Lehigh Min. & Mfg. Co. v. Kelly

• Decision Date: 30 May 1894
• Citation: 64 F. 401
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Virginia
• Parties: LEHIGH MIN. & MANUF'G CO. v. KELLY et al.

64 F. 401

LEHIGH MIN. & MANUF'G CO. v. KELLY et al.

United States Circuit Court, W.D. Virginia.

May 30, 1894

J. F Bullitt, Jr., and J. A. Buchanan, for plaintiff.

Morrison & Duncan and F. S. Blair, for defendants.

PAUL District Judge.

This is an action of ejectment, brought by the plaintiff, a corporation under the laws of Pennsylvania, against J. J Kelly, Jr., and others, citizens of the state of Virginia. The defendants file two pleas in abatement, which are as follows:

'Plea No. 1. And for plea in this behalf said defendants say That the Virginia Coal & Iron Company is a corporation organized and existing under the laws of Virginia; and as such it has been for the last ten years claiming title to the lands of the defendants, J. J. Kelly, Jun., described in the declaration in this case; and said defendants say that for the purpose of fraudulently imposing on the jurisdiction of this court said Virginia Coal & Iron Company has, during the year 1893, attempted to organize, form, and create under the laws of the state of Pennsylvania a corporation out of its (the Virginia Coal & Iron Company's) own stockholders and officers, to whom it has fraudulently and collusively conveyed the land in the declaration mentioned for the purpose of enabling this plaintiff to institute this suit in this United States court. And said defendants say that said Lehigh Mining & Manufacturing Co. is simply another name for the Virginia Coal & Iron Co., composed of the same parties, and organized alone for the purpose of providing jurisdiction of this case in this court. Wherefore defendants say that this suit is in fraud of the jurisdiction of this court, and should be abated. And this they are ready to verify,' etc.

'Plea No. 2. And for further plea in this behalf the said defendants come and say that said plaintiffs should not further have or maintain said suit against them, because, they say, there was no such legally organized corporation as the plaintiff company at the date of the institution of this suit, and they say that the real and substantial plaintiff in this suit is the Virginia Coal & Iron Company, which is a corporation organized and existing under the laws of Virginia, and a citizen of Virginia. And said defendants further say that said Virginia Coal & Iron Company, for the purpose and with the view of instituting and prosecuting this suit in the United States court, and of conferring an apparent jurisdiction on said court, did by prearrangement, fraud, and collusion attempt to organize said Lehigh Mining and Manufacturing Company as a corporation of a foreign state, to take and hold the land in the declaration mentioned for the purpose of giving this court jurisdiction of said suit. Whereupon defendants say that the said plaintiff has wrongfully and fraudulently imposed itself on the jurisdiction of this court, has abused its process, and wrongfully impleaded these defendants in this court; whereupon they pray judgment,' etc., 'that this suit be abated and dismissed as brought in fraud of this court's jurisdiction. And this they are ready to verify, ' etc.

The plaintiff and the defendants have agreed to submit the questions of law arising on these pleas to the court for decision, the submission being on the following agreed statement of facts:

Agreement.

Circuit Court of the United States for the Western District of Virginia.

Lehigh Mining and Manufacturing Co. v. J. J. Kelly, Jr., and others.

It is hereby agreed between the parties to this action as follows, to wit:

(1) That the land in controversy in this case was, prior to March 1, 1893, claimed by the Virginia Coal and Iron Company, and has been claimed by said last-named company for some twelve years prior to said date.

(2) That said Virginia Coal and Iron Company is a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the state of Virginia, and is a citizen of Virginia.

(3) That on March 1, 1893, said Virginia Coal and Iron Company executed and delivered a deed of bargain and sale to said Lehigh Mining and Manufacturing Company, by which it conveyed all its right, title, and interest in and to the land in controversy to said last-named company in fee simple.

(4) That said Lehigh Mining and Manufacturing Company is a corporation duly organized and existing under the laws of the state of Pennsylvania; that it was organized in February, 1893, prior to said conveyance, and is, and was at the date of the commencement of this action, a citizen of the state of Pennsylvania; and that it was organized by the individual stockholders and officers of the Virginia Coal and Iron Company.

(5) That the purpose in organizing said Lehigh Mining and Manufacturing Company, and in making to it said conveyance, was to give this court jurisdiction in this case, but that said conveyance passed to said Lehigh Mining and Manufacturing Company all of the right, title, and interest of said Virginia Coal and Iron Company in and to said land, and that since said conveyance said Virginia Coal and Iron Company has had no interest in said land, and has not, and never has had, any interest in this suit, and that it owns none of the stock of said Lehigh Mining and Manufacturing Company, and has no interest therein whatever.

(6) That the two pleas in writing filed by the defendants in this cause at the May term, 1893, of this court shall be tried by the court without a jury upon the foregoing statement of facts, but that any party may object to any of such statements on the ground of irrelevancy or incompetency.

Plaintiff filed the following exception to the foregoing agreement:

'The plaintiff, by counsel, objects and excepts to the statement in the first part of the fifth paragraph of the foregoing agreed facts, viz: 'That the purpose of organizing the Lehigh Mining and Manufacturing Co., and in making to it said conveyance, was to give to this court jurisdiction in this case, ' because the same is irrelevant and immaterial.

The substance of these pleas is that the plaintiff has, by collusion between itself and the said Virginia Coal & Iron Company, been made a party to this suit in order to give this court jurisdiction of this case. This question is mainly to be determined by the fourth and fifth paragraphs of the agreement of facts, which are as follows:

'(4) That said Lehigh Mining and Manufacturing Company is a corporation duly organized and existing under the laws of the state of Pennsylvania; that it was organized in February, 1893, prior to said conveyance, and is, and was at the date of the commencement of this action, a citizen of

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