Fowler v. California Toll-Bridge Authority, 9992.
Decision Date | 03 June 1942 |
Docket Number | No. 9992.,9992. |
Parties | FOWLER v. CALIFORNIA TOLL-BRIDGE AUTHORITY. |
Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit |
Daniel V. Ryan and Thomas C. Ryan, both of San Francisco, Cal., for appellant.
Leo A. Cunningham, of San Francisco, Cal., for appellee.
Before GARRECHT, HANEY, and HEALY, Circuit Judges.
The appellant filed complaint in the court below against the appellee, alleging jurisdiction as follows:
"That the defendant, California Toll Bridge Authority, is a public board and agency of the State of California, duly created by the Statutes of California, Statutes of 1929, page 1489 and amendments thereto (Act 956 General Laws 1937); that said act provides that the defendant may be sued in its own name; that defendant has its place of business and is a resident of the state of California; that plaintiff is a resident and citizen of the state of Louisiana; that the matter in controversy herein exceeds, exclusive of interest and costs, the sum of Three Thousand Dollars ($3,000.00)."
The plaintiff then alleged, for his cause of action, that he had prepared plans for a bridge to be built across San Francisco Bay; that the structure was to cost in excess of $75,000,000; that he was the sole owner of such plans; that defendant appropriated and used said plans, prepared by plaintiff, without his consent and constructed said bridge as delineated in said plans. The plaintiff prayed judgment for more than $2,500,000.
The defendant moved to dismiss, which motion was granted by the trial court upon the ground of lack of jurisdiction, said court stating, in part, The plaintiff appeals.
It is at once apparent that the jurisdiction of the court below, if such exists, rests solely upon diversity of citizenship, for no Federal question is presented by the complaint. The only question, therefore, is whether the defendant is in reality the State of California. If so, the court was without jurisdiction and the order of dismissal must be affirmed, because a State is not a "citizen" (Postal Telegraph Cable Co. v. Alabama, 155 U.S. 482, 487, 15 S.Ct. 192, 39 L.Ed. 231), the required diversity of citizenship not being present.
The Act of the California State Legislature creating (and the amendatory acts)1 the California Toll Bridge Authority should reveal whether the Authority is a separate entity and suable as such in the Federal courts, or is merely a channel through which the State of California, the real party in interest, performs part of its necessary governmental functions. The Authority was created, as stated in Section 1 of the Act, to effectuate "the policy of the state of California to acquire and own all toll-bridges situated upon or along any part of the highway of the state, with the end in view of ultimately eliminating all toll charges." The trial court in its opinion aptly summarized the pertinent provisions of the Act and we take the liberty of quoting part thereof:
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Krisel v. Duran
...Cook v. Davis, 178 F.2d 595, 599 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 340 U.S. 811, 71 S.Ct. 38, 95 L. Ed. 596 (1950); Fowler v. California Toll-Bridge Authority, 128 F.2d 549 (9th Cir.1942); Sehlmeyer v. Romeo Co., 117 F.2d 996, 998 (9th Cir.1941). Compare Miller v. State of Vermont, 201 F.Supp. 930,......
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People v. Illinois State Toll Highway Commission
...the State assumed no obligations of the commission as its own. The principal decision holding to the contrary is Fowler v. California Toll-Bridge Authority, 9 Cir., 128 F.2d 549. The facts there, however, are significantly different. Virtually the entire direction of the acquisition of brid......
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DeLong Corporation v. Oregon State Highway Com'n, Civ. No. 64-79.
...having similar, if not identical, powers and duties of the defendant, commission, is not a citizen, is Fowler v. California Toll-Bridge Authority, 128 F. 2d 549 (9th Cir., 1942). There, the bridge authority bonds were payable solely from the tolls of the bridge and were paid into the State ......
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George R. Whitten, Jr., Inc. v. STATE UNIVERSITY CONST. F., 73-1190.
...Inc., 290 F.Supp. 911 (D.La.1968) (implied authority present therefore no bearing on jurisdiction). 5 Fowler v. California Toll Bridge Authority, 128 F.2d 549 (9th Cir. 1942) (tending to show no jurisdiction); Gerr v. Emrick, 283 F.2d 293 (3d Cir. 1960), cert. denied, 365 U.S. 817, 81 S.Ct.......