Woodmen of World Life v. Great Atl. & Pac. Tea Co.

• Citation: 561 F. Supp. 640
• Decision Date: 17 September 1982
• Docket Number: No. 82 C 1673.,82 C 1673.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Illinois
• Parties: WOODMEN OF the WORLD LIFE INSURANCE SOCIETY, Plaintiff, v. The GREAT ATLANTIC & PACIFIC TEA COMPANY, INC., Defendant.

561 F. Supp. 640

WOODMEN OF the WORLD LIFE INSURANCE SOCIETY, Plaintiff, v. The GREAT ATLANTIC & PACIFIC TEA COMPANY, INC., Defendant.

No. 82 C 1673.

United States District Court, N.D. Illinois, E.D.

September 17, 1982.

Stone, Pogrund & Korey, Chicago, Ill., for plaintiff.

Kenneth R. Gaines, Lionel G. Gross, Rex A. Logemann, Altheimer & Gray, Chicago, Ill., for defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

GRADY, District Judge.

This is an action originally brought in the Circuit Court of Cook County under the Illinois Forcible Entry and Detainer Act, Ill.Rev.Stat. ch. 57 ¶ 1 et seq. Plaintiff Woodmen of the World Life Insurance Society, Inc. seeks to recover rent and possession of the premises at 419 North LaGrange Road, LaGrange Park, Illinois, from its tenant, defendant The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company ("A & P"). Plaintiff seeks to terminate the lease because A & P allegedly failed to pay plaintiff for a sign erected on the premises and failed to cure this default in the requisite time. A & P removed the case to this court on March 17, 1982. Now plaintiff asks that the case be remanded to the Circuit Court because the amount in controversy is less than $10,000.00.

Plaintiff claims that an action under the Illinois Forcible Entry and Detainer Act is limited to the right to possession and the amount of rent owed — $5,334.40 in this case. A & P contends that the jurisdictional amount requirement is satisfied because the value of the lease or the right to possess and utilize the premises over the term of the original lease, including options to renew, exceeds $10,000.00. In addition, A & P contends that the cost of renting like premises exceeds $10,000.00; that if the lease were terminated, it would lose the right to assign or sublet (by which A & P could recoup more than $10,000.00); and that the value of its fixtures and equipment would be reduced by more than $10,000.00.

Section 5 of the Forcible Entry and Detainer Act, Ill.Rev.Stat. ch. 57, § 5, provides, in part, that "no matters not germane to the distinctive purpose of the proceeding shall be introduced by joinder, counterclaim, or otherwise ...." The general purpose of a forcible entry and detainer action is to adjudicate the parties' right to possession of the premises, and therefore such proceedings should not be burdened with matters not directly related to the issue of possession. General Parking Corp. v. Kimmel, 79 Ill.App.3d 883, 35 Ill.Dec. 154, 398 N.E.2d 1104 (1st Dist.1979). Plaintiff's citations clearly support the proposition that forcible entry and detainer actions are limited in scope. Id.; Clark Oil & Refining Corp. v. Banks, 34 Ill.App.3d 67, 339 N.E.2d 283 (1st Dist.1975).

Federal courts must look to state law to determine the nature and extent of the right to be enforced, although determination of the value of the matter in controversy for purposes of federal jurisdiction is a federal question to be decided under federal standards. Horton v. Liberty Mutual Life Insurance Company, 367 U.S. 348, 352-53, 81 S.Ct. 1570, 1572-73, 6 L.Ed.2d 890 (1961). Where, as here, an action turns on state law, the federal court looks to state law to determine the nature and extent of the right to be enforced. Roberson v. Dale, 464 F.Supp. 680 (M.D.N.C.1979). However, the amount in controversy for diversity purposes is not necessarily identical to the amount plaintiff stands to gain if successful in the suit. In McCarty v. Amoco Pipeline Co., 595 F.2d 389 (7th Cir.1979), the plaintiffs asked the Indiana state court to enjoin defendant oil company from using plaintiffs' land for its pipeline and to order defendant to remove the pipeline. The plaintiffs' land had originally been condemned for the benefit of the defendant. Its appraised value was less than $2,000.00 — the amount that plaintiffs claimed was at stake. Defendant, however, claimed that the cost of removal of the pipeline would be in excess of $10,000.00. The defendant removed the case to the federal district court for the Southern District of Indiana, which held in favor of defendant. On appeal, the Seventh Circuit examined in great detail the case law and legal commentaries regarding the amount in controversy question. The court employed the "either party" rule and held that, because defendant's stake in the case exceeded the jurisdictional amount, the court had jurisdiction. The court stated,

Since the jurisdictional amount prerequisite was enacted primarily to measure substantiality of the suit, the question of whether the controversy is substantial should not be answered unqualifiedly by looking

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