106 P. 813 | Okla. | 1909
In the case at bar the record shows that on the 27th day of December, 1907, the defendant filed in the trial court its petition for removal of said cause to the United States Circuit Court for the Eastern District of the state of Oklahoma, with a good and sufficient bond; that after due notice the application for removal came on to be heard on the 6th day of January, 1908, and the court, having seen the petition and bond, approved the bond, and disallowed and dismissed the petition, and refused to transmit said cause to said Circuit Court of the United States, to which ruling the defendant excepted; that on the 9th day of January, 1908, said defendant filed with the clerk of the United States Circuit Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, at Muskogee, a full and complete transcript of the record in said cause, duly certified to by the clerk of the district court of Pittsburg county; that thereupon the attorneys for said plaintiff were duly notified that the transcript of the record in said cause had been filed with the clerk of the United States court, as aforesaid; that thereafter, on the 18th day of April, 1908, the defendant filed in said district court of Pittsburg county its amended answer to the complaint of the plaintiff; that on the 27th day of April, 1908, the plaintiff filed a reply to the answer of defendant; that on the 28th day of April, 1908, the defendant filed in said district court its protest against the trial of said cause in said state court, upon the ground that on the 27th day of December, 1907, in accordance with law, it *275 filed in said court its petition and bond for removal of said cause to the United States Circuit Court for the Eastern District of the State of Oklahoma; that said district court, after examining into the petition for removal, refused the same, and thereupon dismissed said petition; that thereafter, on the 9th day of January, 1908, defendant caused a complete transcript of all the proceedings in said cause to be filed in the United States Circuit Court for the Eastern District of the Indian Territory, at Muskogee; that after said transcript was filed in said United States Circuit Court, as aforesaid, the plaintiff moved said Circuit Court to remand said cause to the state court, which motion upon hearing was overruled, and the said Circuit Court accordingly assumed full and complete jurisdiction to hear and determine said cause; that said state court, after having seen and heard said protest and being fully advised in the premises, did overrule the same, to which action the defendant then and there in open court, excepted; that on the 27th day of April, 1908, after a trial of said cause in said state court, the jury returned its verdict in favor of the plaintiff, and assessed his damage in the sum of $2,000, upon which verdict judgment was duly entered. Thereafter the defendant below, plaintiff in error here, commenced its proceeding in error in this court to reverse the judgment of the court below, and filed in this court its motion to dismiss, supported by an affidavit, to which is attached a certified copy of a judgment, showing that the Circuit Court of the United States, after assuming jurisdiction of said cause and refusing to remand the same to the state court, did on the 21st day of September, 1909, at its regular session in the city of McAlester, state of Oklahoma, render judgment of dismissal in said cause at the cost of plaintiff, with prejudice to any further action of plaintiff against the defendant on account of the matter and things set forth in his petition. Upon the foregoing facts the plaintiff in error moves this court that a judgment be entered herein in favor of the plaintiff in error and against the defendant in error, dismissing this cause and reversing and setting aside the judgment of the district court herein rendered, *276 and rendering judgment in favor of the plaintiff in error, and against the defendant in error, and for costs in this cause.
It seems to us that the case of Chesapeake Ohio RailwayCompany et al. v. McCabe,
The question of law presented by the foregoing statement, as stated by Mr. Justice Day, who delivered the opinion of the court, was:
"The Circuit Court of the United States having taken jurisdiction of the case upon the removal, and having refused to remand it, and proceeded to final judgment, should the state court, when that judgment was offered to be pleaded before it, have given effect to the judgment? That is the federal question presented in this case." *278
After reviewing the statutes governing removals and the authorities construing the same, Justice Day continues:
"It is apparent that these provisions are intended to confer jurisdiction upon the United States Circuit Court to determine for itself the removability of a given cause, and it has been accordingly held in this court that, notwithstanding the refusal of the state court to remove the case, the party desiring the removal may file a transcript of the record in the Circuit Court of the United States; and, if the case was a removable one, it is immaterial that the state court has denied the petition for removal. Kern v. Huidekoper,
Justice Day continued:
"From these decisions it is apparent that, while the petitioner, in the event of an adverse decision in the state court, may remain in that court, and, after a final judgment therein, bring the case here for review, he is not obliged to do so. He may file the record in the Circuit Court of the United States, as was said by Mr. Chief Justice Waite, while the case is going on in the state court. The federal statute then gives to the United States Circuit Court jurisdiction to determine the question of removability, and it has the power, not given to the state court, to protect its jurisdiction, notwithstanding section 720 of the Revised Statutes (U.S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 581), by an injunction against further proceedings in the state courts. Madisonville Traction Co. v. St. BernardMin. Co., supra. In order to prevent unseemly conflict of jurisdiction it would seem that the state court in such cases should withhold its further exercise of jurisdiction *280
until the decision of the Circuit Court of the United States is reviewed in this court. If the federal jurisdiction is not sustained, the case will be remanded, with instructions that it be sent back to the state court as if no removal had been had.Baltimort O. R. Co. v. Koontz, supra. Conceding that, except for the principle of comity, the state court may decide the question of jurisdiction for itself, in the absence of an injunction from the federal court in aid of its own jurisdiction, or a writ of certiorari requiring the state court to surrender the record under the act of 1875, is the state court obliged to give effect to the judgment of the United States Circuit Court, from which no writ of error is taken, and rendered in the federal court after it has sustained its own jurisdiction of the federal court, we think that such fed- that the question is a federal one, and that the state court is given no right to review or control the exercise of the jurisdiction of the federal court, we think that such federal judgment cannot be ignored in the state courts as one absolutely void for want of jurisdiction, and that such judgment, until reversed by a proper proceeding in this court, is binding upon the parties, and must be given force when set up in the action. This view is sustained in the former decisions of this court upon the subject. In Des Moines Nav. R. Co. v. Iowa Homestead Co.,
If we understand the foregoing decision, the question of removability being a federal question, the Circuit Court of the United States had complete jurisdiction to pass upon it, and its ruling thereon was conclusive upon the parties before it until it was reversed by a proper proceeding in the Supreme Court of the United States. The state court in such a case should withhold its further exercise of jurisdiction until the decision of the Circuit Court of the United States was reviewed by the Supreme Court. If the federal jurisdiction was not sustained, the case would then be remanded, with instructions that it be sent back to the state court as if no removal had been had. Applying the same rule to this court, it follows that this court, upon the showing made in the motion to *282 dismiss, should give effect to the judgment of dismissal of the United States Circuit Court, as that judgment is also conclusive upon the parties before it until reversed by a proper proceeding in the Supreme Court of the United States.
It is therefore ordered that the judgment of the court below shall be reversed, and the cause remanded to the court below, with instructions to recognize the proceedings in the United States Circuit Court, and to proceed no further unless the cause is again remanded to it by the federal court.
All the Justices concur.