citizens of South Carolina, a subsequent appointment and substitution of a non-resident administratrix as a party defendant has the effect of relating back to the date of the commencement of the action so that the action can properly be removed from the state court to a federal court. As stated however, this question presupposes that this court has determined that state law governs the question of “when is a civil action commenced for the purpose of determiningi diversity of citizenship in connection with a Petition for Removal to a federal court.” Such is not the case.

This court must necessarily determine whether state or federal law controls the question of when this civil action was commenced inasmuch as there is a direct conflict between the South Carolina rule and the federal rule. Rule 3 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provides that “[a] civil action is commenced by filing a complaint with the court.” Section 10-401 of the 1962 South Carolina Code of Laws, however, states that “[cjivil actions in the courts of record of this State shall be commenced by service of a summons.” In attempting to resolve this federal state conflict this court must “undertake the following analysis:

1. If the state provision, whether legislatively adopted or judicially declared, is the substantive right or obligation at issue, it is constitutionally controlling.

2. If the state provision is a procedure intimately bound up with the state right or obligation, it is likewise constitutionally controlling.

3. If the state procedural provision is not intimately bound up with the right being enforced but its application would substantially affect the outcome of the litigation, the federal diversity court must still apply it unless there are affirmative countervailing federal considerations. This is not deemed a constitutional requirement but one dictated by comity.” Szanty v. Beech Aircraft Corporation, 349 F.2d 60, 63-64 (4 Cir. 1965), (footnotes omitted).

It is obvious that the South Carolina rule that civil actions are commenced by the service of Summons is not the substantive right or obligation here at issue; nor is this procedure intimately bound up with said state right or [539]*539obligation. The court thinks that, for the purpose of the present Motion, the third part of the requisite analysis patently reveals the inappropriateness of applying this state procedural rule to the facts of this ease, but, in an attempt to resolve any doubt, will discuss this test in detail.

Without being presumptuous, the court believes that the parties to this controversy will receive an impartial adjudication of their rights and liabilities in either this court or in the South Carolina Court of Common Pleas for Beaufort County, South Carolina. That is, the non-application of this state procedural rule so as to protect the defendants’ right of removal to this court will not substantially affect the outcome of this litigation. However, even if it is assumed that removal of this controversy to this court will substantially affect the outcome of this litigation this court must also determine that there are no countervailing federal considerations before it would be justified in applying the state procedural rule in question. This the court cannot do.

The fact that removal of a diversity action is a federal right and, hence the existence thereof should be determined by federal law, would seem to be the controlling principle here. Even if this court were to agree with plaintiff’s contention that the aforesaid Rule 3 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure applies only to actions properly within the jurisdiction of a federal court,4 it would also have to agree that the procedural right of removal promulgated by the United States Congress should be constricted before it would be justified in adopting the state procedural rule in question for the purpose of determining when diversity jurisdiction exists.

Congress provided in 28 U.S.C.A. § 1446(b) that:

“(b) The petition for removal of a civil action or proceeding shall be filed within thirty days after the receipt by the defendant, through service or otherwise, of a copy of the initial pleading setting forth the claim for relief upon which such action or proceeding is based, or within thirty days after the service of summons upon the defendant if such initial pleading has then been filed in court and is not required to be served on the defendant, whichever period is shorter.

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Related

Chladek v. Sterns Transportation Co.
427 F. Supp. 270 (E.D. Pennsylvania, 1977)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
327 F. Supp. 536, 1971 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13252, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/smith-v-seaboard-coast-line-railroad-scd-1971.