229 F. 857 | E.D. Ark. | 1916
(after stating the facts as above).
Whether tire lex loci or the lex fori controls, or whether .this court, being a national court, must decide the question for itself, regardless of the decisions of the highest court of either state, the point involved not being statutory, but one governed by the law merchant, are important .questions to be determined, and therefore clearly justiciable.
It is therefore beyond question that the right to recover an attorney’s fee on these notes is “a matter in controversy,” to be determined if pleaded as a defense in the answer, and therefore must be computed in making up the requisite jurisdictional amount. This was expressly determined in Springstead v. Crawfordsville Bank, 231 U. S. 541, 34 Sup. Ct. 195, 58 L. Ed. 354. That case rules this. Whether, when the issues are made up, there can be a recovery of the attorney’s fees, cannot be decided now, as the only question before the court is that of jurisdiction.
The demurrer to the jurisdiction of the court is overruled.