Robinson v. Missouri Pacific Transp. Co.
| Decision Date | 09 August 1949 |
| Docket Number | No. 419-425.,419-425. |
| Citation | 85 F. Supp. 235 |
| Parties | ROBINSON et al. v. MISSOURI PACIFIC TRANSP. CO. et al. (seven cases). |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Western District of Arkansas |
Gerland P. Patten, Little Rock, Ark., J. H. Lookadoo, James Gooch, Arkadelphia, Ark., G. D. Walker, Little Rock, Ark., for plaintiffs.
Henry Donham, Leffel Gentry, Little Rock, Ark., for defendants.
Seven individuals, all former employees of the defendant, Missouri Pacific Transportation Company, filed separate complaints against the defendants in the Circuit Court of Clark County, Arkansas, and with the exception of the name of the plaintiff and other identifying allegations applicable to the plaintiff, such as tenure of employment, etc., all complaints are identical in form and substance.
Each plaintiff alleges that he is a citizen of Arkansas; that the Missouri Pacific Transportation Company is a corporation organized under the laws of the State of Delaware, authorized and doing business in Arkansas; that John F. Rea is a citizen of Arkansas and is employed by the corporate defendant as District Supervisor; that T. T. Allen is a citizen of Arkansas and is employed by the corporate defendant as Division Supervisor, subordinate to defendant Rea; that in all transactions alleged, the corporate defendant acted by and through its agents and employees, John F. Rea and T. T. Allen; that plaintiffs were employed as motor coach operators under the terms and conditions of employment as set forth in a written agreement between the corporate defendant and the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, bargaining agent for the employees; that under the agreement no operator might be dismissed or disciplined without sufficient cause established at a fair and impartial hearing; that "the defendants John F. Rea and T. T. Allen, each acting in the scope of his employment on behalf of the defendant Missouri Pacific Transportation, wrongfully, and maliciously conspired with each other and with one R. J. McDermott, Vice President and General Manager of the defendant Missouri Pacific Transportation Company, and with one W. W. Swanwick and other persons unknown to the plaintiff, wrongfully to bring about plaintiff's discharge from his employment with the Missouri Pacific Transportation Company by manufacturing false testimony and lodging against plaintiff false charges of breach of trust by failing to account for fares collected"; that pursuant to this conspiracy and as an overt act toward its consummation defendants Rea and Allen together with McDermott employed Swanwick, operator of a private detective agency, to make a pretended investigation of plaintiffs' collections and remittances of cash fares, with the purpose of manufacturing false and fictitious evidence of alleged irregularities; that Swanwick made up false reports on such irregularities; that thereafter defendant Rea served notice on each plaintiff that he was suspended from service, that a hearing was held at which the false and fictitious testimony was presented; that thereafter each plaintiff was discharged and defendant Missouri Pacific, acting through R. J. McDermott, wrongfully denied each plaintiff an appeal from the action of Rea in discharging him, and also denied request of Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, acting on behalf of each plaintiff, to submit the case to arbitration; and praying for damages in excess of $3,000 in each complaint, exclusive of interest and costs.
Petitions for removal of all seven cases were filed in the Hot Springs Division of this Court on July 13, 1949, by the defendant Missouri Pacific Transportation Company, alleging that defendants John F. Rea and T. T. Allen were made parties defendant "for the fraudulent purpose of defeating the removal of this cause to this Court, no valid cause of action having been alleged against said resident defendants", in that: (1) no cause of action exists at common law or by statute for damages resulting from alleged subornation of perjury; (2) the alleged wrongful discharge of the plaintiff is based upon the alleged breach of contract by defendant Missouri Pacific Transportation Company, for which no cause of action exists against Rea and Allen, resident defendants, and is a separate and independent claim against the corporate defendant alone; and moreover, the alleged contract is void and unenforceable for lack of mutuality of obligations; and (3) the provision of the contract providing that cases involving dismissal of motor coach operators "shall be submitted at the request of either party to a Board of Arbitration" provides the exclusive remedy, and plaintiffs falsely alleged that Missouri Pacific refused to submit this case to a Board of Arbitration.
On July 18, 1949, separate motions to dismiss were filed in each case by Rea and Allen and by the Missouri Pacific Transportation Company.
On July 28, 1949, plaintiffs filed motions to remand the cases, together with a statement and citation of authorities in support of the motions as required by local Rule 8 of this Court. Said motions and statement having been served on the attorneys for the defendant on July 27, 1949, and ten days having elapsed from that date and defendants not having responded to said motion and statement the Court, in accordance with the provisions of local Rule 8, proceeds now to consider the motions to remand.
Any civil action brought in a State court of which the district courts of the United States have original jurisdiction, may be removed by the defendant or defendants. Title 28 United States Code Annotated, Section 1441(a). The only basis for original federal jurisdiction in these cases is diversity of citizenship and the requisite amount in controversy. The complaints as filed in the State court and removed here do not meet this jurisdictional test since the plaintiffs and two of the defendants are citizens and residents of the same State, Arkansas. However, the defendant, Missouri Pacific Transportation Company, contends that the resident defendants, Rea and Allen, were fraudulently joined, and as a result thereof, their citizenship should be disregarded in determining removability of the cases.
The oft cited test for determining removability when the issue of fraudulent joinder is raised is stated by the Court of Appeals for the Eight Circuit in Huffman v. Baldwin, 82 F.2d 5, 7, as follows:
Applying this test...
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Rose Hall, Ltd. v. Chase Manhattan Overseas Banking, Civ. A. No. 79-182.
...non-existence of insurance policy caused judgment plaintiff to be unable to recover on insurance policy); Robinson v. Missouri Pacific Transp. Co., 85 F.Supp. 235 (D.Ark.1949) (perjury merely part of larger conspiracy between employer and union to get employee plaintiff fired); Alexander v.......
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Jones v. United States, LR-75-C-141.
...against jury tampering. An argument against such an inference of intended civil redress is presented in Robinson v. Missouri Pacific Transp. Co., 85 F.Supp. 235 (U.S.D.C. W.D.Ark.1949), and Ragsdale v. Watson, 201 F.Supp. 495 (U.S.D.C.W.D.Ark. 1962), wherein it was held that there is no civ......
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Shane v. Kansas City Southern Ry. Co.
...Co., D.C.Wash., 111 F.Supp. 748, 751; Montrey v. Peter J. Schweitzer, Inc., D.C.N.J., 105 F.Supp. 708, 715; Robinson v. Missouri Pacific Transp. Co., D.C.Ark., 85 F.Supp. 235, 237. In the absence of a showing of fraudulent joinder, the nature of the controversy is governed by the allegation......
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Jones v. U.S., s. 75-1812
...to the type of wrong alleged herein. Cf. Ragsdale v. Watson, 201 F.Supp. 495, 502-03 (W.D.Ark.1962); Robinson v. Missouri Pacific Transportation Co., 85 F.Supp. 235, 238-39 (W.D.Ark.1949). In addition, there is no evidence to suggest any legislative intent to create a civil remedy in such i......