Hay v. May Department Stores Co., 271 U.S. 318 (1926)

Hay v. May Department Stores Company

No. 292

Submitted April 29, 1926
Decided May 24, 1926
271 U.S. 318

ERROR TO THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI

Syllabus

1. A motion to remand upon the ground that the suit is not removable from the state court raises a question of the jurisdiction of the district court, reviewable under Jud.Code, § 238, where the motion was denied and the suit dismissed upon plaintiff’s failure to comply with a rule for security for costs. P. 321.

2. An action brought in a state court against two defendants jointly, in which the plaintiff states a case of joint liability arising out of the concurrent negligence of the defendants, does not present a separable controversy authorizing the removal of the cause to a federal court, even though the plaintiff might have sued the defendants separately, the allegations of the complaint being decisive as to the nature of the controversy in the absence of a showing that one of the defendants was fraudulently joined for the purpose of preventing the removal. P. 321.

Reversed.

Error to a judgment of the district court dismissing a suit for personal injuries, for failure of the plaintiff to give security for costs, after his motion to remand it to the state court where it originated had been overruled.