Sovereign Camp v. Neill

• Decision Date: 17 November 1924
• Docket Number: No. 58,58
• Citation: 45 S.Ct. 49,69 L.Ed. 293,266 U.S. 292
• Parties: SOVEREIGN CAMP W. O. W. v. O'NEILL et al
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

266 U.S. 292

45 S.Ct. 49

69 L.Ed. 293

SOVEREIGN CAMP W. O. W.

v O'NEILL et al.

No. 58.

Submitted Oct. 9, 1924.

Decided Nov. 17, 1924.

Mr. T. D. Gresham, of Dallas, Tex., for appellant.

Mr. Justice SANFORD delivered the opinion of the Court.

This is a suit in equity brought in the District Court by the Sovereign Camp Woodmen of the World, a fraternal society organized under the laws of Nebraska, against twenty-five of its members, all citizens of Texas. Federal jurisdiction was based upon the diversity of citizenship, and the matter in controversy, which it was averred, exceeded, exclusive of interest and costs, the sum or value of three thousand dollars. Judicial Code, § 24, subd. 1 (Comp. St. § 991[1]).

The bill alleged, in substance, that the defendants had entered into an agreement and conspiracy to embarrass and attempt to ruin the Society; that pursuant to this agreement and conspiracy they endeavored at a meeting of the Head Camp of Texas to secure their election as delegates to a session of the Sovereign Camp at New York; that they were defeated and other persons were duly elected and certified to the Sovereign Camp; that they contested the election and appealed to the Sovereign Camp, which decided that they had not been elected and were not entitled to be recognized as delegates or to any privileges or perquisites as such, and seated the delegates certified by the Head Camp; that under the constitution and by-laws of the Society this decision was final; that nevertheless, acting in concert and pursuant to their joint agreement and conspiracy, they had brought twenty-five separate actions at law against the Society in a local court of Texas to recover amounts ranging from $987.00 to $1,170.00, which they severally claimed as per diem and mileage allowances and traveling expenses by reason of attending the Sovereign Camp as delegates,¹ that in each of these suits the same cause of action was alleged, in identical language, and only one issue was involved in all of them;² that there was no merit in the cause of action set up by the defendants and the suits were wholly without any foundation; that if the Society was compelled to defend each of these separate suits, it would be subjected to an enormous expense; and that its remedy at law was inadequate: wherefore it prayed that the defendants be enjoined from prosecuting their separate suits in the state court or endeavoring to collect in any other manner any sums of money from the Society by reason of the matters alleged.

The District Court, on motion of the defendants, dismissed the bill on the ground that the court was 'without jurisdiction' thereof; being of opinion that as jurisdiction was based on diversity of citizenship, the requisite jurisdictional amount was not present, since each of the defendants claimed in his suit in the state court an amount less than $3,000, and that Section 265 of the Judicial Code (Comp. St. § 1242) also deprived the court of jurisdiction. 286 F. 734.

As the bill was dismissed upon the specific ground of want of jurisdiction, the direct appeal to this Court was properly allowed. Judicial Code, § 238; Smith v. Apple, 264 U. S. 274, 277, 44 S. Ct. 311, 68 L. Ed. 678.

1. It is the settled general rule, frequently applied by this Court is tax cases, that in a suit based on diversity of citizenship brought against several defendants to enjoin the collection of claims against the plaintiff which are separate and distinct—although depending for their validity upon a common origin—the test of jurisdiction is the amount of each separate claim, and not their aggregate amount. Walter v. Northeastern R. Co., 147 U. S. 370, 372, 13 S. Ct. 348, 37 L. Ed. 206; Northern Pacific R. Co. v. Walker, 148 U. S. 391, 392, 13 S. Ct. 650, 37 L. Ed. 494; Fishback v. Telegraph Co., 161 U. S. 96, 100, 16 S. Ct. 506, 40 L. Ed. 630; Citizens' Bank v. Cannon, 166 U. S. 319, 322, 17 S. Ct. 89, 41 L. Ed. 451. An exception to this general rule was, however, recognized in McDaniel v. Traylor, 196 U. S. 415, 427, 25 S. Ct. 369, 49 L. Ed. 533. There the heirs of one Hiram Evans, an intestate, brought suit in the circuit court against several defendants to enjoin the enforcement of claims that had been allowed as liens upon his real estate by orders of a probate court. Each claim was less than the requisite jurisdictional amount, but their aggregate exceeded that sum. The bill alleged that these claims were not debts of the intestate, but that the defendants had conspired and confederated with the ad ministrator to secure their payment out of the estate, and that the orders allowing them had been procured as the result of the conspiracy and the fraud practiced in pursuance thereof. This court reversed a decree of the circuit court dismissing the bill, on demurrer, for want of jurisdiction, and held that, on the face of the bill, the value of the matter in dispute was 'the aggregate amount of the claims fraudulently procured by the defendants acting in combination to be allowed in the Probate Court as claims against the estate.' In the opinion, after referring to the class of cases to which Walter v. Northeastern R. Co. belonged, the court said:

'The case before us,...