Mahoney v. Northwestern Bell Telephone Company, Civ. No. 1028-L.

• Decision Date: 22 September 1966
• Docket Number: Civ. No. 1028-L.
• Parties: Lillian B. MAHONEY, Plaintiff, v. NORTHWESTERN BELL TELEPHONE COMPANY, a Corporation, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Nebraska

258 F. Supp. 500

Lillian B. MAHONEY, Plaintiff, v. NORTHWESTERN BELL TELEPHONE COMPANY, a Corporation, Defendant.

Civ. No. 1028-L.

United States District Court D. Nebraska.

September 22, 1966.

Reller & McArthur, Lincoln, Neb., for plaintiff.

Flavel A. Wright, of Cline, Williams, Wright, Johnson, Oldfather & Thompson, Lincoln, Neb., for defendant.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

ROBINSON, Chief Judge.

This matter comes before the Court on defendant's motion to dismiss the complaint for lack of jurisdiction. Filing # 4 herein.

The complaint asserts that this Court's jurisdiction over the action is based on diversity of citizenship between plaintiff and defendant. In support of the assertion plaintiff alleges that she is a citizen of the State of Nebraska and that defendant is an Iowa corporation with its principal place of business in a state other than Nebraska. The defendant contends that the requisite diversity is lacking because its principal place of business is located in Nebraska.

Title 28 U.S.C.A. § 1332c provides:

"For the purposes of this section and section 1441 of this title, a corporation shall be deemed a citizen of any State by which it has been incorporated and of the State where it has its principal place of business * * *."

The defendant, Northwestern Bell Telephone Company, is engaged in the business of supplying communications services in the states of Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Minnesota.

The affidavits and answers to interrogatories submitted to this Court for and against the motion to dismiss reveal the following facts concerning the defendant. The corporation's $1,359,147,587.00 of undepreciated assets are distributed among the five states in the following manner: Minnesota—$569,787,293.00; Iowa—$384,295,942.00; Nebraska—$194,966,300.00; South Dakota —$115,265,078.00; North Dakota—$94,832,974.00. The Corporation's $407,848,603.00 gross income for the year ending December 31, 1965 came from: Minnesota—$171,853,592.00; Iowa— $118,971,114.00; Nebraska—$55,660,051.00; South Dakota—$32,873,802.00; and North Dakota—$28,490,044.00. The defendant had a net profit for the same year of $75,520,871.00. Of this amount $31,570,424.00 was derived from operations in Minnesota, $22,114,541.00, from Iowa, $10,810,902.00, from Nebraska, $5,708,425.00, from South Dakota, and $5,316,579.00 from North Dakota. Similar proportions exist among the five states as to the number of telephone service units, telephone operators, total miles of telephone wires, motor vehicles, and total employees. In each case both Minnesota and Iowa have a significantly greater portion of the corporation's total than does Nebraska, and in the same respect Nebraska has a greater portion than North and South Dakota. Each of the five states has regional offices from which operations in that state are directed. Although the day to day business of the company is handled by the regional offices, the Omaha office directs the methods, procedures, and standards of operation in detailed "Practices". These "Practices" originate at the Omaha office and provide the regional offices with rules for the day to day operations of the business. All major policy decisions are made in Omaha, Nebraska, at the general headquarters of the defendant with the exception of when the Board of Directors of the corporation meet in some other state. The offices of the President, Vice President-Operations, Secretary and Treasurer Vice President and Comptroller, and six other Vice Presidents are located in Omaha. These officers direct, supervise, or control: the company advertising program, the corporate records, union negotiations and contracts, contracts with the armed services, agreements with the Federal Communications Commission,...