Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/177/449/
Timestamp: 2019-04-23 09:56:52+00:00

Document:
On writ of error or appeal, the first and fundamental question is that of jurisdiction, first of this Court and then of the court from which the record comes. This question the court is bound to ask and answer for itself, even when not otherwise suggested, and without respect to the relation of the parties to it.
"An act authorizing the formation of partnership associations in which the capital subscribed shall alone be responsible for the debts of the association, except under certain circumstances,"
the litigation, to be one by or against citizens of the state creating the corporation. It is not sufficient that the association may be described as a quasi-corporation or as a "new artificial person." The rule does not embrace a new artificial person that is not a corporation.
Under the circumstances disclosed by the record, the circuit court should allow an amendment of the pleadings upon the subject of the citizenship of the parties, and the case should proceed to a final hearing on the merits in the event the pleadings as amended show a case within the jurisdiction of the court.
"members of the limited partnership association doing business under the firm name and style of Jones & Laughlins, Limited, which said association is a limited partnership association organized under an Act of the General Assembly of Pennsylvania approved June 23d [2d], 1874, entitled 'An Act Authorizing the Formation of Partnership Associations in Which the Capital Subscribed Shall Alone be Responsible for the Debts of the Association, except under Certain Circumstances,'"
"and who 'Have Their Office and Principal Place of Business in the City of Pittsburgh,' and which association is 'a Citizen of the Pennsylvania.'"
The defendant first named in the bill is the Great Southern Fire Proof Hotel Company, a corporation of the State Ohio, and some of the defendants are corporations and citizens of states other than the State of Pennsylvania.
the City of Columbus and State of Ohio, the individual partners thereof being William D. Taylor, James P. Beall, and William J. Keever."
"Sturgeon, Ford & Company is a partnership doing business in the City of Columbus and State of Ohio, the individual partners thereof being unknown to your orators."
"Meacham & Wright is a partnership doing business in the City of Columbus and State of Ohio, the individual partners thereof being Floras D. Meacham and Frank S. Wright."
"Sosman & Landis is a partnership of Chicago, Illinois, doing business in the State of Ohio, the names of the individual partners thereof being unknown to your orators."
"Dundon & Bergin is a partnership doing business in the City of Columbus, State of Ohio, the individual partners thereof being Thomas J. Dundon and Matthew J. Bergin."
"H. C. Johnson & Company is a partnership doing business in the State of Ohio, the names of the individual partners thereof being unknown to your orators."
"Schoedinger, Fearn & Company is a partnership doing business in the State of Ohio, the individual partners thereof being F. O. Schoedinger, W. A. Fearn, and J. R. Dickson."
"L. Hiltgartner & Sons is a partnership doing business in the City of Columbus, State of Ohio, the names of the individual partners thereof being unknown to your orators."
By written agreement between Jones & Laughlins, Limited, and W. J. McClain, dated December 13, 1894, the former agreed, upon certain terms, to furnish structural steel for use in the erection of the Great Southern Hotel at Columbus, for the construction of which McClain had previously contracted with the Great Southern Fire Proof Hotel Company. Under the above contract, Jones & Laughlins, Limited, shipped and furnished to McClain structural steel of the value of $43,296.74. All of that sum was paid by McClain except $11,410.02, which was due to the plaintiffs with interest from January 28, 1896.
were delivered to McClain, Jones & Laughlins, Limited, filed with the recorder of Franklin County, Ohio, an affidavit containing an itemized statement of the amount and value of such materials. The object of the filing was to conform to the provisions of sections 3184 (as amended April 13th, 1894, 91 Ohio Laws, 135), and 3185 of the Revised Statutes of Ohio, both sections relating to mechanic's liens, and thereby obtain, in behalf of Jones & Laughlins, Limited, for the amount due them, a lien upon the hotel and the opera house connected with it, as well as upon the land on which they stood.
After stating that the defendants each claim to have some interest in the property in question as lienholders or otherwise, the exact nature and extent of which was unknown to the plaintiff, the relief asked was: 1. That the defendants be required to answer and fully set forth their respective interests in the property, and failing to do so that they be barred from asserting any claim thereto. 2. That a receiver be appointed to collect rents. 3. That the plaintiff's demand be declared a valid and subsisting lien on the property. 4. That all the liens be marshalled, the premises sold, and the proceeds distributed.
The Great Southern Fire Proof Hotel Company demurred generally to the bill as insufficient.
The defendants Sosman & Landis filed their answer and cross-bill, claiming a lien upon the property for a balance due under a contract made between them and McClain pursuant to which they furnished scenery, stage work, and fixtures for the improvements contemplated by the contract between McClain and the hotel company. To that cross-bill a demurrer was also filed.
The cause was heard in the circuit court upon the demurrers, the only question argued being the constitutionality of the Ohio statute of April 13, 1894. That court sustained the demurrers and dismissed the bill and cross-bill upon the ground that the provisions of the mechanic's lien law of Ohio, under which the plaintiffs and cross-plaintiffs proceeded, were unconstitutional. 79 F. 477.
the circuit court was reversed, the former court holding that the statute of Ohio in question was not void. 86 F. 370. The hotel company then applied for and obtained this writ of certiorari.
Justice Marshall in Brown v. Keene, 8 Pet. 112."
"This averment is not sufficient to show jurisdiction. It does not appear from it that the Lafayette Insurance Company is a corporation, or if it be such, by the law of what state it was created. The averment that the company is a citizen of the State of Indiana can have no sensible meaning attached to it. This Court does not hold that either a voluntary association of persons, or an association into a body politic, created by law is a citizen of a state within the meaning of the Constitution. And therefore if the defective averment in the declaration had not been otherwise supplied, the suit must have been dismissed."
of that state. But the express company cannot be a citizen of New York within the meaning of the statutes regulating jurisdiction unless it be a corporation. The allegation that the company was organized under the laws of New York is not an allegation that it is a corporation. In fact, the allegation is that the company is not a corporation, but a joint-stock company -- that is, a mere partnership. And although it may be authorized by the laws of the State of New York to bring suit in the name of its president, that fact cannot give the company power, by that name, to sue in a federal court. The company may have been organized under the laws of the State of New York, and may be doing business in that state, and yet all the members of it may not be citizens of that state. The record does not show the citizenship of Barney or of any of the members of the company. They are not shown to be citizens of some state other than Illinois. Grace v. American Central Ins. Co., 109 U. S. 278, 109 U. S. 283, and authorities there cited. For these reasons, we are of opinion that the record does not show a case of which the circuit court could take jurisdiction."
"It is alleged that the United States Express Company, the defendant in the suit, is a foreign corporation formed under and created by the laws of the State of New York. The obvious meaning of this allegation is that the defendant is a citizen of the State of New York."
name in a court of the United States is conclusively presumed to be one by or against citizens of the state creating the corporation. Louisville, Cincinnati & Charleston Railroad Co. v. Letson, 2 How. 497; Ohio & Miss. R. Co. v. Wheeler, 1 Black 286; Steamship Co. v. Tugman, 106 U. S. 118, 106 U. S. 120. The rule that, for purposes of jurisdiction and within the meaning of the clause of the Constitution extending the judicial powers of the United States to controversies between citizens of different states, a corporation was to be deemed a citizen of the state creating it has been so long recognized and applied that it is not now to be questioned. No such rule, however, has been applied to partnership associations, although such associations may have some of the characteristics of a corporation. When the question relates to the jurisdiction of a circuit court of the United States as resting on the diverse citizenship of the parties, we must look in the case of a suit by or against a partnership association to the citizenship of the several persons composing such association.
"shall be construed to include all joint-stock companies or associations having any of the powers or privileges of corporations not possessed by individuals or partnerships."
Const.Pa. art. XVI, § 13. The only effect of that clause is to place the joint-stock companies or associations referred to under the restrictions imposed by that article upon corporations, and not to invest them with all the attributes of corporations.
creation of "a new artificial person to be called a joint-stock association, having some of the characteristics of a partnership and some of a corporation."
"We cannot assent to the plaintiff's claim that the defendant company is a corporation and restricted, in the adoption of bylaws, rules, and regulations for its government, to such as it is within the power of the latter to prescribe. It may be conceded that the defendant company has some of the qualities of a corporation, but it is nevertheless a partnership association, governed by the statutes and articles under which it was organized and the rules and regulations it may prescribe in execution of the power with which the statutes have invested it."
That a limited partnership association created under the Pennsylvania statute may be described as a "quasi-corporation," having some of the characteristics of a corporation, or as a "new artificial person," is not a sufficient reason for regarding it as a corporation within the jurisdictional rule heretofore adverted to. That rule must not be extended. We are unwilling to extend it so as to embrace partnership associations.
We have not overlooked the case of Andrews Bros. Co. v. Youngstown Coke Co., 86 F. 585, in which the Circuit Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, speaking by Judge Lurton, held that limited partnership associations organized under the Pennsylvania statute were corporations within the jurisdictional requirement of diverse citizenship. For the reasons stated, we are unable to concur in the view taken by that court.
We therefore adjudge that, as the bill does not make a case arising under the Constitution and laws of the United States, it was necessary to set out the citizenship of the individual members of the partnership association of Jones & Laughlins, Limited, which brought this suit.
Another question as to jurisdiction arises on the record. The citizenship of the members of the several partnerships that are named as defendants does not appear from the pleadings or otherwise. An allegation as to the state in which those firms were doing business is not sufficient to show the citizenship of the individual partners. The relief sought is the marshaling of all the lien debts on the hotel and the opera house of the Great Southern Fire Proof Hotel Company, the sale of the property, and the distribution of the proceeds among the parties according to their respective rights. As no allusion was made to this latter at the argument before us, we do not now express any opinion upon the question whether the citizenship of the individuals composing the defendant partnerships doing business in Ohio is material to the jurisdiction of the circuit court. We leave that to be determined by the court below if an application be made to amend the pleadings as to the citizenship of the parties.
Without considering the merits of the case, we are constrained to reverse the judgments of the circuit court of appeals and of the circuit court and remand the cause for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
Under the circumstances, the plaintiffs should be allowed, upon application, to amend the bill upon the subject of the citizenship of the parties. If the amendment shows a case within the jurisdiction of the circuit court, the parties should be permitted to proceed to a final hearing; otherwise, the bill should be dismissed at the plaintiffs' costs without prejudice to another suit in a court of competent jurisdiction.
* Hancock v. Holbrook, 112 U. S. 229, 112 U. S. 231; Thayer v. Life Asso., 112 U. S. 717, 112 U. S. 720; Ayers v. Watson, 113 U. S. 594, 113 U. S. 598; King Bridge Co. v. Otoe County, 120 U. S. 225, 120 U. S. 226; Metcalf v. Watertown, 128 U. S. 586, 128 U. S. 587; Morris v. Gilmer, 129 U. S. 315, 129 U. S. 325; Chapman v. Barney, 129 U. S. 677, 129 U. S. 681; Stevens v. Nichols, 130 U. S. 230; Graves v. Corbin, 132 U. S. 571, 132 U. S. 590; Parker v. Ormsby, 141 U. S. 81, 141 U. S. 83; Martin v. B. & O. R. Co., 151 U. S. 673, 151 U. S. 689; Mattingly v. N.W. Va. R. Co., 158 U. S. 53, 158 U. S. 57; Powers v. Chesapeake & Ohio Ry. Co., 169 U. S. 92, 169 U. S. 98.

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