Francis Sweeney v. Carter Oil Company

• Citation: 199 U.S. 252,50 L.Ed. 178,26 S.Ct. 55
• Decision Date: 27 November 1905
• Docket Number: No. 32,32
• Parties: FRANCIS B. SWEENEY and Halbert J. Porterfield, Partners as Sweeney & Porterfield, Plffs. in Err. , v. CARTER OIL COMPANY
• Court: United States Supreme Court

199 U.S. 252

26 S.Ct. 55

50 L.Ed. 178

FRANCIS B. SWEENEY and Halbert J. Porterfield, Partners as Sweeney & Porterfield, Plffs. in Err.,

v CARTER OIL COMPANY.

No. 32.

Submitted October 30, 1905.

Decided November 27, 1905.

This was an action of assumpsit brought in the circuit court of the United States for the northern district of West Virginia by, as described in the summons, 'Francis B. Sweeney, a resident in and citizen of the state of New York, and Halbert J. Porterfield, a resident in and citizen of the state of Pennsylvania, partners, doing business under the firm name and style of Sweeney & Porterfield,' against 'Carter Oil Company, a corporation created, organized, and existing under and by virtue of the laws of West Virginia, and as such a citizen thereof,' to recover damages in the sum of $20,000.

The declaration, filed May 4, 1903, followed the summons as to the citizenship of the parties, and contained ten special counts, most of them laying the damages at $20,000, and the common counts. An account stated was annexed, giving items, running from 1900 to 1901, aggregation $20,912.42.

The record discloses that on February 3, 1904, the court entered an order overruling a motion 'to dismiss this action for the want of jurisdiction, apparent upon the face of the proceedings in this, that the plaintiffs are residents of different states, seeking to sue a defendant of another state.' On February 15, 1904, the court set aside that order, sustained the motion to dismiss, and entered judgment for defendant. May 10, 1904, the judge holding the circuit court filed a certificate 'that the judgment of dismissal made in this cause on February 15, 1904, at the present term of this court, is based solely on the ground that the record does not show that the controversy is one, in my opinion, between citizens of different states, but that it appears from the record that one of the plaintiffs, to wit, Francis B. Sweeney, is a resident in and citizen of the state of New York, and that Halbert J. Porterfield is a resident in and citizen of the state of Pennsylvania, while the defendant is a corporation created and existing under and by virtue of the laws of the state of West Virginia, and domiciled in the northern district of West Virginia, and no other ground of jurisdiction appears from the record; and the case is dismissed only for the reason above stated; that is, that the controversy is not between citizens of different states, as is required by the Federal statutes to confer jurisdiction on this court, but one of the plaintiffs being a citizen of one state, to wit, the state of New York, and the other plaintiff being a citizen of the state of Pennsylvania, cannot, in my judgment, be joined as plaintiffs and sue in this court a defendant residing in the northern district of West Virginia, and consequently the proper citizenship of different states does not exist, and that the circuit court of the United States for the northern district of West Virginia has no jurisdiction.' This writ of error was granted the same day.

Messrs. V. B. Archer and W. S. Chesley for plaintiffs in error.

Messrs. George L. Roberts, Reese Blizzard, and Charles Gibbs Carter for defendant in error.

Statement by Mr. Chief Justice Fuller:

Mr. Chief Justice Fuller delivered the opinion of the court:

The circuit court dismissed the case for want of jurisdiction in that the controversy was not between citizens of different states, within the meaning of the statute, because plaintiffs were citizens of different states as between themselves, and could not be joined in an action against a citizen of West Virginia. That was the sole point determined below, and the correctness of the conclusion is the sole question for determination here.

Defendant does indeed argue that the judgment should be affirmed because the declaration, though stating a sum of money to be due plaintiffs in excess of $2,000, did not aver that this was 'exclusive of interest and costs;' and did not aver that defendant was 'a resident or inhabitant of the northern district of West Virginia,' nor was that fact 'apparent from the record;' and because the citizenship of plaintiffs and defendant was not averred with sufficient directness. None of these points was raised below, and, as the record stands, they call for no consideration.

The judicial power under the Constitution extends to 'controversies between citizens of different states.'

The 1st section of the act of March 3, 1887 [24 Stat. at L. 552, chap. 373], as corrected by that of August 13, 1888 (25 Stat. at L. 433, chap. 866, U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, p. 508), provides 'that the circuit courts of the United States shall have original cognizance, concurrent with the courts of the several states, of all suits of a civil nature, at common law or in equity, where the matter in dispute exceeds, exclusive of interest and costs, the sum or value of two thousand dollars, . . . or in which there shall be a controversy between citizens of different states, in which the matter in dispute exceeds, exclusive of interest and costs, the sum or value aforesaid, . . . and no civil suit shall be brought before either of said courts against any person by any original process or proceeding in any other district than that whereof he is an inhabitant, but where the jurisdiction is founded only on the fact that the action is between citizens of different states, suit shall be brought only in the district of the residence of either the plaintiff or the defendant.'

The controversy here was 'between citizens of different states;' the jurisdiction of the circuit court was founded on diversity of citizenship; and the suit was brought in the district of the residence of the defendant.

We do not feel warranted in construing the words 'controversy between citizens of different states' to mean 'controversy between citizens of the same state and citizens of another state,' and unless that is done this judgment must be reversed.

In our opinion, defendant, being a citizen of West Virginia, and a resident of the district in which it was sued, and plaintiffs being citizens of other states than West Virginia, the circuit court had jurisdiction.

The general subject was considered in Smith v. Lyon, 133 U. S. 315, 33 L. ed. 635, 10 Sup. Ct. Rep. 303, the opinion of the In that opinion it is opinted out that the In that opinion it is pointed out that the first clause of the act of 1887 describes the jurisdiction common to all the circuit courts of the United States as regards the subjectmatter of the suit, and as regards the character of the parties who, by reason of such character, may, either as plaintiffs or defendants, sustain suits in circuit courts; while the next sentence in the same section undertakes to define the jurisdiction of each one of the several circuit courts of the United States with reference to its territorial limits; and, after quoting the latter clause in full, Mr. Justice Miller said:

'In the case before us, one of the plaintiffs is a citizen of the state where the suit is brought, namely, the state of Missouri, and the defendant is a citizen of the state of Texas. But one of the plaintiffs is a citizen of the state...