Mattison v. Boston & M.R.R.

• Decision Date: 23 June 1913
• Parties: MATTISON v. BOSTON & M.R.R.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of New York

205 F. 821

MATTISON v. BOSTON & M.R.R.

United States District Court, N.D. New York.

June 23, 1913

Leary &amp Fullerton, of Saratoga Springs, N.Y., for the motion.

Jarvis P. O'Brien, of Troy, N.Y., opposed.

RAY District Judge.

The defendant, Boston & Maine Railroad, is a corporation of the state of Massachusetts operating a line of railroad road from Boston, Mass., to Mechanicville, N.Y., and has its principal office at Boston aforesaid. The plaintiff is the administratrix of the estate of one Bernie Mattison deceased, who in his lifetime and at the time of his death was a citizen and resident of the state of Vermont. The said administratrix of his estate was duly appointed such by the probate court of the district of Bennington, state of Vermont, and is a citizen and resident of said state.

About July 20, 1912, said Bernie Mattison was injured in a collision with one of defendant's trains at a highway crossing situated in the Northern district of the state of New York, while traveling on the public highway, and soon thereafter died. It is alleged that such collision, injury and death was caused by the negligence of the defendant corporation, and this action was brought in the Supreme Court of the state of New York under the statute to recover the damages sustained. The defendant removed the cause to the District Court of the United States of the district in which the accident and death occurred and in which the action was brought. The plaintiff moves to remand the cause, on the ground that the District Court of the Northern District of New York has no jurisdiction, and that the cause cannot be removed to that court, inasmuch as neither the plaintiff nor the defendant is a citizen of or a resident in the state of New York. This action is for the benefit of the widow and next of kin of said Bernie Mattison, and is brought under the New York statute.

Section 24 of chapter 2 of the Judicial Code of the United States, in effect January 1, 1912, title, 'The Judiciary,' provides:

'The District Court shall have original jurisdiction as follows: First, of all suits of a civil nature, at common law or in equity; * * * or where the matter in controversy exceeds, exclusive of interest and costs, the sum or value of three thousand dollars, and (a) * * * or (b) is between citizens of different states. * * * '

Section 28 of chapter 3 of the Judicial Code, relating to District Courts, 'Removal of Causes,' provides:

'Any suit of a civil nature, at law or in equity, arising * * * may be removed by the defendant or defendants therein to the District Court of the United States for the proper district. Any other suit of a civil nature, at law or in equity, of which the District Courts of the United States are given jurisdiction by this title ('The Judiciary'), and which are now pending or which may hereafter be brought, in any state court, may be removed into the District Court of the United States for the proper district by the defendant or defendants therein, being nonresidents of that state.'

Section 51, chapter 4 ('Miscellaneous Provisions'), provides as follows:

'Except as provided in the five succeeding sections, no person shall be arrested in one district for trial in another, in any civil action before a District Court; and, except as provided in the six succeeding sections, no civil suit shall be brought in any District Court 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.'

If this action had been originally brought in the District Court of the United States, it should have been brought either in the District Court of the United States for the District of Vermont or the District Court of the United States for the District of Massachusetts. Do the words 'District Court of the United States for the proper district,' used in section 28, above quoted, absolutely limit removal to the District Court of the district in which the action should have been brought if commenced in the District Court of the United...