Chesapeake & Ohio Ry. Co. v. Cockrell, 232 U.S. 146 (1914)
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Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Company v. Cockrell
No. 100
Argued December 5, 1913
Decided January 19, 1914
232 U.S. 146
ERROR TO THE COURT OF APPEALS
OF THE STATE OF KENTUCKY
Syllabus
As the right to remove a cause from a state to a federal court exists only in enumerated classes of cases, the petition must set forth the particular facts which bring the case within one of such classes; general allegations and mere legal conclusions are not sufficient.
The right of a nonresident defendant to remove the case cannot be defeated by the fraudulent joinder of a resident defendant, but the defendant seeking removal must allege facts which compel the conclusion that the joinder is fraudulent; merely to apply the term " fraudulent " to the joinder is not sufficient to require the state court to surrender its jurisdiction.
Where plaintiff’s statement of his case shows a joint cause of action, as tested by the law of the state, the duty is on the nonresident defendant seeking removal to state facts showing that the joinder was a mere fraudulent device to prevent removal.
It is not sufficient for a nonresident railroad corporation, joined as defendant in a suit for personal injuries with two resident employees in charge of the train which did the injury, to show in its petition an absence of good faith on plaintiff’s part in bringing the action at all; the petition must show that the joinder itself is fraudulent.
This Court, while affirming the judgment of the Court of Appeals of the state, may, as it does in this case, express it disapproval of the reasoning on which it was based.
Issues of fact arising upon a petition for removal are to be determined in the federal court, and, where the petition sufficiently shows a fraudulent joinder and the proper bond has been given, the state court must surrender jurisdiction, leaving any issue of fact arising on the petition to the federal court. Wecker v. National Enameling Co., 204 U.S. 176.
Where the state court refuses to give effect to a proper petition and bond on removal, the defendant may resort to certiorari from the federal court to obtain the certified transcript and injunction to prevent further proceedings in the state court.
144 Ky. 137 affirmed.
The facts, which involve the validity of a judgment of the Court of Appeals of the Kentucky and the construction of the statutes relative to removal of causes from the state to the federal court, are stated in the opinion.