19 F. 803 | U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Northern New York | 1884
The plaintiffs are citizens of Now York. The defendant, the North River Construction Company, is a New Jersey corporation. The other two defendants are New York corporations. The plaintiffs are creditors of the construction company. There being no pleading before the court but the complaint, it must be the sole guide in determining the character of the action. The relief demanded is that certain real estate alleged to have been paid for by the construction company, when insolvent, and conveyed direct to the railway company in fraud of the plaintiffs’ rights, be sold to satisfy their claims. Also that an injunction issue restraining the defendants from disposing of or incumbering the land. No judgment is asked against the construction company.
Because the plaintiffs are not judgment creditors, it is argued that there is a controversy between them and the construction company, and that this court therefore has jurisdiction. In one sense, undoubtedly, this is true, but is it such a controversy as is contemplated by the statute? Is it, to use the language of the chief justice in Hyde v. Ruble, 104 U. S. 409, “a separate and distinct cause of action?” Does the complaint state two causes of action or one? No separate judgment could be entered against the construction company. Should the trial court find on the main issue that there were no purchases of land as alleged, the complaint would be dismissed as
The complaint has been considered solely with reference to the •question of jurisdiction. It is not intended that anything said upon this question shall be considered as an intimation that a creditor who has not established his claim by a judgment can maintain an action of this character.
The motion to remand is granted.