Elbee Patch v. Wabash Railroad Company

Citation28 S.Ct. 80,12 Ann.Cas. 518,207 U.S. 277,52 L.Ed. 204
Decision Date02 December 1907
Docket NumberNo. 57,57
PartiesELBEE PATCH, Administrator de Bonis Non of the Estate of Charles W. Maxon, Deceased, Plff. in Err., v. WABASH RAILROAD COMPANY
CourtUnited States Supreme Court

Mr. George C. Otto for plaintiff in error.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 277-279 intentionally omitted] Messrs. Frederic D. McKenney and Wells H. Blodgett for defendant in error.

Mr. Justice Holmes delivered the opinion of the court:

This was an action brought by the plaintiff in error to recover for the death of his intestate in a collision upon the defendant's railroad in Illinois. The action was begun in a court of the state and the defendant forthwith filed a petition for the removal of the cause to the United States circuit court. The petition averred, among other things, that the defendant was a corporation organized under the laws of Ohio, and a citizen of that state, and was not a resident of Illinois, and that the plaintiff was a citizen and resident of Illinois. The removal was ordered and completed. Thereupon the plaintiff filed in the United States court a plea, in which he alleged that the defendant was a corporation organized and existing under and by virtue of the laws of Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio, by the consolidation of five other corporations, severally created by the laws of those states respectively, that the defendant was a citizen of and resident in Illinois and each of said other states, and that the plaintiff was a citizen of Ohio; and the plaintiff prayed judgment whether the court could take cognizance of the action.

The defendant, after having pleaded the general issue to the action, demurred to the plaintiff's plea. Upon a hearing the demurrer was sustained, and the plaintiff electing to stand by his plea, a judgment was entered that the defendant recover its costs. The plaintiff prayed a writ of error, and the judge certified that the judgment was based solely on the ground that the controversy was one between citizens of different states, that in his opinion the record showed that the defendant was not a citizen of or resident in Illinois, that no other ground of jurisdiction appeared, and that jurisdiction was retained only for the reasons stated. A few days later, but after the writ of error had been taken out and filed, and after a new term of the circuit court had begun, the judge undertook to amend the certificate on the ground that it had been signed inadvertently, under a mistake as to its nature and contents, and to certify instead that the question of jurisdiction was not passed upon, but that the ground of the decision was that the plaintiff, being a citizen of Ohio, and therefore presumed not to be a resident of Illinois, was forbidden by the statutes of Illinois to act as administrator, and therefore had no standing to maintain the action or file the plea.

It is obvious that the mistake alleged by the new certificate was not clerical. The judge did not write one thing when he meant to write another, and no inferior officer made a record not corresponding to the action of the court. We cannot read the words 'under a mistake as to the nature and contents thereof,' as meaning that the judge did not know that he was signing a certificate of this court, or as signifying more than that, if he had given the matter greater attention, he would not have signed one saying what it said. The certificate must have received some consideration, as it contains a statement or ruling adverse to the plaintiff, to which we shall refer in a moment. This being so, it appears to us extremely questionable, at least, whether such a certificate, which is an act of record, stands on any different ground from judgments and the like when the term has passed (see Wetmore v. Karrick, 205 U. S. 141, 153, et seq. 51 L. ed. 745, 749, 27 Sup. Ct. Rep. 434; Michigan Ins. Bank v. Eldred, 143 U. S. 293, 36 L. ed. 162, 12 Sup. Ct. Rep. 450); and also whether the so-called amendment, supposing it otherwise valid and properly made without leave of this court, can be considered by this court on the present writ of error (Michigan Ins. Bank v. Eldred, supra; McCarren v McNulty, 7 Gray, 139; Rice v. Minnesota & N. W. R. Co. 21 How. 82, 16 L. ed. 31).

If we were to consider the amendment it would amount to this: The plaintiff pleaded to the jurisdiction of the court as a court of the United States, and stood upon his plea. The judge, however, laid down a proposition of law on which he denied the right of the plaintiff to plead to the jurisdiction, and thereupon took jurisdiction so far as to give judgment for costs. By the analogies of the action of this court in other cases, we should decide for ourselves the preliminary as well as the final question of law, in order to decide whether the circuit court, as a court of the United States, had the right to give any judgment, even for costs. If the preliminary question should be considered, it would seem that the judge below was wrong in taking the proviso in the Illinois statute (Laws of 1905, p. 2; Hurd's Rev. Stat. 1905, chap. 3, § 18, pp. 107, 108), 'that no nonresident of this state shall be appointed or act as administrator or executor,' as opening the appointment of a citizen of Ohio to this kind of collateral...

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42 cases
  • Freeman v. Bee Machine Co
    • United States
    • United States Supreme Court
    • June 1, 1943
    ...suit is brought before he can remove to the federal court on the ground of diversity of citizenship. Patch v. Wabash R. Co., 207 U.S. 277, 28 S.Ct. 80, 52 L.Ed. 204, 12 Ann.Cas. 518. 8 The 'only question' presented by the petition for writ of certiorari was 'whether a plaintiff may amend hi......
  • Gavin v. Hudson & Manhattan R. Co.
    • United States
    • United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (3rd Circuit)
    • November 13, 1950
    ...note 11, infra. 6 For cases in which the language might indicate that the place of injury is important see Patch v. Wabash R. Co., 1907, 207 U.S. 277, 283, 28 S.Ct. 80, 52 L.Ed. 204; St. Louis & San Francisco Ry. v. James, 1896, 161 U.S. 545, 560, 16 S.Ct. 621, 40 L.Ed. 802; Winn v. Wabash ......
  • People of Puerto Rico v. Russell Co Sucesores En 10 8212 13, 1933
    • United States
    • United States Supreme Court
    • March 13, 1933
    ...227, 15 L.Ed. 896; St. Louis & San Francisco Ry. Co. v. James, 161 U.S. 545, 16 S.Ct. 621, 40 L.Ed. 802; Patch v. Wabash Ry., 207 U.S. 277, 28 S.Ct. 80, 52 L.Ed. 204, 12 Ann.Cas. 518. In its final form this rule of jurisdiction was stated in terms of a 'conclusive presumption' that the stoc......
  • Town of Bethel v. Atlantic Coast Line R. Co.
    • United States
    • United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (4th Circuit)
    • January 6, 1936
    ...whether the grant and acceptance of the charter by the corporation was voluntary and free, as in Patch v. Wabash R. Co., 207 U.S. 277, 282, 28 S.Ct. 80, 52 L.Ed. 204, 12 Ann.Cas. 518, or was done under compulsion as is indicated in St. Louis & San F. Railway Co. v. James, 161 U.S. 545, 16 S......
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